Somehow, shockingly, it has been six weeks since we got home from Europe. I’m never sure how and why I let my little blog languish, but life seems to get busy and I lose track of time and ye olde blog. I wanted to jot down a few final thoughts about our trip that may not have made it into the daily entries.
– Our little “Fabio” – The little red car we rented was a great little car. Clean-burning diesel cars are common in Europe, and I have found them to be efficient and to have decent power. Our rental car was a Skoda, which is made in the Czech Republic, and since our model was called a Fabia, Mer took to calling the car “Fabio.” The car could get 500 to 600 miles off of a tank of fuel, and the rental on the car was only $250, which included special insurance to drive in Bosnia, which is required since Bosnia is not yet in the EU.
– Tattoos – I’m always interested in obvious differences between America and Europe, and at least in Eastern Europe, the tattoo fad has not taken off like it has in the under-30 set here in the States. I saw a few tats on young people, but it was far from common.
– Nice people – In almost two weeks of being in Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia, I can’t remember running into a rude person. The people we met were all friendly and helpful, culminating in the amazing man who stopped his car to help us in Sarajevo.
– Pedestrian zones – One of the things I love about European cities are the pedestrian zones. I love how people come out to people-friendly streets and eat and visit and people watch. We visited the pedestrian-only zone of Zagreb on both ends of the trip, and it was a marvelous way to see Croatians milling around. We do have a few such areas in the U.S., but they do not seem as central to urban life here as they do in Europe, and I think that is to our loss.
– Natural beauty – Mer and I have become unofficial parts of the Balkan tourist board. We enthusiastically pitch the beauty of Slovenia and Croatia to anyone unfortunate enough to ask. We also liked what we saw of Bosnia, but we were only in Bosnia for about twenty-four hours, so we temper our advice there. Slovenia especially struck me with its amazing beauty, which is all crammed into a very tiny country. It has rivers, lakes, mountains, a pretty-looking capital (that we did not get to, sadly), and even a small stretch of scenic coastline, and all in a country that can be driven across in just a few hours. Big thumbs up to Slovenia and Croatia, each of which could easily demand two week of touring.
– Mer’s mantra for touring, “Everything is either a good experience or a good story”, is a great way to travel. That typically got shortened to simply, “Adventure!” whenever we hit snags or difficulties.
– That about wraps it up. Many thanks to Meredith, who is the driving force (and forward looking money manager) behind our trips to Europe. Here is looking forward to more adventures!