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This week, we sluggishly made our way from Slovenia to Eastern Croatia which is confusingly called Slavokia - not to be mixed-up with Slovakia. a few hundred km to the north. (To make things more confusing all 3 have similar flags!)

There are no “big” tourist spots in this area or “must see” locations that we had on our aim. So we just wandered around slowly in charming rural areas averaging no more than 100km of driving a day. One day Yaron said “I need a big city” and we drove 1hr to Zagreb. A few hours later we had enough of the city and ran back to the cozy feeling of countryside travel.

This is the first time for both of us that we essentially travel through the variety of nations, cultures and ethnicities of Europe. Not counting business travel, all our past travels to Europe focused on a single city, country or area. This week we passed 2 countries and 5 or 6 distinct culture zones. - from Austrian influenced Julian Alps through Roma communities in Eastern-Slovenia all the way to the Hungarian influence in the Slavokiean Step just waiting for another Mongol invasion.

From all our past and present travels in the continent , is surprising how on one hand Europe and Europeans are basically the same. The small towns look the same with flowers in the windows , surrounding green farm fields and a church in the center of town. There is never a large mega-shopping mall in the country-side and all Europeans appear to be non-consumer oriented. The larger cities have a river, good public transportation, cathedrals, large squares, parks and endless number coffee shops. Europeans are all “by the book” (BOKIM) and orderly. All the country roads are narrow with little or no shoulders. Everybody drives small European cars. They are all experts in outdoor sports like skiing, bicycling and hiking and love football.

Yet on the other hand the variety of cultures Europe is endless. The language changes every few hours of driving and with it local and ethnical pride. Sometimes neighboring towns will have different ethnical backgrounds. The rules of conduct change slightly from place to place. The temperament of people is unexpected. Even the hand gestures diverse. Each city has its local radio station. Each district has its own folk music (I most, the accordion will never be out of style) . Each country has its pop and rock stars that can be popular only in their home nation. You can never be sure what you will get when you order something to eat or drink.

There is no better way to sample local diversity then through local food and since there not much to do on our plates, then local cuisine was this week’s highlight.

In the ancient city of Ptuj we visited the local fish-festival. When a thunderstorm and downpour started we entered the most fancy restaurant in town right on the Darva river and ate a delicious local fish seasoned to perfection. With it came a vegetarian tris with assorted foods and tastes that we are still unsure what some portions were. All we know is that it was all very tasty. The wine also helped.

In the wine growing region of Eastern Slovenia we had brunch over a cheese platter and 2 glasses of local white wine and sparkling wine. it might have been the fresh air or possibly drinking wine before 11AM, in any case our taste buds and whole bodies were so happy that we returned to the same place later that day for some good steak and red wine

In the Zagorje region of Northern Croatia we eat some slow roosted duck and slow roosted veal with homemade backed noodles . The food was fantastic, the location of the restaurant - (a terrace overlooking a panoramic vista of green hills- was superb and the 3 glasses of wine each of us drank before the meal in the winery made everything just perfect.

In Eastern Croatia - only 5km from the Hungarian border - we had some fish paprikash a fresh water fish stew in a sauce full of red paprika served with short noodles. Like Zachi Bukshaster we entered the kitchen to see the babushkas cooking. Supposedly the restaurant owner grows is own paprika and does not sell it to anyone for fear his secrete ingredient will be reviled. The license plates in the parking lot showed that even Hungarians cross the border to eat there.

Even the breakfasts are varied. Most notable were the cottage and cream cheese pie served around Zagreb, the kremshnits and strudels served everywhere and the Israeli salad we made ourselves with fresh tomatoes and peppers that we handpicked in the garden of our rented 100 year-old house in Slovakia.

All the meals are served with exquisitely awesome bread. From simple white to rich grain it is all good.

Liya says: “Yummy! Yummy!”

Worst case scenario

A few years ago there was a popular book called “worst case scenario” that took extreme situations and explained how to get out of them safely. My favorite - surviving a falling elevator.

Traveling with 2 little children has the potential to transform slight troubles into “worst case” challenges. Some real life examples:

Regular problem: your connection is overbooked. All your bags (70kg of stuff) has been put on the original flight and the next flight is only the following day.
NOW…Add 2 children who are past their bed time to the scenario:

What do you do?


We wouldn’t give the whole solution but it involved a hotel near the airport, a taxi ride, 4 showers, a bus ride, almost being late for the next flight, 750 Euro compensation from the airline, tickets in business class and lots of good humor.



Regular problem: Your flight is coming in for a landing and everyone must be in their seats.
I guess lots can go wrong in this situation. But in our case… your 3 year old daughter (God bless her) says "the pipi is NOT waiting!...".

What do you do?

We improvised and everyone got off the plane dry :)


Regular problem: Your GPS ran out of batteries. Apparently, this is because it’s charger does not work.

Not a challenge? Add to that...you foolishly let the GPS guide through a series of random turns on a dirt road, in the middle of a dark forest.. Your extra large van - that you rented because of the children and their loads of equipment - is too long to make a U-turn so you must continue on the same road.


What do you do…?


Our mothers would say: “That these will be all your problems “

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