I have done a few roadtrips in the past but the main ones were always in Australia (back in my backpacking years). One country, one continent. So being on a roadtrip through southeastern Europe and visiting 16 countries I noticed the differences between each of them very quickly and learned to adjust ok without being out of order too much. After many weeks of seeing it all (or most anyway) I felt I experienced enough to give back a few tips and thoughts. So these are my reflections and tips from a 2 months roadtrip through Europe.
This is what I noticed and learned
Highways
When driving through each country I always try and alternate my journey between a highway and a country road. Obviously the highway is much quicker but I also enjoy driving through all the little towns and small roads. It gives me a better feel for the locals and the scenery. So depending on my time and where I wanted to be I chose either.
In general the highways were quite good. Always make sure you check if you need a vignette before entering a country. Vignettes seem to be the cheaper options as there are road tolls to pay otherwise. Greece for example has amazing highway connections that nobody uses so it gets you to your destination very fast. But you have to pay a lot in highway tolls. They love charging you for using their roads.
Taking the country roads is free but the journey can take twice as long due to lots of hills and narrow roads. After driving 30km for 1.5 hours (and I had to go back again) I didn‘t mind paying for the highway from time to time.
Petrol stations
They are not always where you think they will be so be prepared. After seeing hardly any petrol stations on the Greece highway it was funny to see lots of them (almost every 1km) in Albania! Is the mafia involved there? The prices differ quite a bit in each country with Greece being the most expensive. Austria and Bulgaria were quite cheap in comparison.
Animals
I have seen a lot of different animals on the side or in the middle of the road, literally. No matter if it was a highway or country road. From cows, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys to snakes, turtles, fox and wild dogs (lots of them). Always be prepared for all kind of animals to stand around the corner. Especially when they are sheep that love to hurdle in groups. Trying to pass them can be quite interesting, if not hilarious and frustrating.
Roads
They are the good ones and the bad ones. All in all I didn‘t think they were too bad. Even in countries like Montonegro, Macedonia or Serbia. The non Schengen countries were worse then the EU countries. You could clearly tell the missing financial support from the EU. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria were probably the worst. After a while I don‘t even bother to avoid all the holes and bumps. Just the very big ones obviously.
Borders
I crossed a few borders and each time it was quite interesting. There is no actual border or checking at the Schengen countries which was great. I travelled with my German passport and my German car and after Croatia I noticed very quickly that I was the only far away foreign car at the border. Most were locals or nearby countries. Especially at the Albania border I felt like I was surrounded by cars full of mafia bosses who knew the border police very well. They all had a chit chat. I only got stares. To be on the save side I always had extra cash (Euros) in my wallet In case I had to bribe someone but luckily I was never in such situation. Leaving Albania I had the full car check and a dog sniffing everything for drugs. Nothing there mate!
Driving from Turkey to Bulgaria I had to pay 3 Euro to have my car desinfected from the outside. Ok, that was new and interesting?! Leaving Bulgaria I had another full car check but I think this time they were looking for hidden refugees. Why else would they look under my car?
All in all I survived it well and it was pretty obvious that I was just a simple traveler on a roadtrip adventure and not a criminal trying to smuggle drugs or refugees.
Food
Every country had its own traditional cuisine. I fell in love with the fresh produce in each country. It just tastes like it grows in the backyard and not being fake grown in big masses. The Greek salad was my favourite and I also started to accumulate locally grown Olive Oils from Croatia, Montonegro and Greece. Delicous!
I have also learned very fast that Greece has a local menu and an english tourist menu. The tourist menu was sometimes up to three times more expensive so I started to order from the Greek menu. When you eat more or less the same each day it gets easier to order local food and pay local prices. They couldn‘t fool me but be aware! Well, I got fooled at the start!
The Cevapcici in Bosnia and Herzigova were delicious (traditional cuisine in southeastern Europe). That said, I found Bulgaria‘s food probably the freshest and most enjoyable. Especially the freshly made flat brads were my guilty pleasure.
After throwing up briefly after eating a rich Ice Cream in Croatia I tried to stay away from it. Especially in Serbia were the ice cream looked more like a rainbow full of sugar and fake colouring.
Meat was my go to and whereever I could I searched for the lamb on the spit. I was a little bit too early in the season so it wasn‘t always easy to find (apparently you need a lot of people in the restaurant to make the grilling worth while) so I didn‘t have as much as I would have liked. But of course there were lots of other meat options. Pork on the spit anyone?
Not once did I eat Asian or Italian, because why should I? I do that in the original cuisine country.
Drivers
Yes, they do drive crazy. Everywhere! However probably the craziest in Albania, Bosnia and Herzigovina and Romania. I learned to just drive in my own time frame and let everybody else go crazy. Well, sometimes I had the thrill and fun of overtaking a car but mainly it was a truck or tractor (lots of them). However in general it was all save. I managed to drive 14,000km without an accident so that‘s not bad!
Speed cameras and police
They were lots of them everywhere. In Greece you can see plenty of speed cameras but I read that 99% aren‘t functional (apparently it costs too much money to have them working). I was never really speeding too much anyway but you never know.
Countries like Albania, Bosnia and Herzigovina, Romania and Bulgaria had police stopping cars on the side of the road every few kilometers. However they always pulled back when they noticed my car rego was German. I started calling it „The power of the Deutsch“. Maybe they didn‘t want to get into trouble with tourists? Who knows. It suited me very well though!
That‘s all for now. I hope you enjoyed my little summary. If you are about to head off on a roadtrip through Europe and have more questions or ideas please let me know. I am happy to help and always keen to connect with other travellers and their experience. Xx
