Hey hey heeeey my dearest travelers and also non-travelers! I am here again! This time will tell you about Part 3 and actually the last one from my Eurotrip also known as the best trip ever until now! Soooo, today we will have on the menu Lake Bled – yeahhhh another iconic place, then Ljubljana – capital of Slovenia, Zagreb – capital of Croatia aaand Danube’s Depressions in Romania. Hope you’ll enjoy reading about all these places. And here we go!
DAY 8. Heading to Slovenia, more exactly Lake Bled. I know you all might have seen many amazing pictures from this lake, just like I did, so having this place before my own eyes was actually a must!
The lake is quite big and you can spend there an entire day just walking around it. You can also go trekking, or maybe rent some sunbeds and lay down if you’re more of a lazy ass person or you can also have a drink or two by the lake, there being many nice restaurants and café bars.
Finding a parking lot was a little bit difficult because a lot of people were visiting the lake that day. But we managed to find a place for our little Ford Fiesta by going up on the mountain a bit. We didn’t have to pay anything, because we actually left our car on a sideroad, near the woods. All parking lots were actually occupied, that’s why we needed to find another solution.
Daddy was super tired after visiting Murano and Burano that morning, so he just wanted to sit and have a beer at a terrace. No more walking for him! Husband and I started wandering the area and after taking some shots with the lake from the ground level, we also wanted to find a nice and easy trail to go up and enjoy some views of the lake from above. Found Café Belvedere and it was more than perfect! Totally recommend it.
We then went to Bled Citadel, coz it was actually super close and wanted to have another perspective above the lake. Was thinking that I wouldn’t really have to visit the citadel and could just take pictures from that area and from that height, without having to pay the entry fee. Wrong! After paying for parking our car next to the citadel, realized that you actually need to enter the citadel to have those panoramic views. So in the end I paid 11 euros for the entry fee and guess what? The views were crappy. Why? Because after entering the citadel, it started raining. YAY! Money spent in vain.
Next stop – Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. Got to the accommodation pretty late, it was already night. Made the check-in at Mia Guesthouse (rated as “Good 7.0” on Booking) and paid 44 euros. The room was super small, I mean after coming from an extra large apartment in Venice, we got this triple room that was 5 square meters approximately :))) I don’t have a problem with space in general, but to be honest… daddy snores… BIG TIME! Shhh… hope he won’t read this haha.
We were starving so we went out for a quick stroll to find a place where we could eat. Ljubljana was so… empty. I mean all restaurants were closed, couldn’t find any decent place to stop and have our dinner at that late hour. It was indeed 10 PM or so, but anyway, we just wanted to eat something. Finally, we found an open McDonalds. Yeah… McDonalds. But at least we ate something!
DAY 9. Next morning went outside to visit Ljubljana and to be honest, I was actually very impressed because truth is that it’s a very pretty capital. Visited the Ljubljana Castle and the views were spectacular! Also, visited the city center and I really liked its cozy vibe. But hey, let me show you. Just look…
After visiting Ljubljana, we then went to Zagreb – Croatia. We stayed at Apartment Toni (rated as “Exceptional 9.6” on Booking) and indeed, the apartment was awesome! We had everything we needed, + a big terrace and it was also very clean. Oh and we paid only 27 euros! Yup. TWENTY SEVEN EUROS for the whole apartment. Totally recommend it!
After we checked-in, went outside for a walk to have dinner. Really liked the city vibe, it was very lively, a lot of people roaming around. My kind of a city! Didn’t stay much though and went back to the accommodation afterwards, being kind of tired.
DAY 10. Next morning, went outside for another stroll. Actually wanted to visit the Zagreb Cathedral because it’s really outstanding and because I love top views, buuuuut it wasn’t open until 11 AM as far as I remember and we were quite in a hurry that day because husband was supposed to drive all the way back to Romania. Therefore… change of plans. Went to visit Lotrščak Tower, which is also super close to St. Mark’s Church – a beautiful little church that has a very colorful tiled roof. You might have seen pictures with this church, it’s quite famous. Daddy and husband weren’t interested in climbing the tower, so I went alone. Paid only 3 euros and once I reached the top, saw that there was only one girl chilling and reading a book in peace, no other tourists up there.
Wow! I mean wow! It was absolutely perfect! I just stayed there, for I guess… 30 minutes. Just enjoying the views and also enjoying the silence. Such a beautiful vibe. But only until 10 Asian people came to visit the tower hahaha. Then it became very crowded. Don’t want to be rude, but they’re literally everywhere. It’s actually so funny! Anyway, enough with the talking already. Let me show you pictures with Zagreb. Enjoy!
Okkkkk, now let’s get back home. After 10 days of traveling and spending our nights in different locations, we were finally heading back to Romania. And we got there just in time for sunset. And not any regular sunset, but an amazing sunset over the Danube. Don’t believe me? Look look look!
Amazing right? Danube is Europe’s second longest river, after the Volga. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km passing through or touching the border of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea.
Checked-in at Pensiunea Ancora (rated as “Good 7.0” on Booking) and paid 55 euros for a triple room. Now let me tell you something about Romania. Romania is a gorgeous country! You’ll get to see amazing landscapes almost everywhere. Beautiful mountains, castles, citadels… then there is the Transfagarasan Road and also the Transalpina Road… then it’s the Danube, Black Sea and also Danube’s Delta. We have it all. But the people… oh god… people don’t know how to value the country we live in. They really don’t know how to value and appreciate the country we live in. And that’s so sad!
Why am I telling you this now? Because, the area where we checked-in is actually breathtaking. You almost feel like you are in a different country, but that’s happening only until you get to see people’s indifference when it comes to accommodations and services.
More exactly, we had a big terrace with a mountain + pool view but it was full of dirt because of some birds’ nest. Ok, I find it very cute, the birds’ nest, but don’t you have a broom to use it before your clients check-in? Also, it was a triple room, they didn’t make dad’s bed only until we got there at 10 PM and the room itself didn’t look very clean either. Whyyyy? Why why why? Didn’t you know we were coming? You did coz we talked to you over the phone that day to confirm our arrival and also the booking was made months before.
And it was actually pretty expensive for 1 night and for Romanian standards. We paid less in other European countries visited before and the services were way better. Anyway, it is what it is. I love my country and I will always try to promote it everywhere I go and whoever I get to talk to about it… but sometimes I just wish people wouldn’t take certain things and places for granted. Oh and people. People shouldn’t take other people for granted either, but this is another story.
Anyway, had our dinner and then went to bed coz we were super tired after the long ride we had that day.
DAY 11. Looking back at our first day on this trip, it seemed so far away. We had so many memories in our heads that we felt like we were traveling for a month, not 11 days. A trip we won’t ever forget, I am sure.
This day we just relaxed a bit by the pool, then went on a cruise by the Danube. Paid approximately 50 euros for the 3 of us and visited the surroundings. It was very very nice actually!
What about this rock sculpture? Well… the rock sculpture of Decebalus measures 42.9 m in height and 31.6 m in width. Who was Decebalus? He was the last king of Dacia, who fought against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan to preserve the independence of his country, which corresponded to modern Romania. The sculpture was made between 1994 and 2004, on a rocky outcrop on the river Danube, at the Iron Gates, which form the border between Romania and Serbia. It is located near the city of Orșova and it is the tallest rock relief in Europe! To be honest, it’s really impressive!
After this cruise, we then headed back to Bucharest, our hometown. On our way, stopped for a bit in Craiova because I wanted to photograph a very cool graffiti and was also able to capture our last sunset from this trip just before reaching Bucharest.
Finally home! And what an experience! I will do it again right now if you ask me, just let me pack some clothes. No second thoughts.
It was indeed really exhausting to be on the road for so many days but I don’t regret anything.
I remember someone once told me that I am traveling to find my peace, but then the truth is exactly otherwise: I am finding my peace while traveling. That’s why I don’t think I’ll ever stop!
Thank you so much for reading these 3 parts of my Eurotrip and stay tuned because my next blog post will be about Istanbul, Turkey! Kisses and much love.
Until next time,
Andreea.
Eurotrip – Timisoara, Budapest, Vienna, Hallstatt, Obertraun (Part 1)
Eurotrip – Salzburg, Innsbruck, Val di Funes, Lago di Braies, Venice, Murano, Burano (Part 2)
Eurotrip – Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Danube’s Depressions (Part 3)
PS: If you are using booking.com to find the best accommodations like I do, then you should use the following link to receive 10% of your money back on your next travel! It’s a win-win situation… so why not?
https://www.booking.com/s/34_6/e222dd81
Thank you!
TravelMoreWorryLess 