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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Mary Novakovich

‘Slow travel at its most joyous’: our three-week road trip to Croatia

An aerial shot of coast road in Croatia’s Lika region, by the Kvarner Gulf
The coast road in Croatia’s Lika region, by the Kvarner Gulf. Photograph: Franz Aberham/Getty Images

How far would you go – and how long would you take – to avoid flying and thoroughly embrace the idea of slow travel? In my case, it was 3,167 miles over three weeks. For nearly a decade I had wanted to do a road trip to Croatia, and to get as much out of the journey as the destination itself. Rather than bomb down the motorway for marathon stretches, the idea was to slow down and see new things.

It seemed we had barely rolled off Le Shuttle (the name Eurotunnel reverted to last spring) before my husband and I were out of France and bouncing along Belgium’s bumpy motorways. After a six-hour drive, Germany’s oldest city, Trier, made a pleasant overnight stop, the reconstructed gothic Hauptmarkt square bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Its summer pop-up bar taught me that the Mosel wine region makes some very drinkable rosés.

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