Adventures With Harvey

Croatia, Slovenia and Austria

A few tears were shed as we bid Deanna farewell in Dubrovnik, it was such a memorable 2 weeks we all spent together but it was time to split tacks and head our separate ways, she south and we north. It’s a little hard to explain however our u-turn in Dubrovnik felt like the begnining of our homeward journey as we start the long drive towards our very important date in Paris around 7 weeks from now (a certain rugby world cup game for those of you who haven't figured it out...). The timing has been very good because those of you who watch the international news will know that Europe is currently sweltering under a record heatwave. While we certainly weren’t complaining about being absent from a cold and wet NZ winter, temperatures in the mid 30’s can be most uncomfortable if you can’t find a shady spot to park Harvey - once he is hot inside, it can be quite impossible to cool him down again. Our route after leaving Dubrovnik was not only in a northerly direction but also inland and uphill so for the last few days we’ve had maximum temperatures back in the low-mid 20’s which is optimal travelling weather. So please, grab a cuppa and allow me to share the last couple of weeks of our adventure with you.

Although Deanna had left us, we weren’t quite done with Dubrovnik so next day your author rode his bike in for some further exploring while his lovely travelling companion attended her appointment at the hairdresser. The main target of this cycle ride was the Fort Lovrijenac (St Lawrence Fortress) on top of Mount Srđ overlooking Dubrovnik and what a spectacular spot it was! Although there has been a stronghold of some description there since at least the 11th century, the current incarnation was built by Napoleon and co around the start of the 19th century. Like many of these things, one marvels at the manpower and engineering needed to create such an impregnable stronghold so far up a hill – I hope they had an army of donkeys as well as an army of men because that’s no small amount of stone to cart all the way to the top! But the more interesting aspect for your intrepid correspondent was what happened in the early 90’s during what is referred to in Croatia as the Homeland War. The breakup of Yugoslavia following the death of Tito in 1991 lead to a regional conflict that lasted through until 1995 and caused untold suffering throughout the region – your author remembers the news reports from the time of the various battles, massacres and other war related carnage. Therefore to spend some time in Croatia and understand what happened from their point of view was most interesting, although the tragedy of it all cannot be overstated. While there are two sides to every story, the conflict seems to have stemmed from Serbian expansion objectives and they (along with the Montenegrins) are very much viewed in Croatia as the aggressors and perpetrators of the wrongdoing. There seems to be no love lost between Serbs and Croats to this day and, for example, we saw less than a handful of Serbian numberplates during our whole time in Croatia and Slovenia.

Croatia declared independence in 1991 however shortly thereafter the Serb dominated Yugoslav military attacked in various parts of the country, including Dubrovnik. The rationale behind laying siege to this historic town still puzzles most as the peninsula itself is of little strategic importance, however, for several months at the end of 1991, the town was pounded with over 2000 artillery and other projectiles fired from both land and sea. Many people died and much damage was done to the walls and other historic structures within, however thankfully the Croatians were able to hold out, were ultimately victorious over those who desired their destruction, and rebuilt their city. So what part did Fort Lovrijenac have to play in all of this? It became the Croatian stronghold which, try as they might, the invaders could not conquer. Although built by Napoleon over 200 years ago when little more than cannon balls could be fired at it, the fort was amazingly able to withstand an assault from much more modern and powerful weapons. These days it is a museum and memorial to the conflict and celebrates the successful defence of Dubrovnik and the ultimate victory by the nation of Croatia. And the view from up there is simply breath taking!

I then reconvened with the much blonder Anita and we visited War Photo Limited which is a gallery showing the impact of war. It covered the 1991-95 Balkans war but also Ukraine and various other conflicts – the images were both confronting and beautifully composed.

This was the second visit to Dubrovnik by the Travelling Woodies, the earlier stop being during a cruise back in 2016. To finish our last day in town, we parked ourselves up at the very same bar on the edge of the same square as we had almost exactly 7 years ago and enjoyed a quiet refreshment while reminiscing and wondering if perhaps we might be back 7 years from now or at any other time in the future.

Here's a fun fact for our readers. Which country has the shortest coastline in the world? The answer is Monaco at 3.7km. A much harder question is which country has the second shortest? The answer to that is Bosnia and Herzegovina – at just 20km long the coastline is less than even the smallest of our Pacific Island neighbours. When driving up the Croatian coast most people bypass Bosnia, you can easily do so by crossing a bridge, and the country isn’t part of the EU so some vehicle insurance policies (including ours) preclude travel there. However there are other ways to visit so your intrepid explorers parked Harvey up at a layby nearby to the border, jumped on our bikes and went off to checck the place out. On this trip there have been precious few stamps in the passport due to Europe’s open borders however a couple more were added as we entered and exited our 28^th and final new country for this adventure. The coastal town of Neum was only around 6km from our Harvey parking spot however it was a very hot day, the ride was hilly, and we still had a way to drive that afternoon. So although it was a short visit, there was enough time for a stroll along a very packed and crowded waterfront to procure an ice cream and the obligatory fridge magnet (we have one from each country visited) before jumping back on our bikes to Harvey and continuing our drive north.

Trogir is a lovely little historic island town a bit further up the coast so we stopped there for one final night by the Mediterranean sea. Both we Woodies love being by the ocean, the smells and sounds along with swimming and otherwise being on, in or around the water is something we treasure. On this adventure we hit this coastline back in mid-March at Montpellier and haven’t been more than a few kilometres from the sea between then and now, so it was a little sobering to realise that the ocean which we’d perhaps taken a little for granted would not be our companion for the remainder of this trip (save for the ferry trip back to UK right at the very end). We enjoyed visiting the town, having brunch on the waterfront, and a few final swims at our campsite before bidding the ocean farewell and heading for more water but this time lacking salt – yes, our next stop would be the famous Plitvice Lakes.

It seemed a little strange to pay €40 each for what was essentially a bush walk – in NZ no one would dream of paying for an activity such as that. However this is not entirely accurate because your entry fee also included an electric boat ride across one of the lakes, and also a little tourist train ride from the far end back to the starting point for those disinclined to walk the entire distance. The route we chose involved around 4km of walking through bush tracks and boardwalks and we were well able to see why the place is so popular and why you need to pre-book tickets at the height of the season! The park is a succession of lakes which progressively increase in altitude and are connected by a myriad of spectacular waterfalls. The water is the most amazing deep teal colour and there are little fish at many junctures trying to make their way upstream. We were often part of a slow-moving person-snake but it didn’t matter, that gave us plenty of time to admire the scenery. Although we were inland and at an altitude of more than 500m, the temperature was still very warm, indeed at one stage your correspondent found himself scooping a capful of the lovely cool water to douse his overheated head! To protect the lakes sadly no swimming was allowed.

Although we visited Zagreb on the way through, both of us found it a little nondescript – nothing wrong per se, just lacking a bit of soul and not particularly memorable. Although they are rather proud of one of their most famous sons, a certain inventor named Nikola Tesla, but sadly his museum was closed that afternoon. Anita went alone to the unusual Museum of Lost Relationships, which consisted of artifacts donated after relationships ended for a variety of reasons. The mementos ranged from the amusing (a toaster which she took so her cheating boyfriend could never have toast again) to the tragic (two bras from a woman breaking up with her breasts as she had been diagnosed with cancer). One item which struck a chord was a wedding dress never used after her fiancé was killed by a suicide bomber in Istanbul 2016. Interestingly that bombing occurred the day before we were due to fly into Istanbul and so we were there the next day. A simple concept and a fascinating insight into the human condition.

After spending our usual afternoon/evening wandering and exploring, we cranked Harvey into life the next morning for our next border crossing, this time into Slovenia with the town of Ljubljana beckoning us.

[NB: Some of our more observant readers may have noticed an apparent contradiction with my earlier comment that Bosnia was our final new country. That was in fact correct as we passed through Slovenia earlier in the trip on the drive between Italy and Croatia.]

Ljubljana is a beautiful city with several bridges crossing the Ljubljanica River which meanders its way through the centre. The town square is actually a circle and has a unique attraction – right in the middle they have created a patch of artificial rain, basically a sprinkler trussed to overhead wires, which you can stand beneath should respite from the summer heat be required. For once the Lonely Planet was a little wide of the mark, it having highly recommended a visit to the castle overlooking the city which we found a little underwhelming. Of course the view was amazing as always however the 2 small museums were poor and the layout seemed to lack any cohesion – perhaps we’ve been a bit spoilt and seen too many castles, who knows! We spent an enjoyable late afternoon at a riverfront establishment slaking our thirst and playing our new card game which Deanna introduced us to and was kind enough to leave with us.

Probably the most famous attraction in Slovenia is Lake Bled and after visiting, we can certainly see why. Alpine lakes are often picturesque however this one was a decent margin ahead of the trailing pack – only quite small but with a little island in the middle and surrounded by mountains, ski fields and delightfully designed buildings. You’ll have to take a look at the photos, this place is truly magnificent and will live long in the memories of your two intrepid travellers! We took a tranquil gondola ride out to the island and I managed a swim in the lake while Anita chose to just dangle her feet in the water.

So where to after Bled – Austria of course! We were a little dubious about taking Harvey up into the mountains… he’s a dual carriageway kind of guy and we have definitely tried to avoid making him puff and blow too much wherever possible. However Austria was part of the world we were keen to visit, and also because we had a friend who had invited us to swing by – some of you may remember Haddy who we met at a bar in St Tropez? He lives in the little village of Kitzbuhel and during our earlier meeting had given us a route from Bled which I had screenshotted on my phone so off we went up into the mountains. I say mountains, however most of the roads are still dual carriageways, and there are a good many tunnels to knock the tops off the steepest hills. However there are still a fair few ups and downs however we’re in no hurry and it doesn’t really matter if Harvey occasionally accumulates a car-snake behind him. We just pootle at our own speed, pull over where we can, and everyone gets where they need to go including a rather steamed Harvey at times.

We stopped for a break at Klagenfurt am Wurthersee and went for a leg stretch down to the lake. It was such a beautiful day and a gorgeous spot so I was dispatched back to the motorhome for togs, towels and a picnic, and we spent the afternoon on the lakeside. Around 5pm all of a sudden everyone started packing up and disappeared, we were slightly curious but enjoying ourselves so didn’t pay too much attention. Within half an hour we were getting hungry so headed back to the motorhome, only to be caught in a massive thunderstorm which lasted more than 2 hours! After the heat of the day the cooling rain was delightful, and the thunder and lightning impressive.

Back on the road the next morning, the drive through the mountains was a treat in itself with a number of quite fast-moving rivers to follow and many delightful little alpine villages. Most of the houses were resplendent with window boxes bursting with colour and backdropped by the most spectacular mountains, one or 2 of which were still iced with tiny slivers of snow. Kitzbühel is extremely affluent and pretty as a picture, the town square is delightfully quaint and there is a gorgeous lake and golf course on the outskirts. We ended up staying a couple of nights and enjoyed the heat respite mentioned in my intro. It was great to catch up with Haddy again who regaled us with yet more stories over coffee in the morning, he was heading out of town so we were pleased he was able to squeeze us amongst his many commitments.

Harvey was in need of a little TLC, in particular an oil/filter change and transmission fluid top-up so thankfully the auto parts shop in town was able to order to order the filter overnight and supply the other items needed to give our longsuffering motorhome some much needed care. The next day we drove to Linz from whence this edition is being penned, we’ve found a lovely spot in a park by a cemetery under some big shady trees which is an ideal spot to get a few chores done, write a blog and leave you with one final amusing story…

Some family members and longstanding friends may recall that your author’s youth was spent in various attempts achieving various levels of success to keep clapped out old cars in something resembling roadworthy condition. Such skills can be dusted off if necessary in order, for example, to give Harvey the abovementioned oil and filter change and other such required (and possibly at times, overdue) maintenance. So there I was yesterday afternoon, under Harvey loosening the sump plug with a new bucket (procured specifically for this task) underneath to catch the 5l or so of dirty oil that would shortly flow. All went exactly to plan until, would you believe, the bucket split and a puddle of oil began to leak onto the carpark. Quickly I took the bucket over to the garden, popped an old towel down, replaced the sump plug, filter & oil and tipped the remaining bucket contents into the old oil container as originally planned. The spill was quite small and most of the oil had actually remained in the bucket however the puddle underneath Harvey was… how shall I say… not insignificant. All of this would have been of limited consequence (concrete is porous and an oil stain in a carpark is hardly the end of the world) however it so happened that a group of ‘Karens’ were passing by, all of whom were very concerned and stood about in little groups pointing and prattling away concernedly in their Austrian-German dialect. One of them even took photos and sure enough, a couple of hours later, two rather bemused looking policewomen turned up (long after I’d cleaned the mess up as best I could). I explained what had happened and they didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned, I’m sure it was the first time they’d been called out to investigate the crime of creating an oil puddle 😊.

And on that cheery note we shall bid you farewell for another edition – tomorrow we head a little further east to spend a couple of days exploring the western part of Hungary, then up into Czech Republic for a few more before heading into southern Poland. "Why am I not mentioning a visit to Salzburg or Vienna?" I hear you ask. Because we visited those towns last year on our Oberammergau bus tour along with Budapest, Prague and Bratislava – no need to revisit any of those but we’re keen to see a little more of each country and the bits in between.

As always the Travelling Woodies send much love to all our family and friends and we thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures.

Dave & Anita