travels in a motorhome: Another three countries

We are parked up this afternoon outside a campsite in Letenye, Hungary. We were supposed to be parked inside but as it's closed we've saved ourselves the campsite fee which is nice. You have to wonder though why the site is called "Non-Stop Camping" when you consider it's closed for 8 months of the year.

Last night we were parked in the car park of a hotel about ten kilometres north of Ljubljana, electricity, water, showers and toilets for €10 although we didn't avail ourselves of the latter two facilities. We drove there from Bovec through more heavily wooded Alpine scenery and up and down two sets of switchbacks, great fun. Even more fun when both Sat Navs gave up on us halfway through the journey. At first we thought they just couldn't pick up satellites as we had mountains all around us but they both spent half the journey unsuccessfully "re-programming" and Phil did well to navigate us to our destination. We've since got the Tom Tom working but I've come to the conclusion that the Garmin doesn't have maps for Slovenia included in its Western Europe package so I doubt it will be much use here in Hungary or Romania and Bulgaria come to that.

We finally settled down to watch a movie last night and after about three minutes it started raining so we turned up the volume. Then it started with the thunder and lightning. Speaker cranked up to full volume which would usually blow us out of the doors and still we couldn't hear a word of dialogue so eventually we gave up. The storm lasted a good three hours. The van would suddenly be lit up by the lightning and then a few seconds later we would hear and feel the thunder through the floor. It finally eased up about midnight and allowed us to get some sleep.

We realised a couple of days ago that we needed a vignette for both Slovenia and Hungary if we wanted to use the motorways and other toll roads and while using the back roads gives us the best views it becomes tiring after a while and often doubles the journey time. So I bought the Slovenian vignette from the garage at Bovec before we set off and stuck it in the windscreen and purchased the Hungarian one online which works on a number plate recognition system. Off we set this morning to a campsite in Slovenia, back roads to start with and then some motorway. The journey didn't take too long and we arrived at the campsite which was horrendously expensive and the car park opposite was €22 a night. Quick look at the map and we decided to push on into Hungary and the campsite we had picked out there, just over the border. We reached the border a lot quicker than we expected, quick passport check and we were through although a little surprised to read the signs saying "Welcome to Croatia". That should have been the give away really but the signs looked so tatty and faded that I thought they were a hangover from some previous border point and stopped at the next town to get some Hungarian money from the cash machine. I finally got the message when I looked at the notes and saw they were issued by the Bank of Zagreb. "We're in Croatia" I said to Phil, which comment was greeted by a sorry shake of the head. We weren't really insured for Croatia as I hadn't bothered to get a green card as we hadn't intended to visit. Another look at the map and it was only a few kilometres to the Croatian/Hungarian border and just 40 minutes to the campsite but by now I had 1300 Croation HRK. There was a bank over the road so in I went and they eventually called the manager, who spoke English. I didn't explain why I wanted to change their currency into Hungarian Forints but they didn't have any anyway so they changed it back into Euros for me. I won't entertain you further with my efforts to exit the bank through the double automatic doors. Suffice to say I eventually emerged suitably red-faced, having giving the few customers inside and those waiting outside to get in, a story they will probably be telling for generations to come. Back in the van and twenty minutes later we'd crossed into Hungary and I stopped at roadside exchange bureau and finally got some Hungarian cash.

Tomorrow we were going to head east and the following day south into Romania but although we snooped round a couple of German towns a week or so ago we haven't really done any sightseeing so far other than exploring the fabulous countryside. So, a change of plan and we've decided to go to Budapest tomorrow and spend a couple of days exploring there. Phil's looking at the twelve "must do" things in Budapest so we could be in for a busy couple of days, she's even found a House of Terror museum!!!

When we finally crossed into Hungary the border official asked where we were going and when we told him he suggested we push on further to Nagylanizsa where he said there would be more for us to see. We didn't take his advice and sure enough there isn't much to do here in Letenye. But, just 100 metres from where we are parked is a truly amazing building. It's the public library and it has been built with only timber, stone and glass. It's more of a sculpture than a building and is truly impressive. Another twenty five metres away is a five hundred year old plane tree and the two compliment each other perfectly. I've taken some pics but they don't really do this wonderful building justice.

The Library