The Greek Express

Day 124 - Day 128

Following the carnage over the five days in Munich (two for Oktoberfest), we were well and truly ready to hit the road again towards Greece. 

Hitting the road would have been all the bit easier if the motorbike wasn't still sitting in the carpark at Munich Airport (thanks MUC for the free parking) and Luke having a rather swollen hand from a late night altercation with a bunch of pesky Italians.

Nonetheless the bike was picked up and packed in and we started our journey south to Greece. In the months previous we had planned to spend a good couple of weeks making our way down to the struggling economy, going via Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria, however, we came to a very mutual decision that it was time to put the trip into a slower gear, reduce the number of churches and towns we would visit and spend a bit more time soaking up the sun. 

With that in mind, the following pictures depict some of the more interesting places we stopped on our 1800km journey down to Greece in four days.

Moving cattle Austrian Style just outside of Hallstadt.

Returning to Hallstadt for a second time on our way south with some more favourable weather.

A marvellous sunny day in Hallstadt - much better than the dreary, horrible weather we had on our last visit.

Waterside Hallstadt - with an abnormal number of Asian tourists. We're not being racist here, it was just that you very rarely see any through Germany and then suddenly find they are all camped in Hallstadt for some reason?

Claire loves her local flowers and local architecture.

Hallstadt

Hallstadt

Some of the road kill that hit our windscreen. This guy decided to park himself at high speed under the bonnet and gave me a bit of a fright when checking the oil - so much so that a little wee came out.

We passed this road sign as we passed through Serbia - either this is the only Macca's in the country or they don't want you to miss it. Unfortunately we didn't make it to Velika Plana to grab a Cheeseburger.

As we drove through Serbia, we noticed a large number of the roadside safety barriers had been crushed in certain places. After passing this tow truck we soon realised why. The tow truck is winching another truck that it is on its side and about 100 metres into a corn field!

This photo looks a bit better than the place actually was. After spending the whole day driving through seedy Serbia, we finally pulled up at a large truck stop and restaurant for the night. Not wanting to be rude, we purchased a non-alcoholic beer (on a AFW from Oktoberfest) at the restaurant and then asked if we could stay the night in the car park.

The Serbian restaurant owner said it was fine and we started to position the van, only for his rather stocky friend to come out and advise that where we currently were wouldn't be that safe from guns and it would be safer to park behind the building. We obliged wholeheartedly.

Entering the capital of Bulgaria - Sofia. This man is the most ripped old bloke I've seen. Unfortunately that muscle seems to be have been built by scavenging through the local rubbish tip for odds and ends.

Another brilliant advertisement for tourism in Bulgaria - Sofia.

People talk about the slums that exist in India and the subcontinent, but you don't hear about those in Eastern Europe, only minutes from a new-age capital city.

Making our way up Rila Mountain via the ski lift.

Rila Mountain Ski Resort - a much better advertisement for Bulgarian tourism. 

Making our way up to the Rila Mountain Seven Lakes.

One of the features of the Rila Mountain area is the Seven Lakes. We were a bit pressed for time as we left the hike up a little late in the day, so only managed to see three.

Number Three of the Seven Lakes.

Couple shot on the Third Lake.

On the way back down the mountain before the sun sets. We only bought a one way ticket on the ski lift and unfortunately the lifty was quite devoted to his job checking each ticket, so we had to make our way down by foot.

Some crazy flowers we stumbled upon on our walk down the hill. When you look at them in their entirety they look a bit shit, but up close they're kind of magical. 

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this was a diversion we had to take in a small town in Bulgaria. They were digging up the main street so we had to go down what was quite possibly the worst road we had travelled on to date. How the plates and glasses didn't break in the back of the van has still got me.

Getting into the Rila Monastary early - just after his holiness.

One of the frescoes on the outer building of the monastery. With colour like that I reckon they had to have used Derwents.

Another amazing fresco just outside the entrance to the monastery. This is the Archangel Michael giving a heathen a bit of 'Hows Your Father' after his team lost in the local derby. 

A couple of the local lads comparing stories about some hot nuns from down the road.

A little bit distraught about the monastery toilets running out of paper.

Only a day earlier we had driven down Bulgaria's worst road. It would only be fitting to now find our way into Bulgari's worst car park. 

After seeing these wheels, I realised why Bulgaria doesn't have a car industry. Why would you need the latest VW Golf with 170 horsepower, when you can do the same thing with one.