04/08/2022 - From Neuffen to Istanbul and back - Stage 1 to Bled / Slovenia (630 kilometers)

We started our 29-day journey to Istanbul and back at 10 am. From Neuffen, we drove through Austria to Bled in Slovenia. We haven't done anything yet and have already paid 45.20 euros for road use up to this point. We arrived at our accommodation, a basement apartment in a single-family house, at 4.30 pm. Magdalena, Igor, and their two dogs welcomed us very kindly. We settled in quickly, packed our swimming gear, and went to Lake Bled. Actually, we wanted to park somewhere, take a walk and swim at the lake. No chance. It was full of cars and people, and there was no free spot to be seen. So we continued, along the beautiful lake, towards the Vintgar Gorge. Here, all roads were closed, and we couldn't even make a short photo stop. So we postponed our activities until the next morning. Suddenly, the car beeped and said it had too little engine coolant. We drove to the gas station, added a liter of coolant, and made a stop at the supermarket to get some groceries for dinner. When we started driving again, we noticed that we had left a puddle on the parking lot and the coolant we had added was already gone. We drove back to our accommodation. Igor, our landlord, called several workshops and fortunately managed to make an appointment at 9.30 pm. Ben and Igor went to the workshop and left the car there because the hose had a leak. Hopefully, a new hose will be found and installed the next day, otherwise, we will probably get stranded already at the first stop.