After working in Făgăraș, a new part of my journey began: Accompanied by Jana, we continued our road trip on the mountain pass Transfăgărășan, visited Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and Hunedoara (Eisenmarkt) in Romania, crossed Đerdap National Park and Novi Pazar in Serbia and went all the way to Montenegro.
Info: Sibiu is also called Hermannstadt and Hunedoara is called Eisenmarkt because historically, there has been a strong influence in Romania from the German population. In fact, the influence still is pretty big nowadays. The two largest groups of so-called Romanian Germans were the Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians, who were widely spread across the country until the end of the Soviet Union.
Eventually, Romania gave us a lasting impression before leaving, when a full blown thunderstorm came up. By the time I get the ‚extreme warning‘ as a phone notification, I’m already sitting in a café looking out into the rain, while I wonder whether Fred is a Faraday cage even with the roof setup. Above this city, there is lightning and thunder with an intensity I have never experienced before.
Driving through Serbia was not always ideal either. Vanlife doesn’t always turn out as romantic as commonly believed, I guess. We were on the Serbian side of Đerdap National Park. With the third plastic bottle drifting by in the river, I noticed that this place has become significantly dirtier since I’ve last been here two years ago, but apart from that, the landscape has hardly lost any of its charm. Before continuing our journey into the Serbian mountains, I used the remaining Romanian network near the border to work online and I noticed how much tension had built up within me previously.
Besides my regular tasks, my to-dos were piling up and I didn’t know exactly when to get them done. Additionally, within the upcoming 10-hour-drive the next day, I couldn’t make myself believe that I’ve done anything worthwhile, even with the most intelligent and in-depth podcasts. We drove through beautiful landscapes in Serbia’s south and treated ourselves to cevapi with Kaymak on the way. Yet, by the time we arrived in Novi Pazar, I just didn’t feel like driving anymore. It was dark by then and the access to our chosen parking space was closed, which is why we chose a parking spot in front of it. In the light of the next day, this turned out to be an inofficial dumping place for rubbish. Nearby, there was a dead sheep on a hill. Thus, I was surprisingly happy when the engine started running again.
However, Serbia was also very kind to us in other ways. When a road was blocked on the way to Montenegro, many helpful people with a good knowledge of German helped us along. We ended up following them on a bypass through the mountains. They even made a detour from their route for us, offered us an overnight stay at their place and finally wished us a good journey. Once again, I was impressed by the people, who maintain an unbelievable degree of cordiality.
Arriving in Montenegro, Plav was our first and only stop. We parked by the lake, swam in the ice-cold water and dried in the sun. Our stopover turned into a two-night-stay. Albania eventually made me forget about the hardships of driving at all. It took me one day only to remember, why I was so in love with Albania the last time I travelled here. The route behind the border was like a road trip fairy tale: 50 km of streets winding right through the mountains with decent road conditions, dreamlike views and dizzy heights. On the way we saw cows, pigs, sheep, goats, donkeys and even a turtle on the road before finally turning into the valley towards Theth. We went uphill again from there, but with significantly narrower roads and oncoming traffic. For almost an hour and a half we drove up and enjoyed the view. I got into an absolute flow state with Fred as I drove, became one with the car and knew exactly how to make my way between the crash barriers, trees and other cars. Just before Theth we helped a group of Albanians who stranded because of a broken tube in the car. Never have I been more happy to give away an old piece of tube and cable ties from my car.
On my trip to the Balkans in 2021, Fred himself had an accident in Albania, where the left side in front with the fender, side mirror and headlight was pretty battered. What sounds unpleasant at first became one of my favourite travel memories. At the next repair shop, three guys fixed the car so that I made it to Germany without any problems afterwards. They used a crowbar for the metal, two-component glue made from glue and cigarette ashes, a lot of cable ties and an hour’s time. Back then, they gave me the feeling that there wasn’t even a problem after all. Feels good, I think: learning that the world is sometimes much simpler than one may think it is.
das leben geht vor 