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On August 10th, a terrorist attempt was dismantled at London Airport. Dammit, that had to happen the day I left for France. Going through customs was a nightmare, Air Transat sent people in karts to get us through customs and in the plane. How lucky was I to have a direct flight, else I would of never gotten in Nice on the next morning. I finally got there in time, Max and Franky waiting for me at the airport with the "GrosTorseMobile" a Poegot 205 17 years of age ready for a great journey through Eastern Europe.
We drove all the way across Italy with a first stop in Verona, the city of Romeo & Juliet for a great snack ended with a good gelato. Then we took the road again for a well-deserved sleep in Venezia. We had a little bonus with an outdoors show from Roger Waters, singer of Pink Floyd on la Plaza San Marco were we took our first Jack of the trip.
We just had time to grab a espresso and hop we were gone again direction Zadar Croatia for a little halt before we would go to Pag Island for a few days. When we got to Novalja, all hotels were booked so we had to knock at some local’s door to find a place to stay and we found a cozy place with and old mama that took good care of us. There is a little beach on Pag called Zrce just beside Novalja which is trying to label itself as the next Ibiza (not quite) but still it runs 24 hrs, there are Jacuzzis and pools in the clubs ... We didn't rest much during that stay especially when we lost both car keys in a rain storm at 6 in the morning after a long night and I had left the key of our room in the car. Luckily after 15 minutes in the rain trying to open the window and after being soaked and wet, Max finally found the key in his chest where you basically can find anything since it is humongous, there was probably even a peace of Pag cheese hidden in there. On our last day on Pag we took a boat ride to the islands to end up on Rab where we rented a scooter to visit the island.
Again we hoped in the car direction Plitvice National park for a quick one-day visit. The setup was magnificent with waterfalls and lakes everywhere. The park was the strategic location where Serbs and Croatians first started to fight in the Croatian War Of Independence in the 90's. Then we headed up North to Hungary because we had to be in Budapest on Friday to meet friends. We stopped at lake Balaton for a night in a small town called Keszthely were we had a great night at a local pub on the beach trying to talk a mixture of German and English to communicate with the locals.
So here we go again to Budapest and meet TBo and the Danish with his 10 or so other friends at a 4* Hotel downtown on the Pest side of the city. Nice! Big weekend, with some well deserved relaxation in Budapest thermal bath's finest! After that it was time to think going back in Antibes France for good French food. On the way back, we stopped for 2 nights in Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia. There was something special about that place. The city and the women were so nice, people were friendly and the atmosphere was so chill. I would definitely rate it as one of the finest city I have had a chance to visit. So that was about 3500 K's without a single problem with the ride, except maybe closing the hood, not bad for an some car so close to retirement.Pictures
Alex has all the pictures from Budapest Here
