Budapest, and Koppanyszanto.

There’s a name to conjure with, but it’s home to Tranquil Pines the campsite with the two most hospitable owners ever.

Budapest is a must go for a long weekend. We’ve been so lucky in our choices of venues up to now, Budapest’s parliament building is a must see, especially if you’re going to visit other parts of Hungary!

I had this blog completed but managed to lose it the other morning, after being out to dinner with Andrew and Sharon. We went to a restaurant near to the thermal spa were we had a really enjoyable four hours, thermal spring pools at up to 40°, Jacuzzi, steam room, saunas, salt room, and if that wasn’t enough, a café that sells beer!

Anyway the meal was fairly typical Hungarian fodder, but after, the waitress appeared with complimentary shots of something, and they were followed with coffees made with one part coffee and three parts rocket fuel! After that, back to our local where Margaret enjoyed a treble G&T for 60p!

That’s my excuse for losing a couple of hours typing.

We headed off on Sunday around midday, destination Zagreb, capital of Croatia. It was a wet, murky drive, not in the least enjoyable, especially since we misplaced ourselves on the way.

Getting into Zagreb we went to three places recommended on a forum, the first two were no longer operating, in fact we believe one never was! The third place was fine, we even met a local with excellent English, who recommended we move on because Zagreb has nothing to offer the tourist. We discovered the city is just one huge car park, never to be visited again.

After studying the map, we decided to bite the bullet and leave early in the morning for the almost 400-mile drive to Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian Coast.

The main part of the route was a fabulous toll road, which used up around 300 of those miles, and what a drive. Best drive of the trip and probably every other trip, I couldn’t help wondering what would make Creation’s come to Ireland et al.

We went through more tunnels than the Colditz army, over high hills and around higher mountains, Margaret missed some because she went back to bed, once we got onto the long stretch and slept for about 90 minutes, while I tootled along at 70mph. Got to Spit and the sea started to appear, even though we’d another 70 odd miles to go. Absolutely without doubt, the best bit of the best drive was the part between Split and here. The best thing about it is, we’ll get to see it all again at a more leisurely pace on the way home. Which is almost 2000 miles away, going straight.

Doubtless there’ll be loads of pics on Helga’s page tomorrow night.