Friday, 26 March 2010

 

Start: Munich (D) 07:40

Arrival: Slavonski Brod (HR) 17:15

Total: 761 km

 

 

 

 

We woke up early, which was good, as we had a long day ahead of us. In the elevator, we overheard two men who were speaking an intriguing language. At first we thought it was Italian, but parts of it sounded like Russian. Interesting. We saw them again in the underground garage of the hotel and got the answer to our mystery: they drove off in a Romanian car.

 

We set off, too, and soon we reached Austria. It was cloudy, but it didn't rain and we enjoyed the beautiful Austrian mountainside. The peaks were all snow-covered, obviously, as it's still the ski-season in this part of Europe. Luckily, we didn't have to drive over any mountain passes and sped through the numerous tunnels instead. We made good progress, except for Slovenia, where the highway changed into a normal overland road for a while. But once in Croatia, it was dual carriageway all the way to Slavonski Brod. Writing this down two years later, I can happily confirm that the highway connecting Southern Austria, Ljubljana and Zagreb has meanwhile been finished.

 

In Austria and Slovenia, you need to buy a pass for the highway and display it in the window. In Croatia, there are toll stations on the highway, but you can pay with euros or credit card everywhere.

 

 

 

At the Croatian border, we entered unknown territory, as we had never been that far east in Europe before. Now I really felt on holiday. We reached Slavonski Brod in the early evening. Our hotel, Pansion Eko Garten, was very efficiently pointed out. The hotel looked a bit stuffy and the guy at the reception wasn't too friendly. We tried smiling and small-talk, but all was lost on him: he grumpily refused to smile back, or even look at us. Ok, then not. The room was alright for one night and we set out to find a place to eat.

 

Easier said than done: The hotel was located in a quiet residential neighbourhood. So quiet and residential in fact, that we didn't even find a burger bar to fill our grumbling stomachs. But the people on the street were very friendly and gave cheery answers to our universal Dober dans. We almost felt like locals.

 

Back at our room, we decided to give the hotel restaurant a chance. Pleasant surprise: the steak and french fries were yummy and the waitress really nice. Even the receptionist defrosted and came over for a little chat. He told us that all the rooms at the hotel (except for ours) were occupied by a national league Croatian basketball team who was playing against Slavonski Brod that weekend. What more can you ask for, a busload full of tall guys who, if need be, can come to our rescue. We felt very safe at this hotel. :)

 

We were the only people in the restaurant, but the telly was on and so we got to watch our very first Croatian soap opera. We didn't understand a word but mused about the plot and made guesses about who the “bad guy” was.

 

After dinner, we called it a day and went to bed. We were soon fast asleep and didn't even hear the basketballers return to their rooms. Pity. We'll never know whether they won or not.