We are in Hungary, at our 130th stopover since
setting off last year and 15th country. We are parked up
at a camper stop in a little place called Lenti, about 10kms across the border from Slovenia (N46.62582 E16.53266). It’s in
the middle of a housing estate, in the grounds a house and has space for 6
motorhomes. For 3,000HUF (approx €10) you get your own plot with all of the facilities you would find on a campsite.
 |
| Mel making friends with the owner's dog |
We had only been here about 10 minutes before the lady brought us a glass of Hungarian schnapps – wow it' strong stuff! Then again this morning another shot of scnapps at 9.30am - not our normal breakfast drink!!
 |
| My reaction to a shot of Hungarian Schnapps! |
Leaving Slovenia yesterday and travelling across the border into
Hungary we felt a little bit sad. We had
only spent a week in Slovenia and for us it is up there with Morocco and
Greece as one of our favourite countries we have visited so far, and both agreed it is
a country that we could easily live in.
It is such a beautiful and unspoiled country, the people are so friendly, it
is not overrun by tourists and everything is so cheap. We will definitely be back!
We left Rogla a couple of days ago. Sleeping on top of the mountain this time of year was pretty, but very cold – temperatures during the night dropped to 3°C so the gas heating worked overtime! The morning views were stunning though, as the sun slowly burnt of the clouds that settled in the mountain and valley.
 |
| Rogla Ski Resort |
Back down from Rogla, temperatures soon warmed up to 21°C – it was good to be back in the warm sunshine. The night before last we swapped wild camping on the top of a mountain for wild camping by Lake Drava, near Maribor. What a fabulous setting besides the river. In the middle of the river is the small island of Mariborski Otok, formed by the deposits of river sediments on solid rock – the only island of this kind in Slovenia. The island is accessed by a bridge and is covered in a diverse range of trees and fauna and a variety of bird life. It also has open air swimming baths on the island that have been in existence since 1930.
 |
| Sonny (the motorhome), nestled on the right-hand side beside the river overlooking the island Mariborski Otok |
Once parked up we walked along the river Drava into Maribor – about a 2km walk. Timber raft building in this area has been a tradition for
many years. Every year since 1984 timber
raftsmen come to this area to restore or build a new raft in the traditional
building methods and then take them out on the river.
Maribor is the second-largest city in Slovenia and was the EU Capital of Culture in 2012. It has 2 large squares but for us it didn't have the same appeal as other cities and certainly not as pretty as Ljubljana.
 |
| Savouring a lovely meal in the restaurant behind our free camping spot on the river - Gypsy's Roast and Seafood Rissoto |
Leaving Maribor, the Sat Nav took us along some lovely scenic
routes and through the grapevines.
We have had the Sat Nav set to avoid motorways since we got
into Slovenia. This meant we didn’t have
to buy a Vignette and we would get to see a lot more of the country. However, we didn’t count on the route taking
us through 3 countries in less than 45 minutes! We went from Slovenia, across the border into Austria, then back into
Slovenia before crossing into Hungary.
It felt strange not going through any border controls at each crossing
point, probably due to the fact that all 3 countries are in the Schengen Area. In fact we only just spotted this sign to let us know we were in Hungary!
Hungary still has it's own currency, so it was a trip to the bank to get some Hungarian Forint (HUF). Exchange rate was 1GBP = 324HUF and some large bank notes were dispensed!
 |
| Large Hungarian bank notes! |
We are now off to try out the thermal baths in the town and test out their healing properties!
Sally x
No comments:
Post a Comment