On To The Balkans

One of the advantages of traveling as we do is that we can change our minds and change directions. Our only big constraints are the Schengen Agreement (the 90-day visa thing) and airline reservations. When we "planned" this year's Italian campaign, we figured we'd do some of the south, Sicily, Malta, and then head up north to the Alps or the Dolomites when the weather got too warm. Stay there in Courmayeur or Chamonix, places we know and love. Hike and climb. Enjoy great scenery. Eat great food, whether Italian or French. That was our plan.

Somehow it changed: the allure of the untried, the unknown. Friends, fellow travelers, have extolled the Balkans, and, although we have done much of eastern Europe, we'd never ventured beyond Trieste. So, mostly wanting something new and exciting, we decided we'd head into the Balkans, hitting the high spots of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Hertzegovina. We had to add a few countries to our credit card approval list and check our vehicle insurance, but otherwise it was a "go." We'd find an English travel guide somewhere along the way. (We didn't). Turn right at the top of the Adriatic, turn right again and head south. Hope that the Italian TIM phone/data plan would continue to work. (Some places yes, some places, no).

So we bid adieu to Prato Smeraldo, hit the Gran Anulare Ricordo, by-passed Rome, and headed north, passing many favorite and wonderful places, vowing to return, stopping for the night at Terme Abano, near Padua. And then back on the road the next morning, braving the northern Italian truck traffic, and indeed turning right, over the Adriatic, and then right again, into Slovenia. Determined to get on with it, we drove right on to Split, Croatia, where our Balkan adventure began.

So there we are, over Trieste (we think), the Balkans on the left, Italy on the
right, passing into Slovenia...

And so what is the first thing you'd see? Porky's, of course

And there's Porky himself; turns out we'd see many more such establishments

Discouraged but undeterred, we carried on

We are apparently not the first RV to enter the Balkans; by the time we reached
Split, we were commenting we'd never seen so many RVs except in Arizona
and southwestern France

Most interestingly, the Adriatic's eastern coast is lined by large picturesque
islands, each with a stunning coastline itself

Above Split, about to descend to the coast and the Split RV park