Two separate and unrelated events brought us back to Central Europe – wedding in Warsaw and Ultimate Athletics World Championships in Budapest.
August-September 2026.
Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia
Sibiu - Romania
August 15, 2026
Our car is parked in Romania, so every European road trip starts there. And here again we feel right at home. But when you’re at home, what do you write a post about? Nothing (just like “Seinfeld”).
Whenever we’re in Romania, we have to drive the Transfăgărășan—in our opinion, one of the most beautiful mountain passes. And if you’re passing through, you simply must stop in Sibiu, a charming city with a cool Old Town. The most interesting thing is that every time we visit, there’s some sort of festival going on—films, gospel music… and if there’s no specific theme, it’s just a summer festival.
We’ve noticed a significant difference between guesthouses in Eastern Europe and those in the West. A rating of 9 or higher in the East means everything works and is clean—shower water pressure, Wi-Fi quality, the linens… everything is solid, even better than expected. A 9+ rating in Germany, Austria, France, or England, however, implies a whole new level of attention to detail: the flower arrangements, bathroom décor, or the coffee tray—everything is aesthetically pleasing, and you can tell real thought went into it.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, a crack appeared in our car’s windshield, and it’s spreading at a rate of about a centimetre an hour. Now that it’s there, we can’t take our eyes off it.
We couldn’t figure out how to pay for parking; a local stopped to help and spent several long minutes trying to understand why it wasn’t working for us. In the end, he gave in and paid for it himself—refusing to take cash from us (though we insisted). Parking in a tourist city (Sibiu, as mentioned)—right in the Old Town—costs ten shekels… for 24 hours. We’ve paid as much as eighty shekels for a single hour in Tel Aviv…
We’ve mentioned this in another post, but the “Hora” (the dance) originated in Romania; unlike in Israel, however, it remains relevant there, with young people still dancing it in circles just like in the old days.
A young couple—relatives of ours—told us they’d both quit their jobs to go traveling for six months, adding that we were their inspiration. Made us proud!
So much for a post about nothing…
Transfagaras - Romania
August 16, 2026
Yellowstone has bears; and so do Alaska and, of course, Canada. Yet, days can go by without spotting a single one, and if you happen to see a mother bear with a cub, you’re considered lucky.
Today, on the Transfăgărășan pass in Romania, we saw nine bears in separate sightings within the span of just an hour—including a mother with two adorable cubs. It took that long only because a traffic jam of people taking photos formed around every bear.
What’s interesting is that, despite the presence of bears, people set up picnic tables right there… In the US, they would have long since tried to sell you bear spray, bear shampoo, or at least bear bells.
On a different note: you can ascend the mountain by cable car, car, motorcycle, or bicycle—and now, by e-scooter, too. And there were quite a few of those around.
Slovakia
August 24, 2026
Is there a connection between the economy and potholes? We certainly feel there is. Give us half an hour on the roads—avoiding the highways—and we can predict the state of a country’s economy. We believe this is because roads take time to deteriorate, it is easy to neglect them, and when the economic situation is poor, road maintenance gets postponed.
For example: during our first motorcycle trip to Romania about twenty years ago, the road conditions reminded us of India. Over time, however, the roads in Romania have improved, and so has the economy.
We recently crossed Hungary, and the roads gave a distinct impression of neglect; indeed, their economy has been in decline for several years. Is it just our impression, or have potholes become more common in Israel lately—and what does that reveal about the country’s true economic state?
Strbske Pleso Lake - Slovakia
August 28, 2026
Years ago, back when I was still working, the company I worked for had a branch in Košice, Slovakia. I traveled there frequently—mostly just the airport-office-hotel-airport circuit. Later, after we had crisscrossed Europe several times, we came to view Slovakia much like Afula: a quick pit stop on the way north before moving on. This time, however, we decided to dedicate some time to the country. It turns out that when you avoid the highways, it is a beautiful country—mountains, winding roads, hiking trails, sleepy towns, and remote villages; the whole package.
Yet, as with many beautiful places in the world, there is a “curse of beauty”… everything becomes highly touristy, orderly, organized, and heavily signposted—so crowded that it’s impossible to truly get lost. For instance, we arrived on a Sunday at a small lake surrounded by hotels and parking lots. Since it was Sunday, the lots were full and the sidewalks so packed with people that we gave up. We passed by the area again the next day, thinking, “It’s Monday; surely it won’t be crowded”—but we were wrong. This time, however, we didn’t give up; we found a spot and walked the trail circling the lake, which was as packed as Tel Aviv on a Saturday night.
That wasn’t the only surprise awaiting us. We had been convinced that Slovakia was some remote site… yet the number of Israelis there actually outnumbered the locals. We don’t recall a single instance where we encountered more Israelis per square meter than here… perhaps in Israel, but even that isn’t certain.
Poland
August 29, 2026
Packing. A few years ago, during a six-month motorcycle ride from Buenos Aires to Dallas, we discovered that space on the bike was at a premium. Although the motorcycle was large (by motorcycle standards)—equipped with three hard cases, a tank bag, and a small travel bag strapped to the top box—it wasn’t as spacious as it sounds. One case was dedicated to winter gear, which might need to be pulled out several times during a single ride depending on altitude and rain. The second case held repair tools, oil, and other essentials for roadside breakdowns. The third case was for food and snacks. The tank bag held our laptops and camera—items we took with us everywhere. That left just the tiny travel bag for all our clothes for the entire trip.
It taught us to pack efficiently! For starters, we discovered that packing for two months is very similar to packing for a week. For a two-month trip, you simply do laundry every week or two, toss out anything that wears out, and buy replacements. The luxuries we refuse to compromise on are two laptops and a high-quality camera. Everything else is kept to the bare minimum: sweatpants, jeans, hiking pants, shorts, sandals, a pair of walking shoes, and shirts filling the remaining space in the small bag. Some of us also pack a toiletry kit and a foldable yoga mat. And that’s it. All in all, just one small backpack each!
This post is dedicated to our children, most of whom head off on every trip with a suitcase, a trolley bag, and a backpack… each.
Budapest - Hungary - World Ultimate Championships
September 14, 2026
Someone high up at World Athletics decided there weren’t enough World Championships, so they invented another one: the Ultimate Championships. The first event took place in Budapest, and we were there.
They gathered the world’s best in running, jumping, throwing, and so on—featuring only finals and a handful of semi-finals. It spanned three evenings, with a new final every ten minutes; there were no medal ceremonies, no national anthems, or other time-wasters—just pure sport. There is only one winner—first place. They receive a trophy, lift it high, and the ceremony ends (20 seconds, tops). And let’s not forget the substantial prize money, which also goes only to the winner.
Some athletes tried to break world records but didn’t succeed—including the pole vaulter (Armand Duplantis), who has already broken the world record twenty times. This time, it didn’t work for him.
The highlight was the Italian high jumper (Gianmarco Tamberi), who set a personal best and the best mark of the year—2.37 meters. Before every jump, he’d get the entire crowd on their feet, leading them in clapping at varying rhythms; after winning, he raced back and forth across the stadium in sheer excitement. We suspect he stayed in the stadium even after the crowd had all gone home.
We really enjoyed it and will definitely be back.
Ptuj - Slovenia
September 16, 2026
In the movie “Surrogates”, a husband and wife live in the same house but in separate rooms; they haven’t met in person for years—only their avatars interact. Today, I experienced something similar.
Ira and I use “Instinct”, a proactive personal assistant that helps us plan our trip, among other things. Since we don’t really plan too far ahead, it’s part of our daily routine. Yesterday, we told it about the relationship between us, and her assistant started coordinating with mine. Then, it notified me about what Ira was hesitating about and asked for my opinion—as if I weren’t sitting right next to her… Modern times.
The image, of course, was created using GPT.
Maribor - Slovenia
September 18, 2026
You realize pretty quickly that the people here are genuinely nice. Slovenia is, in all likelihood, the land of nice people. Everyone—from the supermarket cashier, the hotel clerk, and the waiter to passersby who think you might need a hand—goes out of their way to help you. How do you know a Slovenian is approaching you? They say hello—just like that, on the street—with a broad smile, as if you’ve been friends for years.
Slovenia (not Slovakia) is very reminiscent of Austria and Switzerland in terms of scenery and service quality, but with a friendlier vibe. The villages here mostly consist of scattered houses, spaced tens of meters apart with vibrant green meadows in between. Two million residents in an area the same size as Israel—with no desert, no trouble with neighbors, and where even the far-right political wing sounds more like Gadi Eizenkot. It is a paradise on earth, at least to our foreign eyes.
Rovinj - Croatia
September 22, 2026
There is a river in Slovenia called Soča. Its water is a brilliant turquoise-blue (reminiscent of Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies). We had visited a few years back, and some of us had even jumped into the freezing water. We thought we’d recreate that moment. We looked for a hotel in the area, only to discover on our way there that it was actually in Italy, right on the border.
Since we were in Italy, we decided to pop over to Trieste—a city we’d never visited before. After spending a night in Trieste, we checked the map and noticed a nearby peninsula: Istria. We love peninsulas; they offer the feel of an island without the need for a ferry to get there. So, off we went. It turned out to be in Croatia—even though we had originally intended to be in Slovenia.
Europe is such fun.
HE 
