Daily Updates (Week 2-ish)
- jasonp1174
- Jul 14
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 22
Day 8 (Prague - Pilsen - Junktown)
Spent the morning walking the streets of old town Prague before heading out to Pilsen to have pilsner!! Went to the historic Pilsner Urquell brewery but we were too tight ass to pay for the tour so we just drank pilsner with everyone else in the large outdoor area before having a nice lunch and a wander through some farmers markets. It was then time to head out to 'Junktown' - I don't really know how to describe this place. It has been built to look like some kind of dystopian wasteland, but comes with a bar, a kitchen, and a camp ground! It was Max Max meets corporate off-site. But also, all the local degenerates were clearly hired to work here so it was a random place. Check out late night photo of Jason with a couple of ralliers and an 'employee' - you'll get a bit of the vibe.
We got to meet a bunch of the other teams, which was exciting, as was seeing all the different shit boxes we would be rallying with. As you can see one was already on a trailer before the rally even started!! And yes, there was mud wrestling. Or muddy water wrestling. We also ended up with blood in the water, but everyone survived and had a good time.
Day 9 (Junktown - Vienna - Bratislava - Budapest)
After being woken up by a marching band (!!!) we toddled off for a full English breakfast, fired up our itty bitty engines, and got to the start line. I forgot to mention but some rando offered to spray paint a love heart on our bonnet and without really thinking I said yes after seeing the immaculate spray job on his own car. Anyway, he didn't quite take the same care with our car and we suddenly had a permanent, slightly dodgy mod to our car.. Whoops.
We got a team photo and then we were off (in a suitably chaotic fashion).
Some dudes broke down 400m from the start, adding to the carnage we had seen reported in the team chat with a number of teams not even making it to the start. One team worked all night to rebuild their engine so they could start. Lucky that wasn't our car. There would have been no 'working all night to rebuild' even if we had the skills.
First stop was Vienna and the famous Burggaten, a beautiful parkland in the middle of the city, and had a picnic.
Then we crossed into Slovakia and visited Bratislava and Bratislava castle.
Before heading into Hungary to go to Budapest where we were staying in a hostel for the night. There were a number of teams in Budapest for the night but the girls were tired so no sampling of the night life for us.
Day 10 (Budapest - Sibiou)
The next morning we got up and went to some famous Roman Baths (they have a couple, we went to the Gellert baths). They had both hot thermal springs and a cool pool and it was a great refreshing way to start the day, although $50 entry each seemed a bit steep.
We then headed off to Romania and the famous Transylvania region. This was a Sage request and despite the big drive ended up being well worth it. Someone posted a campground they were going to near Sibiou and so we decided to join them (with a bunch of other teams) and as soon as we drove in we were met with this jolly giant from Hungary who felt it was his duty to pump us full of rakia shots ×3
We then setup camp and joined the other ralliers and the campground owner for some laughs and libations.
Day 11 (Sibiou - Transfăgărășan Pass - Zagreb)
Drove from our campground up the famous Transfăgărășan Pass. The scenery was spectacular. Got to see a bear along the way too.
Snuck in a langos (fried bread) with cheese at the top too.
We then did the biggest mission drive 'ever', heading back down the mountain and reversing over the morning, and a lot of the previous days driving, to scoot over to Croatia because we had been told the coast drive was amazing. 14 hrs driving, including going through the northern tip of Serbia, which required going through immigration/customs, which was ok going in, but more of a palaver going out, back into the EU (wanted a lot more info). What we did see in Serbia of note were giant crucifixions and lots of stork nests!
We had dinner in a town not far over the border into Croatia called Dakova. Only place open serving food (streets were full of people in bars/pubs which misled us into thinking we would get food here) was a kebab shop so we tried the Croation version of a kebab, which included corn and pickles as part of your 'salads'. Jason liked his, Alyssa and Sage rated 'mid'.
We arrived at 11:55pm in Zagreb pretty weary, and scuttled off to bed.
Day 12 (Zagreb - Zadar - Split - Ston - Dubrovnik)
Zagreb was nice but we didnt really explore as we were keen to get to the coast and go for a swim. The weather has gotten hot again (after a lot of cold and rain) so swims are the order of the day.
First stop was supposed to be Zadar although we ended up with an unscheduled stop for Alyssa to vomit (she blamed the 'kebab'). This triggered sympathy vomiting from Sage. Absolute carnage on the highway..
Unfortunately none of us looked at scenic/interesting options on the route either and found out after the fact that we had missed some beautiful waterfell-fed lakes on the way.. Ah well, next time...
Zadar was nice for a swim but the scenery on the way was the highlight. Unfortunately only took one average pic by the looks.
And we had our first taste of packed European beaches in summer.
Our next stop was Split, mostlyfor another swim. The city itself wasn'tmuch chop but the scenery along the highway was beautiful.
Next stop Ston, famous for oysters (which seriously amazing), but also served the biggest mountain of mussels known to man. Followed up dinner with another swim at a pretty little beach as the sun set. Then onto our campsite at Dubrovnik.
Day 13 (Dubrovnik - Kotor - Macedonian border - Lake Ohrid)
Wandered around Dubrovnik which has a beautiful old city. Unfortunately we missed the old city in our initial walking (bit of a stuff up) and only got a photo of the old battlements on our way out. Also the striations in some of the mountains around here was crazy.
We then left Croatia into Bosnia and Herzegovina and had an amazing drive throughout that country. Was only for an hour or so but cruising through the Bosnian mountains was really pretty.
On through to Montenegro then, and the city of Kotor which is world heritage listed and beautiful. A walled city with a moat and narrow twisting streets. Cool place.
Albania was a really interesting place. One minute your driving through little villages that were still uses horses/donkeys and carts and then next minute you're driving through a very modern city with LED billboards flashing everywhere. A real and obvious dichotomy between rich and poor and modern/old lifestyles.
Sadly our plans to cross into North Macedonia were foiled when the border guy demanded our 'green card' for Macedonia. This is car insurance for the specific country and despite the fact our travel insurance will basically cover what they're after some countries seem to demand this. Although it's a hit and miss thing depending on who you get at the border. Anyway this happened at 11:45 pm and our accommodation was just over the border so it was pretty annoying. Ol mate at the border offered us a taxi to our accommodation and said we could come back in the morning and buy the insurance from a guy at the border (probably with kickbacks involved). Anyway we got turned around and because of time it was too late to book anything so we looked for a free camp and were lucky enough to find a great one 15min away from border. It even had a power cable with 3 plug ins sitting in the middle of the little spot we found. A random Albanian mystery....
Also of note - I don't remember my Balkans history at all, but I gather none of these countries like each other given the roads approaching the border between these countries was always hilariously atrocious, whilst the roads elsewhere were always great.
Day 14 (Lake Ohrid - Pogradec - Thessalonika - Kavala - Alexandroupoli)
Woke up in our nice camp and set off for Lake Ohrid (the Albanian side, we had given up on seeing it through North Macedonia given our recent experience) only to see that we had basically been camped on the lake last night and didnt realise because of the dark and what must have been about 10m of corn between us and the lakeshore. Crazy.
Anyway, we drove down to the nice little town of Pogradec (about 15min down the road) and had a swim at the 'beach' in town.
From here it was through another border crossing and into Greece on our way to Thessalonika, a beautiful and historic city on the Mediterranean. The city is named after one of Alexander the Greats sisters (who was married to the guy that founded Thessalonika). And given Thessalonika is one of the main cities in the region of Macedonia (as opposed to the country of North Macedonia we had been denied), they of course have a giant statue of their most famous man - Alexander the Great!
We also saw the 'famous' 'white tower' and had an amazing Greek feast along the Mediterranean boulevard.
Our next stop was Kavala, for a swim. Beach was still chokkers at 6:30 pm!! Got to see a beautiful old roman aqueduct as we left and thought I got a photo of it but clearly didn't.
Pulled up at Alexandroupoli (Alexander named A LOT of cities after himself - we had already driven past Alexandria earlier in the day, and not the Egyptian one either) where an Irish team called Pints, Prayers and Pistons was planning to meet us. These guys were actually the first other team we met, so cool to catch up again. Had a fun night at the park 'bar' where Sage was introduced to Retsina (a Greek wine brewed with pine needles) for the first time.
Day 15 (Alexandroupoli - Ipsala - Gallipoli - Istanbul)
We woke up, had our last swim in the Aegean and set off for the Turkish border. We had been told that teams with a UK registered car but not UK residents were being charged a €750 (about $1350 AUD at current rates) transit tax!!! But then some teams reported they weren't charged it - seemed to depend on who you get at the border. We schemed to send the Irish guys ahead of us (who by the way had also given us some of their expensive and excellent Trappist monk beer in hopes to avoid paying import duties on it by staying ubder limits). We figured that if they had processed the Irish guys straight through they might just be inclined to do the same for us. Our plans went away fairly quickly when we were directed to a different line by a guy who asked if we had anything to declare, and we said yes. Apparently the Irish guys said 'no' despite numerous teams having reported having tk remove everything from their cars to be searched and the car x-rayed! Nerves set in only to he waived through by the various people checking our documents in a friendly andquick manner!! Could not have gone more smoothly and no sign of the €750 fee either - huzzah!
We then conveyed towards Istanbul before making a last minute decision to go back and visit Gallipoli. It was a 60km backtrack but Jason's plan to get to Istanbul in time to watch the Wallabies/Lions with some other teams was already over anyway 🥲.
Gallipoli was amazing. You can feel the history drenching the place and they have done an excellent job with memorials and info panels all over ANZAC cove. We visited Lone Pine first and then drove all of ANZAC cove before having a swim and a picnic lunch.
We then drove to Istanbul to our accommodation in Karakoy (nit Kadikoy where we had planned to join a bunch of other teams lol). Karakoy is part of the old city on the European side of Istanbul. The torturous route we took in the car to get to our accommodation was CRAZY! Driving through hoards of people on narrow twisting and one way streets. Jason dropped the girls at the accommodation (cause there had been no where to park for at least 10min driving) and went off to find a park. After a 20min adventure and much driving, he ended up finding a park a few hundred metres away. So lucky.
We then wandered down through the streets of Karakoy as our friends in 'Kadikoy' were more than 1hr 40min away. Was a beautiful place with lots going on. None of us felt that hungry so girls got a juice (from one of the many fresh juice vendors) and we toddled off to bed.
Day 17 (Istanbul)
Istanbul has cats. Lots of them. They are everywhere and seem to be homeless although well looked after. We saw food and water bowls, and even little shelters for them everywhere and there were ao many of them.
Istanbul also has lots of mosques, two of the most famous (in the world) being the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, where the Emperors of the eastern Roman Empire were once crowned. These buildings both had intricate tiling, painting, glasswork, etc and were very beautiful.
Also I forgot to mention but on our way walking there we came across a fish wrap stall and Jason had been wanting to try one of these, a specialty of Karakoy actually, and it delivered in spades. So good. Crossing the bridge from Karakoy to where most of the cities sites are (Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, Basilica Cistern etc) it is covered in fisherman and rods nearly shoulder to shoulder. It not without cause either, we saw 3 fish pulled up in as many minutes.
We then retreated from the heat and moved to our new accommodation, closer to the university, a bit away from the river and Karakoy. Had an afternoon kip and then drive over to Karakoy to have dinner and meet up with the Irish lads.
We had our first mezze with about 5 different dishes, which was pretty good and then met up with the Irish guys, with a couple of Dutch lads from the rally also joining later.
The Dutch guys were over our side of the city so we we took them home (via another pub and a few games of cards). Forgot to get a photo of everyone unfortunately.
We then move onto a new continent (Asia!) and Week 3-ish updates...
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