Quiet “night in” shared with a crowd of thousands

We were having a relaxed trip in our camper van back to Aktio Boat yard in Preveza, Greece to collect the remainder of our belongings from our catamaran Sunday which was in the process of being sold. 

Our trip had already taken us to Osnabrück and Leipzig in Germany, and Prague, capital of the Czech Republic (Czechia). Our next stop was Svitavy, also in Czechia. 

Svitavy is famous for being the birthplace of the German Industrialist, Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews in World War ll.

We were surprised by how lovely the centre of the old town was. There were long arcades on either side of the main street interspersed with graceful Renaissance houses from the 16th century that were reconstructed in Baroque style after a fire in 1781. 

We tried to go to the museum to see the Schindler exhibition but we had a problem – we had no cash and the museum didn’t accept credit cards. 

Unfortunately it was too late in the day to find an ATM and then walk back to the museum before it closed so we opted to give it a miss. 

While we were in Svitavy we decided to find a car wash as our van was absolutely covered in sticky dust after our accidental drive through unmarked roadworks a couple of days previously.

We were were fortunate to find a car wash that accommodated vans very close to where we had spent the night but ran into trouble again as we had no local currency and our debit card didn’t work in the machine. 

Luckily a really kind stranger who happened to be in a nearby garage came to our rescue and exchanged some of our Euros for local currency and also helped us out with following the instructions to use the car wash!

Later on that day we crossed the border into Slovenia and headed for Nitra, the oldest town in Slovakia. On the way there we encountered yet another road closure but at least this time there were clear signs and reasonably frequent diversion signs to follow. 

We found a delightful parking place in Nitra, right next to a park and below the old town – we could see the castle perched on the hill above. 

Of course we found the River Danube (everywhere we go we end up near water!) and had a great stroll along its banks before wandering around the centre of the city gazing at all the glorious architecture. 

The current castle serves as the seat of the Roman Catholic bishoprics in Slovakia but archeological findings indicate that a large fortified castle had stood here since the seventh century. 

We walked up the hill and followed the cobblestone road towards the castle.

There were some impressive battlements but to our eyes the actual castle looked more like a small palace. Apparently, ongoing reconstruction of the castle has almost completely erased its original appearance.

The inner entrance however, was magnificent – the massive metal gate from the 16th century is still standing – complete with small holes made by musket balls from the time the castle was under attack by Turkish forces.

From Nitra we drove onwards to Budapest, capital of Hungary, where we stayed for the night in a small camper site quite near to a metro station from where we could travel into town. 

To get to the metro we had a very pleasant walk across the city park in which the impressive Vajdahunyad Castle can be found. 

Close by to the Castle we saw a beautiful red and white striped air balloon which it turns out, is a tourist attraction but also takes children who have finished their treatment at the local children’s hospital up in the air to celebrate the end of their hospital stay. 

The gas balloon, which is fixed to the ground, rises into the air to 150 metres giving the 15 passengers (and a pilot) spectacular views of Budapest. 

We enjoyed our ride on the metro on the antiquated M1 line which was delightfully “retro” – it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site – and not much has changed since it was built in 1896!

Of course we found the River Danube (everywhere we go we end up near water!) and had a great stroll along its banks before wandering around the centre of the city gazing at all the glorious architecture. 

From Budapest we drove to Belgrade, capital of Serbia. As we arrived quite late (due to a long wait at the border crossing) we just wanted to park up, have dinner and get an early night. 

Fortunately we had found the perfect place – through a camping app called Park4Night – a massive public car park adjacent to the IKEA car park outside the city. 

We settled down in the completely empty car park and were all alone until around four or five cars drove in and parked nearby.

As it was Saturday night we didn’t think it that unusual until another few cars arrived and then more and more came until an hour later the whole car park was absolutely packed with rows and rows of vehicles!

It soon dawned on us that these weren’t just any old cars – they were all souped up, wide wheeled, turbo charged, muscle cars!! And their drivers weren’t there for a spot of late night shopping – we had found ourselves in the middle of a drag race meet!

Cars queued up in the car park lanes and one by one took off at high speed down the narrow side street at the end of the lot. 

For the next four hours instead of having the quiet relaxing evening we anticipated, we were in the midst of a cacophony of revving engines, squealing tyres and burnouts!

We thought it was hilarious and actually ended up enjoying the festive atmosphere, the friendly ambiance and the high spirits of the onlookers. 

We later learned that these meets outside Ikea stores happen on a regular basis through out Europe. Next time we feel the need of a quiet night we know that an Ikea car park might not be the place to go!