Austria is a beautiful country! In past travels, we have been to both Salzburg and Vienna but this time we were in Innsbruck and then heading to the Slovenian border so we could start the Balkan part of our adventure.

Innsbruck was sunny and hot weather but we felt totally over-awed by the mountains around us and the glorious blue sky above the mountains! But I keep on asking where do they ski? Everywhere we looked on the mountains, we could see forests and you can’t ski through forests (unless you’re James Bond and being chased by the baddies!)  But I was repeatedly assured that were areas where you could ski – it’s just that they weren’t right outside the city.

We were heading across country, using the motorways because we had paid for our Vignette, and we found some lovely places to camp – one was in a town parking area next to a river (Kuchl) and one was in the car park at a Therme (Villach). We actually decided to stop at Villach so we could spend a few hours at them Therme, relaxing in the pool and then enjoying the saunas.

From Austria, through Slovenia in a day, to Croatia – this time we were heading to Pula to relax by the sea. The campground was crowded and hilly, and we had trouble finding somewhere we could park the WoMo on a relatively flat area. The weather was hot, but the water was delightfully cold! And the weather was so hot that you needed to get into the water just to cool down.

One of the things that we didn’t like about Croatian beaches was they they don’t have sandy beaches, not even shingles like in the UK but rocks! So you almost break your ankle trying to walk across to the water! And you either have to wear Reef shoes or sandals, like Keens or Tevas just to get into the water!

We spent a day exploring Pula – like a lot of coastal Croatia, it was part of the ancient Roman Empire, so there is always interesting stuff to see. But because it is built from limestone or tufa, it absorbs the heat and reflects it back at you. So walking around the town required Lotes of stops for drinks and ice creams! In Pula, some of the old Roman remains are still present, like the Forum, a Temple and the Arena which is still used for outdoor concerts and performances.

We had 3 nights in Pula, so after exploring the Town, on the next day, we went sea-kayaking! You could go cliff-jumping (too old and not agile enough for that), swimming (tick that box), snorkeling (why? Nothing to see) and exploring a sea cave. Around Pula, there are a lot of sea caves that have very narrow entrances but open out to quite large caves. We had heaps of fun, but paid for it the next day with sore shoulders – from paddling not sunburn!

From Pula, we headed across country towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. We wanted to get to Mostar to see the Mostar Bridge which had been destroyed in 1993 during the Croat-Bosnian War but rebuilt by the UN and reopened in 2004. Whilst it is no longer the “Old” Bridge that was built in the 16th Century, the rebuilt bridge is a replica of the original bridge.

We had heard about people who jump off the Mostar Bridge and we thought “They’re crazy!”, but they do it! From the top of the Mostar Bridge to the Neretva River below, it is about 100 metres, depending on the water level in the River! While we were sitting enjoying our first drink of the day – did I mention that it was hot is Mostar too?, we watched a guy jump into the river from the top of the bridge.  Since 2015, the Stari Most (Mostar Bridge) has been part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series!

One of the things that we liked in this part of the world is that diesel fuel is relatively cheap – ok, so not compared to prices in Australia, but certainly compared to the rest of Europe. And the prices of fuel in Croatia was fixed, as in – it was the same price at every service station that we passed! And in Bosnia, fuel was between 246-264Km (Convertible Marks), and 1 Euro is equal to 2 Kms, so the price of fuel was fantastic! In fact, we found most things to be at a very affordable price in Bosnia – fuel, drinks, meals, but not sunglasses! MJ broke her sunnies and she needed to get a new pair which ended up costing over $200! She had better be careful with this pair!!

One of the things that you encounter when driving around Europe is Tolls and/or Vignettes. In France, there are toll-gates on the Auto-Routes and you pay as you go. In Switzerland, you buy an Annual Vignette which costs 40CHF regardless of when you buy it. In Austria, you can buy a Vignette for a year, a month or 10 days. In Slovenia, you buy an eVignette for either a year, a month or a week. In Croatia and Bosnia, you pay Tolls.

In France, we made a concerted effort to avoid travelling on the Auto-Routes, but on our last day, which was a long day of driving to Strasbourg, we took the Auto-Route. That ended up costing a total of $A75.55! We bought a 10-day Vignette for Austria but we also had to pay for 2 tunnels, which meant that we spent a total of $A57.72 on Vignette and Tolls. We had planned on travelling across Slovenia twice so bought a 2-week Vignette, which cost us $A107.73! And finally in Croatia and Bosnia, we paid tolls which came to a total of $A53.25. This means that we have paid a grand total of $A363.38 for Tolls in about 6 weeks! Ouch!!

By this stage, we were sick of paying so much for Tolls, so when we left Croatia, we had already decided that we weren’t going back through Slovenia and Austria, so after looking at multiple maps, we decided to return to Germany via Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. All of these countries require a Vignette to travelled on their Motorways. Well that was easy, we just adjusted our GPS to ignore Tolls and we ended up travelling along country roads, enjoying the scenery, seeing farm lands and villages. The total Kilometers travelled was probably more but we stooged our way across these countries, stopping where we found a campsite, enjoying the scenery and cursing the tractors on the roads!

We stopped in Bratislava for a couple of days at the only “approved” campground and explored the town. We walked around the old City Walls – ok so it was so that MJ could get a Multi-cache, and visited a Soviet Memorial at the top of a hill, which gave some amazing views across Bratislava.

From Bratislava, we headed across the Czech Republic. We had been to Prague before and explored the more northern areas, so this time, we headed to Brno where we found a campsite, which was only a few kilometers from the Brno Racing Circuit, so for all of the afternoon, we could hear motorbikes going round and round and round…

Now we are heading into Bavaria to catch up with friends!