Archived:Balkans

Plan Theta

Phil's Original Template

http://tinyurl.com/plantheta

1. Vienna!
2. Vienna -> ~Zakobane (5:00) through some rather excellent scenery
3. Spend some time in the Tatras
4. Zakobane -> Kosice (2:55)
5. Kosice -> Mukachevo (or somewhere similar) (2:30)
6. A trip into Romania. Perhaps to Arad or something
7. Mukachevo -> Budapest (3:54)
8. Budapest -> Vukovar (4:17)
9. Vukovar -> Zagreb (3:00)
10. Zagreb -> Split (3:58)
11. Trip to Sarajevo
12. Back to Split, via Mostar (awesome bridge)
13. Split to Trieste (5:16)
14. To Vienna, via Ljubljana and Graz (plenty of time to see both, as they are only a couple of hours apart)

Amendment, Theta prime

• 1. Sat. Arrive Vienna. Stay in hotel and watch The Third Man instead of going out.
• 2. Sun. Take ages getting up, because we suck. This eats into our Bratislava time, and we eventually get there for lunch. Immediately leave for Zakopane. This takes the rest of the day (5:00+) because I am uncommonly travel-sick. The night-life in Zakopane is low-key.
• 3. Mon. Drive into the mountains for a picnic (1:00). The refuelling-the-car team argue with the picnic-buying team for forgetting the scotch eggs. It rains. Just before the sun sets, we remember to drive to Presov. (2:30)
• 4. Tue. Morning in Presov. It is Norwich. We quickly leave to see the glorious primordial beech forest of Stužica in the Poloniny National Park. (3:00) We all find it very amusing to run around the Poland/Ukraine/Slovakia triple point until a park ranger comes along and shouts at us. It takes us three hours (3:00) to get to Mukachevo but it's ok because finding accommodation takes epsilon time, and we packed food.
• 5. Wed. We celebrate arriving in the Ukraine by taking a quick tour of Mukachevo and then drive straight back into the EU. We get to Miskolc/Eger in the early afternoon (3:00). Mickey goes to the cave bath. I try to climb another mountain.
• 6. Thur. We spend the morning round Eger? There is a minaret which tastes almost like the Aya Sofia. Then we drive to Budapest, or Szekesfehervar, seat of kings (2:00 or 2:30). If in Budapest, I stay in the hotel and watch the third episode of MacGyver.
• 7. Fri. We vote on whether to drive slowly down to Zagreb, sampling the delights of the Hungarian riviera, or drive quickly down and sample the delights of an east european capital city. Everybody loses the vote. (4:00)
• 8. Sat. To Split (4:00). The Adriatic shimmers on our right hand side, and everyone soon covers their eyes to avoid the glare. We hurry into town to investigate public transport options for...
• 9. Sun. We attempt to get into Bosnia without dying of frustration.
• 10. Mon. We attempt to get out of Bosnia without dying of anything. We play Scrabble on the way. Someone is annoyed that Sprska is not in sowpods.

Option 1:

• 11. Tue. Split to Trieste. (5-6:00) The Adriatic shimmers on our left hand side, and this time the driver soon covers his eyes...
• 12. Wed. Morning in Trieste, afternoon in Ljubljana (1:30). We go to ze castle, to check on the building progress. We go to the education history video, and learn about the Ljubljana tobacco factory.

Option 2:

• 11. Tue. *Early* start for Plitvice Lakes (3:30). Aim to arrive mid-morning for a days walking.
• 12. Wed. Buzz to Ljubljana in time for the afternoon showing of the tobacco factory video. (3:30)

Then

• 13. Thu. Day in Bled/Bohinj (1:00). We hire a canoe or two, and japes ensue. Back to Ljubljana or stay in Bled and...
• 14. Fri. Lazily round the Alps to Vienna, potentially via the Worthersee, Graz, Kindberg, etc. Stopping locations welcome. (4-5:00)
• 15. Sat. Gaze wistfully east'ards, as we board the Bucket Air flight home.

Other possible amendment: Lose the Bled or Plitvice day and spend it somewhere East, so as to push the Bosnia trek off the Sunday.

To Travel By Car: A Plan

1.#0 friday: [ben's house] to calais [[getting to ben's] + 2 hrs drive + 1.5 hrs tunnel]

1. saturday: calais to munich (a fast day, but this is just getting out) [9 hrs]

--- this is where the trip proper begins ---

1.#2 sunday: munich to ljubljana, via lake bled [4 hrs + 1 hr]; ljubljana in afternoon/evening

1. monday: ljubljana to trieste, via the skocjan caves [2 hrs + 1hr]; trieste in afternoon/evening
2. tuesday: trieste to split, via the plitvice lakes (a mainly driving day) [3 hrs + 3 hrs]
3. wednesday: split in morning; split to sarajevo, via mostar (just a pass-through) [1.5 hrs + 1.5 hrs]
4. thursday: sarajevo to kraljevo (and the zica monastery) [5 hrs]
5. friday: kraljevo to belogradchik, maybe via nis [2.5 + 2.5 hrs]
6. saturday: belogradchik and the castle in morning; belogradchik to sofia [3 hrs]
7. sunday: spend the day in sofia
8. monday: sofia to belgrade (a driving day) [7 hrs]
9. tuesday: if we care to do it, belgrade in morning; belgrade to budapest [5 hrs]
10. wednesday: budapest in morning; budapest to vienna [3 hrs]
11. thursday: if we care to do it, vienna in morning; vienna to prague [4 hrs]
12. friday: spend the day in prague

--- this is where we start the return ---

1.#15 saturday: prague to {reims, maastricht} (a hard day's drive) [8 hrs]

1. sunday: {reims, maastricht} to [ben's house] [5 hrs drive + 1.5 hrs tunnel + [getting home]]

--- a short pause before the end of time ---

• days of size >5 hrs drive in trip proper: only day 4, trieste to split and day 10, sofia to belgrade
• a proposed alternate also: add a third long day's drive, doing kraljevo to sofia in one run without stopping [7 hrs, direct], and adding an extra day to rest and see the sights in budapest
• alternatively instead of split -> sarajevo -> kraljevo -> belogradchik -> sofia, i understand that split -> pogdorica -> skopje -> sofia is also pretty awesome
• note please that i have allowed time in all cases for diversion, meandering, getting lost, seeing additional sights and so forth; if you believe the times in "a plan" below then one can reduce by 20% to 30% all the times which i have given
• total distance: a bit short of 3,700 miles

A Plan

1. London to Frankfurt (5 hours on continent + 2 in UK, so quite a long first day)
2. Frankfurt to Munich (inc. some German fun) (3:25)
3. Munich to Trieste (4:47)
4. Trieste to Sarajevo (6:49, so quite long)
5. Sarajevo to Podgorica (6:47, so quite long)
6. Podgorica to Tirana (2:30, a bit of a relief after the previous two days)
7. Tirana to Pristina (5:34)
8. Pristina to Belgrade (3:43)
9. Belgrade to Budapest (3:50)
10. Budapest to Prague (4:58)
11. Prague to Hannover (4:33)
12. Hannover to Rotterdam (3:53)
13. Rotterdam to London (2:55 on continent + 2 hours UK)

Note that this is 13 days, so we have room for expansion here.

Plan 9.Least-Car-Time

Route designed for maximal exploration of Balkans with minimal 6+ hour car journeys, maximal days with no driving.

1. Fly London to Zagreb - ~£150 return, but instantly cuts at least two days of pointless Germanliness - arrive 8pm
2. Zagreb to Split (4 hours by highway, 6 hours if we take the scenic coastal route)
3. Split to Sarajevo (5 hours. Potential to stop in the Alps)
4. Day in Sarajevo
5. Sarajevo to Belgrade (5 hours)
6. Belgrade to Prishtine (4 hours)
7. Day in Prishtine
8. Prishtine to Podgorica (5 hours)
9. Podgorica to Tirana (3 hours - plenty of scenery to explore)
10. Day in Tirana
11. Tirana to Bitola (4 hours - additional scenery) (FYR Macedonia tick)
12. Bitola to Igoumenitsa (4 hours)
13. Igoumenitsa to Venice (boat - Thurs 0800 - Fri 0800)
14. Venice to Zagreb
15. Day in Zagreb
16. Fly Zagreb to London

A plan to fly to Ljubljana, and back from Istanbul

A map

1. Fly to Ljubljana. Spend rest of the day there.
2. Drive to Trieste and spend day there (1:08)
3. Drive to Split (5:00)
4. Spend day in Split
5. Drive to Sarajevo and have a look around (4:25)
6. Drive to Podgorica - quite a long trip (6:48)
7. Spend day in Podgorica, then drive to Tirana (2:33)
8. Morning in Tirana, then drive to Skojpe (4:40)
9. Day trip to Pristina (1:34 each way)
10. Spend day in Skojpe
11. Drive to Salonica in morning/early afternoon. Spend rest of day there (4:00)
12. Day-trip to Mount Olympus (2:39 each way)
13. Spend morning in Salonica, and drive to Alexandroupoli (2:52)
14. Drive to Istanbul and Asia! (3:48)
15. Spend day in Istanbul
16. Fly home from Istanbul

A plan take a train to Munich, and back from Istanbul

A Map

1. Meet in London, take Eurostar to Brussels and IC(E) to Munich
2. Drive to Ljubljana (3:53) via Lake Bled (on the route)
3. Drive to Trieste via Škocjan Caves (on route) and spend day in mixture of two places (1:08)
4. Drive to Split, stopping off at Plitvice Lakes (5:00 to Split, or 6:07 to include diversion to lakes and park)
5. Spend day in Split
6. Drive to Sarajevo via Mostar (nice bridge) and have a look around (4:25)
7. Drive to Podgorica - quite a long trip (6:48)
8. Spend day in Podgorica, then drive to Tirana (2:33)
9. Morning in Tirana, then drive to Skojpe via Ohrid (4:40)
10. Day trip to Pristina (1:34 each way)
11. Spend day in Skojpe
12. Drive to Salonica in morning/early afternoon. Spend rest of day there (4:00)
13. Day-trip to Mount Olympus (2:39 each way)
14. Spend morning in Salonica, and drive to Alexandroupoli, perhaps including a visit to Mt. Athos (2:52)
15. Drive to Istanbul and Asia! (3:48)
16. Spend day in Istanbul and fly home