4Runner Roadtrip – Thasos to Rotterdam

After all of the adventures going across Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and back we were ready for some down time. The border debacle had really cemented this notion and we (Shani) found us a very chill spot on the Greek isle of Thasos. Three days turned into three weeks of doing almost nothing. The guys running the apartment/hotel seemed like they were doing the same after their busy season. It was really nice. We did some walks along the beach boardwalk, Shani did lots of swimming in the warm sea, we did some tourist shopping and generally just spent time relaxing. We did one full tour around the island when we replaced Shani’s lost wedding ring and a few grocery stock ups and that was about it. 100% would recommend!

One of the reasons we stayed in Thasos for so long was figuring out the timing of getting the 4Runner to Rotterdam for a little ocean trip to South America. This involved a lot of research for Shani as the logistics were a bit challenging. We were going to use the same guys that shipped the 4Runner to Europe from Long Beach so that was a help for sure. One of the big complications was finding a container buddy to share with and sorting the timing of the boats going south. We didn’t want the 4Runner arriving around the holidays.

With all of that still up in the air, we finally abandoned Thasos and decided on spending some more down time in Bulgaria.  We really like the ski town of Bansko so why not go back? We’re also a huge fan of the wine in Bulgaria and our favorite is from Villa Melnik so of course we had to make a provisioning stop!  On our way to Bansko we made an overnight stop at the Greek village of Philippi so that Shani could get in some site seeing at the ancient city. It was a major Greek city northwest of Thasos. Established by Thasian colonists in 360/359 BC, the city was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. (Wikipedia)  Shani got up early and managed to be the only tourist there!

Bansko was supposed to be just a couple of days, too, but that turned into over two weeks. We stayed in a really great condo that was part of a spa resort (and Shani took good advantage). We couldn’t have asked for a better spot. While we were in Bansko they were holding the Pirin Ultra. “The Pirin Ultra is a mountain ultramarathon held in the heart of Pirin National Park. The park is part of UNESCO World Heritage list and it offers extremely suitable terrain for skyrunning, as well as amazing, breathtaking views.” (pirinultra.com) So that was pretty cool. Those people are animals!

As our shipping date was starting to firm up, we reluctantly decided to move on from Bansko. Don’t worry little friend, we’ll be back!

Since we had never been to Serbia we thought this might be a good time to road trip through. There were quite a bit of tensions in Kosovo so we opted to avoid that for now. We only spent a couple of days in Novi Sad, having driven through Belgrade and deciding not to go into that city. We had a lovely studio apartment and got to do a little exploring. We also had the most pathetic meal out of our lives at a very popular and well rated spot. Should have gotten shawarma take away instead!

Since we still had some time to kill we decided that a little time by the water in Croatia might be a good idea. First, though, we spent a couple of idyllic days in the Croatian countryside surrounded by grape vines before we made our way to Krk island and the village of Baška. We could have stayed for quite a bit longer.

By now we were pretty sure we had a container buddy and a shipping date and so we planned a meet up in Konstance with our friends Oli and Karolina. You may remember that we first met up with them back in 2018 in Greece and we ended up travelling together for about a month or so. We did another visit to Konstance to see them there and it remains the only place I have gotten a speeding ticket on these adventures (5 km over the limit in the RV, can you believe it?).

A little side adventure that we did with Oli and Karolina was to a buffalo ranch, which seemed like a pretty odd thing for Germany but it was really neat. There is also a seasonal hard apple cider that we were at the right time and place for so we got to have a taste of that there as well.

Next stop on the European road trip was a few days around Sens, France. We needed to check in on the RV and take care of some chores. Plus, we needed to ship the SUPs to the U.S.; they weren’t making the ocean trip to South America with the 4Runner. All of that sorted and a firm date for the container, we were on our way to Rotterdam.

On our way we spent a night in Willemstead, Netherlands. Such a darling little place! We really did wish we had more time here as well. Willemstad is a small historical town with well preserved fortifications. It received city rights in 1585. The Reformed Church was built in 1607 as the first new Protestant church building in the Netherlands. In 1587, the fortifications were completed, and Willemstad received a heptagon (seven sided) shape with seven bastions. Even though the fortification have been decommissioned in 1926, the layout is still clearly visible and mainly intact.(Wikipedia)

A few days prior we had received word from our container buddies that they had been in a small accident with their van and were unsure about if they were able to ship. Fortunately there was not trip ending damage and we all met up at the shipper to hand over our keys. Thinking everything was in the clear you can imagine everyone’s reaction when 1) the agent was expecting our 4Runner and two motorcycles (but not their van) and 2) told them their van wouldn’t fit in the container!

After those misunderstandings got cleared up, we took a bunch of photos for insurance purposes, handed over our keys and Ubered off in our separate directions to meet again to pick up the vehicles in Montevideo, Uruguay.  We went up to Amsterdam for a few days of sightseeing and then had a train trip to Dusseldorf, Germany and then a day later to Munich.

It’s a direct flight from Munich to Denver, so we felt it was worth the side sightseeing trip.  It’s always an important consideration when flying with Sebastian! We spent a couple of days in Munich and even got to see the famous surfers of Munich!

Stay tuned as we spend a quick three weeks in the States, have the 4Runner beat us to South America and start exploring Uruguay and South America by car.