That one night I told you about in the previous post became four. Three intended, one not intended. Let me tell you the story of ‘from relaxation into stress’, also how Alexine decided she did NOT want to move on.
But first, wow! What a nice stay we were having at this campsite. The weather so good that for the first time we were wearing shorts. And that was so welcome after the cold and rainy days in Slovenia and Northern Croatia. We don’t even remember how cold it felt in the snowy forests up north. It’s 17 degrees, sunny and we do not have to go anywhere. “It really feels like holiday” with that Yuri means a holiday within our travels. If you travel like we do you get to understand the difference between travelling and being on holiday. It’s not about the traveller or the tourist. Whether we are travelling the Silk Road or on holiday in the Costa Brava we are still tourists. And we are travellers. The difference is in holiday and travelling, and a holiday while travelling is nice.
We got to do some work. Yes we are still working on the road. We are making videos, maintain social media and take photos for companies. So sometimes we need a day to get our work done. Besides that, we need time to post some blogs, update our Instagram and back up our footage. I also got the time to learn and read. I speak Turkish a bit but lost it over the years so I’m getting back at it because from Turkey all the way to the border with China Turkish or a form of Turkish is spoken, except for Georgia, Armenia and Iran.
One night became three because we enjoyed it so much and really needed a rest, toilet and shower for a couple of days. Cooking our own food was a plus as well.
All good things come to an end
Or there is an end to the good things, cause while leaving the campsite after the third night Alexine didn’t do what she should. Driving.
At every traffic light her engine stopped. A problem we had in The Netherlands as well so we though it would be a quick fix. But after we checked what we knew (always start with checking what you know) she still had problems. So, we went to a garage. A Volkswagen service garage with a T3 in front. As Alexine is an oldie it’s better if we find a garage where they know these types of cars (the old ones). And yes, they could help. But not today. “Tomorrow at 10 there will be an old guy who knows this car. He can help you better than me”, that sounds reliable. We will be back tomorrow.
The sky is crying
Back to the campsite then. The sun and blue sky changed into rain and lots of wind. And as I was a bit stressed out because of the problems “why did we had to buy an oldtimer?” 🤦🏻♀️ it feels like the weather mirrored my feelings, my mood.
133, our spot at the campsite was still free. Told you; it’s made for us. While it rains cats and dogs (such a weird expression) we got to see a new documentary on the history of Pirates. We love these kinds of stories. We also got to see a nice movie ‘Love and Monsters’ while eating a pizza – of course. Exhausted and with hope the garage can fix Alexine we fall asleep quite early.
The sun shines!
Will this be a message to us that everything is going to be alright? Yeah, we think so. Thus, we drive towards the garage. Alexine is really done with driving and my worry grows again. Luckily the garage isn’t that far.
The old guy who knows how to fix old cars is there. He checks Alexine and knows the problem immediately. While he works on the van his colleague reassured us he knows what he is doing by showing all his oldtimers. Wow! A garage full of incredible cars and motors, one even older than the other. Beautifully restored. I’m amazed and happy.
Within 10 minutes Alexine is fixed – hopefully. Apparently, the fix was what we thought it to be, but we often do not know precisely what to do so we couldn’t fix it. Now we know 👍🏼 and the good thing is we learned how to do it ourselves the next time.
So, finally we are hitting the road again. While or initial plan was to go to Mostar after Split we’ve now changed our route. The coming days it will feel like summer so we decided to head for Korcula instead.
Korcula is an island just off the coast of Croatia. One can take a ferry from Ploce – what we are going to do, or from the peninsula. Why are we going there? Because it might also be the birthplace of Marco Polo. It’s not really sure where Marco Polo is born. One says Venice, the other one Korcula. Apparently on Korcula Marco Polo is seen as a local hero so I’m sure we will be able to see and understand a lot more of him. Maybe we get to know him a little better by visiting his second possible birthplace.
Alexine is driving like she often does: steady, a little bit overheated and slowly. But we are getting where we need to get to: Ploce, to take our first ferry of this trip.
Marco’s travels
While we are mostly driving the Silk Road, Marco went from Venice by boat. There are more ways to travel along the Silk Road, there are actually more silk roads. Marco’s journey went a little different from ours. I will tell you more about his journey in THIS post.
Boarding the ferry
While we are waiting for the ferry lots of people check out the van. Bulli they say. In Croatia (and other parts of the old Yugoslavia) they have three names for this type of van; the bulli, the hippie and the terrorist. The terrorist comes from Back to the Future where a van was used by Libyan terrorists. We stick with Alexine though.
Well, luckily for us no one thinks we are real terrorists thus we get to board the ferry and are off. It takes one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the other side, from there we have 20 minutes to drive across the peninsula. From the other side we take another ferry to Korcula. We almost miss the second ferry because we are not as fast as most cars and the road on the peninsula isn’t a highway. It’s actually a beautiful road winding through the mountains and wineries. So much wineries here! We can’t wait to get to Korcula, sit on a terrace and drink wine in the sun. But, first we have to get to the ferry. Which we get on as last and just in time. Actually a bit too late but they were so kind to wait for us.
In about twenty minutes we reach Korcula… But more on this island in a next post. Stay tuned!
Love, Milene & Yuri
