Southeast Europe Tour – 2016

Southeast Europe Tour – September 2016

We would like to share our south-east Europe tour notes in this article to take attention to the things which we enjoyed to see and experience during the trip.

Our route is starting from Turkey (Istanbul) and passing through Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Austria.

Our Route

First, we passed to Bulgaria and luckily there was no queue on the border. It’s the biggest border gate of Europe. (Kapıkule - Kapitan Andreevo)  Before stepping on Bulgaria´s land we had to pass through the disinfection area by car. Then we were asked to stop to pay it. (3 €)

There is a long and straight way until Bulgaria`s capital city (Sofia). It`s a very lovely city with many ancients and historic monuments to see and visit. Despite of our low expectations it’s a very beautiful city. We could see Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Boyana Church, Russian Church, Church of St. Petka of the Saddlers and Vitosha Street. You can find the most stylish women and mafia-looking men in Vitosha Street.

On the next morning we drove from Bulgaria to Serbia. Curiously, there was no car disinfection required to get in Serbia.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

When we arrived to Belgrade (Serbia`s capital) we get to see a beautiful and organized city. There were many people riding bicycles, many green places.  In one of the public parks there was a huge magnifying glass, where we took great pictures.

Saint Sava´s Cathedral is one of the most attracted places for tourists and you can also see the Nikola Tesla´s sculptor in the garden of Cathedral.

Sava Temple

Nicola Tesla

It is possible to take the tram until Belgrade´s Zoo, which is located inside big Kalemegdan Park. Further on, It is seen Belgrade’s Fortress, where we stopped in a nice restaurant to eat Belgrade´s typical food Cevapcici (meat rolls with onions) and then we walked through the park until we find a wonderful view to the city. We sat down and contemplated Sava and Danube´s River. In the summer evenings Knez Mihailova Street and Kalemegdan are full of people who want to enjoy the nature and vitality of the city. It is also interesting to see Republic`s Parliament and ruins left after NATO´s bombing times.

At midday we were back on the road straight to Croatia´s capital city (Zagreb). It´s a beautiful city where we could see some monuments: Zagreb’s Cathedral, Mimara Museum, Art Pavilion, Banjelacic Square, Croatian´s National Theater.

The Istra Peninsula is the green pearl of Croatia. Everywhere it was clean and natural, the water is crystal clear and people are respecting the nature.

(Little musicians are playing "Ederlezi" in the Belgrade Streets)

Zagreb Cathedral

Pula is a small city and has an ancient arena that is very similar to the Coliseum in Rome.

On the way back we have stopped in Rovinj. Cute city, just next to the sea, where some buildings bloomed out from the water, quite like in Venice.

Pula

While we continue on our way first we passed to Slovenia and shortly after we cross Italy’s border and had a quick stop to lunch in Trieste. Although Trieste’s city entry was not so welcoming, with a very big industrial area and port just before arriving, it’s a beautiful and historic town. The city itself, it’s surprisingly beautiful.  Big Piazzas can be seen all over the city and ancient architectural buildings.  We´ve stop in Piazza d´Unita and walked until Sant´Antonio Nuovo´s Church. (We had a bit difficulty in finding gluten free food, since most of the places they sell pizza).

Rovinj

Rovinj

Then we hit the road again to Slovenia. When we arrive to the largest city Ljubljana, very organized, green and clean city was waiting for us. There are a lot of old buildings to see and monuments just along the Ljubljanica River where we took a boat trip and quickly figured out where was the central square. It was very nice to see many people riding bicycles through the city. At night we had dinner in a very fancy and wonderful restaurant near the canal. All the people that we interact speak English. No problems with communication.

Bled

It was an amazing traveler’s day: breakfast in Croatia (Vrsar), lunch in Italy (Trieste) and dinner in Slovenia (Ljubljana).

Bled

On the next day we went to Bled, where there is a big amazing lake and a few historic buildings around, with a long walking path for people to appreciate all nature surrounding the area. On the water there are many duck and swan families.

Bled

After Bled we continue our trip, but instead of going to Maribor through Slovenia roads, we have decided to go through Austria, as the distance was more or less the same, and stop in Graz to take a quick look.

On Austria’s border we were stopped because of our car registration being from Turkey. On the way to Graz city there were many mountains and everywhere was full with green grass with some animals grazing around sometimes. Also we´ve realize that all the houses have a building standard. Most of them have the same roof structure.   

Austria

Graz

Once we arrived to Graz, we’ve walked around the city center a bit to learn about it. We’ve seen many old historic buildings with beautiful architecture. Although there were nice things to see in the city center, we were a bit disappointed, as we were expecting big green parks through the city center and perhaps more organized…

We hit the road again, back to Slovenia and had stopped in Maribor. Maribor is a small town very calm and pleasant. We’ve seen Maribor’s Castle and its Cathedral.

From Maribor we drove a long way until Belgrade. Again it was a traveler’s day: breakfast in Slovenia (Maribor), lunch in Croatia, and dinner in Serbia (Belgrade). In Belgrade we passed the night in a boatel. It was very cool and enjoyable passing the night over the water. At night, we could hear live music along the river, where we walked a bit until a float-restaurant nearby, where we had a wonderful and very romantic dinner under full moon!!

Maribor

We were supposed to ride a bike around that big park, but we were very tired and a long trip back home on the next day… In the morning it was so peaceful and enjoyable in the boatel. After a disappointing breakfast we hit the road again to our last stop before going home: Plovdiv (Bulgaria).

Serbia

Plovdiv is a very nice city, with a few ancient monuments for contemplation, like an open Roman Theatre, few churches, and a long ancient Stadium of Philipopolis.  Also there are many ruins all over the city to be seen. Surprisingly it’s a very interesting city. At night we went to downtown to have dinner. We found a very big garden with uncounted full tables to sit and with a very long list of more than 100 different plates of food to choose. You can find meat of chicken, cow, sheep, pork and even frog.

Next day we left Plovdiv with a sad feeling because we haven’t seen the ancient stadium and couldn´t by one fridge magnet from this city.

Then we come back home to our life, where our cats were desperately waiting for us.

As a conclusion, we had a great and rich time but also very tiring trip. We could see/learn about different countries, different cities / realities in just a few days, which make us hungry to see more of those countries and much more of Europe, Asia, America…start planning our next trip already!!! J