Italy
Location/area: Ispra, Lake Maggiore and Montebello Vicentino, Tenuta Maule winery
Date: October 2nd to 4th, 2023
Starting later than planned - always those busy schedules of those released from work - this time we set off on a journey of discovery towards southeastern Europe. Gotthard Tunnel survived unscathed.
A little less excited than on our first trip, we find our night spot right next to Lake Maggiore between free-roaming chickens. Installed, walked and enjoyed a fine aperitif as a reward, we relax and slowly end up back on the road.
The next day we visit the Tenuta Maule winery in Montebello Vicentino (Veneto), which is now run by the 5th generation and produces award-winning wines.
In an area of volcanic origin, the production building was recently built in a futuristic, simple architecture and we marvel at the interior during a private tour. A mix of traditional and state-of-the-art equipment. Of course including tasting. The wines tasted were a pleasure and, above all, numerous. We can easily spend the night in our van between the vines.
Location/Area: Cafè Smeraldo, Romans, Friuli Region
Date: October 4th - 5th, 2023
Wordless awakening, my voice must have remained in the cellar somewhere. But my nose is a raging river, my throat is so thick, without Silvio saying anything wrong.
As we continue my journey, I loot the nearest pharmacy, use up miles of tissues and feel very sorry for myself!
We stay next to Giovanni's small restaurant on the lakeshore and now we're taking care of it.
According to Silvio, dinner was good, but unfortunately I couldn't taste much of it. But even more so the grappa, best medicinal effect ever!
The evening was accompanied musically by the chirping of budgies from the in-house aviary, wonderful!
Croatia
Location/Area: Below Umag and Papafigo Olive Estate, Istria
Date: October 5th to 8th, 2023
If we're heading south, then we'd like to see some sea and end up in Istria, a beautiful peninsula below Umag. So, first put your feet in the water, rinse your nose well with salt water and place our van as inconspicuously as possible. Enjoy the panoramic view, have an aperitif at a nearby beach bar, and Silvio's kitchen is open in the evening.
Awakening to the sun and an approaching church car. Oops, is the authority often mentioned in various travel platforms approaching to fill the coffers with wild campers?
And the negotiations begin, we finally shell out 100 euros and know that this was clearly the wrong place to stay. For this price I would have expected at least a warm shower, fresh coffee and rolls included! Swim diligently again, there are lots of small jellyfish in many places and I find that this is clearly not our corner!
I'm still pretty cold and a bit under the weather, so off to the interior of Istria with some infrastructure.
We clearly find that in the Papafigo olive estate, embedded in around 350 olive trees, a small selection and a great restaurant. Pool, wonderful view of the sea and blue sky compensate us for the somewhat strange start.
Clever business idea to integrate a few mobile homes and parking spaces into this olive grove. And we learn that Istria is the best region in the world for virgin olive oil for the sixth year in a row! Test and buy! Convinced! And then the wines, delicious.
During our two-day stay the olive harvest begins, which we followed with interest. The entire owner family, including friends and neighbors, are involved in the laborious picking with manual and technical tools. Around 750 kilos in one day, this makes around 100 liters!
Since we are almost the only guests, we get a full service of attention, stories and knowledge. This is a great way to slowly recover!
Umag
Papafigo Olive Estate
Place/area: Island of Pag, near Novalja
Date: October 8th - 10th, 2023
Continue your journey a little away from the tourist density that is still very noticeable in Croatia. The long, repeatedly praised coastal stretch of the Adriatic Highway is indeed an absolute feast for the eyes with its many small and large rivers! The towns on the coast - outside of the old towns - are rather faceless, with an incredible number of new buildings and construction sites. Looks very bad for future crowds in the high season.
In Prizna we take the ferry to the island of Pag and first land in a mostly uninhabited and barren area that reminds me strongly of the island of Lanzerote. Very exciting and changeable moods, small bays, mountains and a wonderful play of colors in the water.
Near Novalja on the upper tip of the narrow island, our place under the trees and just a few steps from the sea is ideal for extending the awning and installing the hammock.
Remind Silvio of his birthday, for once I'm standing in the kitchen, doing the dishes! Happy Birthday!
Location/Area: Vir Island
Date: October 11 - 13, 2023
We discovered island hopping, the peace and quiet and just lots of nature. Here too, the few towns are visibly expanding, the original villages are being covered over by new buildings without lived stories.
Lots of nature, lush vegetation and sea everywhere!
Drive a small, rather adventurous path towards the water, after a small clearing our dream place... oh, someone is already standing here. However, since there is enough space, we will stay for now. It looks cozy with our neighbors, large wooden table, outdoor kitchen, lots of chairs, hammock, etc. Nice welcome from Norbert and Hermine, who have been spending several weeks here during the off-season for years.
We discover stone and wood creations everywhere and marvel at the most original xylophone ever, which stands invitingly between the stones on the seashore. The work of the lively Markus, who also pitched his tent here during the warmer season.
It is an incredibly beautiful corner of the world here, walks from one small bay to the next, always small fishing boats, didgeridoo concert (we were able to steadfastly fend off the drumming).
Markus catches a horned viper, clearly too close to us, so he releases it further away. I'm thinking about whether I should only do my future pee trips into the bushes with rubber boots or with heavy stomping.
Since our neighbors always cooked too much, we eat out more often, with a big, sociable table, good conversations and lots of laughter. There are constant visits from Norbert and Hermine's friends, who live in the small town of Vir and enjoy not only the beauty of the surroundings but also the warm hospitality of the two.
As we stargaze and ponder God and the world, we discover that the three ladies with the Virgo zodiac sign have a birthday ladder of August 27th, 28th and 29th. That would actually be a reason to celebrate these days together next year. Who knows!
Location/area: Camp Sirena, near Lokva Rogoznica and Dubrovnic
Date: October 13 - 16, 2023
We really enjoyed the wonderful surroundings and the days in very pleasant and lively company, but we are still drawn further south.
At the small Camp Sirena with a beautiful beach we once again find a place to shower, wash clothes, change water and since eating out is so much fun, we enjoy a wonderful fish buffet in Milan's small restaurant. All this in the extremely pleasant company of the likeable older couple Edith and Michèl. He is a completely French monsieur, a good storyteller with a straightforward opinion about the “comme il faut” of respectful, mutual interpersonal interaction. She is endowed with a touching, down-to-earth gentleness.
Since a break in the weather with rather cooler and rainy weather is predicted in the next few days, I'm using the still sunny and warm moment for extensive sea swimming, Silvio is using the WiFi to edit our website.
So far we have skipped larger cities, but the old town of Dubrovnic is definitely on our agenda. For our night spot we found a small camp above wild cliffs about 20km from the city, with a bus station nearby.
Dubrovnic represents a freedom that the rest of the country never had and remained an independent city-state for a long time. The old town, with its over 2km long city wall, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Impressive view from the outside, through the Pile Gate - one of five gates into the old town - we start our tour and……. first in single file, traffic jam, Silvio looks quite irritated, one step forward, two steps back, there is clearly a risk of escape! My repeated “We just have to get through this!” finally convinced me.
A beautiful little town indeed, you can always catch glimpses of treasures through the crowds, guided groups and tourists addicted to luxury shopping. We sit down in a large square, treat ourselves to an aperitif and watch the hustle and bustle. When I paid I had to gasp for a moment, even for a Swiss woman who comes from an expensive country, the prices here are simply insane!
We skip the tour of the city wall for 35 euros per person, stroll through the streets and enjoy a wonderful dinner in a small square above the beaten paths. In the end we missed the bus, so we took the taxi, which wasn't exactly cheap, back to our place for the night. Well, it suits the rather financially demanding day!
As we continue our journey along the coastal road tomorrow, we'll definitely enjoy a fantastic view of the old town from above, and it's free!
Montenegro
Place/Area: Near Zelenika/Near Mrkojevici/Camp Čuk, Donji Martinići
Date: October 17 - 21, 2023
Here, too, a visual delight, the journey on the coastal road towards Montenegro, as well as the view of the old town of Dubrovnic from above!
Slightly rainy and cooler, the next few days will be very unstable in terms of weather, unfortunately all the weather apps on our cell phones are threatening us with this.
It's been a long time since we've had another border check on our route, our papers are examined very carefully and finally a stamp in our rather virgin passport!
About 20 km after the border, a few rays of sunshine entice you to stay, many of the bars have already closed. Instead we come across the bar “Vagon”, with details lovingly furnished in a former train compartment, stay until it simply gets too cold. The kitchen is sizzling in the tiny house this evening, and eating is also indoors.
As we continue our journey, I revel in the dialogue between mountains, lakes and coast and I can hardly get enough of it. I'm glad that Silvio is keeping a good eye on the winding and potholed roads behind the wheel. It takes a lot of time to cover just a few kilometers.
Drive along the much-praised Kotor Bay, aim for Kotor and be amazed! Apparently all of Montenegro tourism has gathered here, tons of coaches disgorging people, impossible to find a parking space anywhere here. This time I'm not stopping Silvio from going backwards!
The infrastructure in Montenegro is rather simpler outside of the well-known places and, like no other country in southeastern Europe, it is characterized by rugged mountains, steep gorges and dense forests. I feel immediately at home in this small state with its many facets, although of course the poverty is always visible here.
We spend the night in pure nature with Nadja and Chris at their place “Namaste”, complete with a campfire and their insatiable dog Komma.
The next day we look for a “rain-free location” with little infrastructure so that we don’t suddenly find ourselves trampling on our feet in the van.
In the interior, northwest of the capital Podgorica, Mirko's small camp “Čuk” is the ideal place! Beautiful outdoor bar with plenty of covered space to linger, embedded in the Zeta Nature Park. With a lot of passion and passion, Mirko created a wooden gem in a forest, including five teepees. Standing on the neighboring wide meadow, prepared for the heavy rain, once again we are the only guests here in the off-season.
Enjoy the conversations with Mirko, the food from his kitchen and the solitude on the meadow. And discover the “Dunya”, an excellent quince schnapps, distilled by his neighbor, one more reason to visit the “bar” every now and then!
Albania
Place/area: Nature reserve near Velipoja
Date: October 22 - 25, 2023
Autumn is also slowly starting to feel in the interior of Montenegro, so further into Albania, towards the south. Drive - this time on the Albanian side - along Lake Skadar, with 350 square kilometers the largest inland body of water in the Balkans and home to numerous fish, bird and plant species, some of which only occur here. And we keep discovering churches and monasteries on small islands, some of which have been preserved to this day.
My head needs a mental digestion process, a lot of impressions want to settle, I found the ideal place to do so next to Kristian's small restaurant with a wonderful outdoor area, beautifully located on a lagoon and by the sea. A somewhat adventurous little bridge leads directly to the beach; apart from the fishermen, I'm almost the only rubber duck. And yes, with the water temperature over 20 degrees and sunshine, it's still a pleasure!
The freshly caught fish end up in Kristian's kitchen, among other things, we dive after them and take a seat at the set table every now and then full of anticipation. And we weren't disappointed!
The beach is pretty clean by Albanian standards, unfortunately the trash problem that is mentioned again and again - especially in the north - cannot be glossed over. Building rubble, defective machines and household waste can be found in even the most remote places without any sense. There is still a lack of necessary infrastructure in many areas, but since Albania has been on the waiting list to join the EU since 2014, improvements are expected. But for one of the poorest countries in Europe, waste disposal is probably not the top priority.
