Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and a bit of the Czech Republic - The Journey Home

Now the return journey began. To make it feel less daunting, we planned a few stops along the way.

After Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina is more or less behind us, and we were back on EU soil for the first time in a long while. Right after the border, we visited a dark chapter of Croatian history in Jasenovac. Here was the largest concentration camp outside the German Reich, operated by the fascist Ustasha regime. Not much remains, but the location between the Sava River and the vast marshlands clearly illustrates the hopelessness of the detainees. People suffered here, as in all other concentration camps, under inhumane conditions. Tito therefore had a very special Spomenik erected here to commemorate this.

During our planning for the last destinations of our trip, we quickly realized: in Northern Croatia, sightseeing spots, national parks, and beautiful towns are in short supply. Therefore, we decided to take a relaxed drive along the Sava through the adjacent Lonjsko Polje National Park. This area contains one of the largest marshlands in Europe. We felt like we were back in Germany and had passed Dresden again. The landscape was very reminiscent of the Spreewald region, and the large wooden houses typical for here were rather unusual compared to the countries we had traveled in the past months.

So we followed the Sava for a day through Croatia and found a great place to stay right by the river.

We decided to skip Zagreb due to lack of time. The next stop was Varaždin at the border with Slovenia. There simply was no worthwhile destination inland. Varaždin is a charming, inviting small town with a castle and a baroque old town. The annual city festival was taking place, allowing us to feast through the town and enjoy the lively atmosphere. However, the many stalls of the festival obscured the beautiful facades and buildings of the town.

Near Varaždin lies the very impressive and distinctive Veliki Tabor Castle. We spent the night directly at the foot of the castle with a spectacular view.

But that was already the end of Croatia, and we drove through the mountains to Slovenia. Here, two cities awaited us, hailed as the pearls of Slovenia: Ptuj and Maribor. Ptuj is Slovenia's oldest city.

Maribor initially looked just like Ptuj from a distance. However, that didn't stop us from taking a small stroll through the city. Before that, we treated Karl to some playtime at a nearby daycare playground.

Maribor feels larger and more stately than Ptuj, as it is also the second-largest city in Slovenia. Grand houses surround the city's large marketplace. However, the true star of Maribor can be found at the medieval riverside promenade. Here grows the oldest edible grapevine in the world, which is also listed in the Guinness World Records.

From Maribor, it was just a stone's throw to Austria. Fortunately, Google warned us of a huge traffic jam on the highway, so we entered Austria via small back roads. Unfamiliar views awaited us in this still hilly landscape. We passed Graz on our right and aimed for the Alps. For the first time in a long while, we spent the night at a highway rest stop. With some time to spare, we treated ourselves to a visit to the Grimming Thermal Spa.

Our destination, however, lay in the Alps by Lake Hallstatt: the picture-perfect town of Hallstatt. We parked the G surprisingly centrally and for free with the best view in a half-tunnel above the town. Hallstatt lies beautifully by the crystal-clear lake surrounded by the Alps and impresses with a coherent, typical alpine development. This town is rightly regarded as a picture-perfect place by the Chinese and is correspondingly crowded, although it was relatively quiet during our visit.

We actually came to Hallstatt only because a very special meeting awaited us. At Lake Wolfgang, we wanted to meet with our best readers and biggest fans. Falco and Jana were vacationing here at the time.

Before that, we spent a lovely night at a farm by Lake Wolfgang and enjoyed the view of the glaciers in the Alps.

Jana and Falco were already eagerly awaiting us in St. Wolfgang. There was a lot to share – we about our travels and they about their house construction. So we strolled along the lake through the beautiful village and enjoyed the relaxed vacation atmosphere.

But a visit to Sankt Wolfgang would of course not be complete without a visit to the Schafberg. Together, we took the Schafbergbahn to the summit. The view from the steep northern slope was impressive. We explored the area together and enjoyed a nice picnic on the spectacular mountain.

The time on the mountain was really great, but Falco wanted to take us on a fun trip with their hotel yacht. So we paddled a bit over the lake and let Karl have some time at the playground. Then this lovely day was also over. But we would soon see the two again back home.

We then drove across Austria to the Czech border. We spent one more night in Austria, and as a finale to our trip, we had breakfast in Kaplice, the first town in the Czech Republic, in a really nice breakfast place.

We spent most of the last day on the Czech highway. We only had a brief stop in a nature park near Prague. However, this turned out to be a major construction site. The second stop at a ferry garden on the Elbe in Lovosice was much more pleasant.

Punctually at 7 p.m. on 24.08.2022, when the church bells rang from the town hall, we arrived back in Dresden safe and sound after 139 days of travel.