Today we said goodbye to Budapest. We were mostly on the road today. We crossed the Croatian border where we spent a fair bit of time with our passports being checked.
We were told to bring swimwear for this leg of the trip as we were stopping over Lake Balaton, central Europe’s largest freshwater lake. It was cold and windy when we got there. Nobody dared to swim. I simply had my Langos for lunch. Smoked cheese and cream on top, simple but yummy!
We then had a brief stop at the Balkan Open-air Museum where there with artillery remains of the Balkan wars — bombed planes, buildings w/ holes, tanks, etc. Hundreds of thousands killed and displaced in that war.
A number of these countries were former Yugoslavia. Under Tito, they had a relatively peaceful existence and good economy. Every country was given a golden ticket to exit the union of regions (now Balkan countries) under Yugoslavia. Eventually, Slovenia wanted out.They separated, peacefully. Then Croatia wanted out. That’s when all the trouble started. I don’t exactly recall what triggered the start of the 4-year war… but the death of their beloved Tito played a big part. Suddenly there was a vacuum in the leadership that held Yugoslavia together as a nation.
We stopped over at some small town in Croatia. I was running out of clothes to wear, so I bought a black top and a casual party dress. Preparing for more in Split, Croatia. That should have me sorted for a while.
The view along the way was quite nice. We passed by a castle, a “hobbit town” where there were cute little cottages with streams and waterfalls flowing through the village.
We arrived at a campsite to break the travel for the night. It was pouring. We waited it out for 30 mins inside the bus.
Cora and I shared a bungalow cottage. Very basic amenities, the toilet, and showers were 10 meters away.
It was still drizzling when we had the barbecue for dinner. I didn’t drink any alcohol this time. The others did. Cora was giggly the whole time. We’re getting warmed up and having fun, but we had to basically shut up and shut down by 11 PM so as not to disturb the whole campsite. Part of the group had an “after party” party at the bungalow next to us. I just dropped by, danced a bit and left. Not my thing or just not in the mood. I don’t know how they do it, having a drink and getting drunk nearly every night of the trip! Me, I’m happy just dancing, don’t need to drink!
