For a capital city, central Ljubljana seemed compact and easy to gets to grips with. We stayed out in a rural suburb with Robin, a Slovenian touring cyclist who we gave accommodation to when he was en route to Ireland last year. It was lovely to see a familiar face and to relax in his apartment which had a view of the Alps (which we drove out to the foothills of).

We had a lovely time roaming the streets of the old city with its castle perched on a hill in the centre. There were quite a number of roman ruins; and a great variety of cuisine on offer which we made the most of. The street acts were also excellent and overall it was all pretty laid-back.

From here we journeyed eastwards, with a stop in Ptuj (the oldest town in Slovenia) to Hungary. Our first stop was Lake Balaton - the largest and shallowest lake in Europe. It's huge, with water which ranges from black-blue to green-blue. We spent 4 days here biking up into the rolling hills of the Kal Basin and to Tihany Abbey on a hilly peninsula which extends out into the lake. We also visited one of the many spa-type places which was a naturally occurring thermal lake around which a health-spa resort has been built. It was a little odd floating around in 34 degree water which was quite busy with little fish! Our campsite was also stunning in that our pitch was right next to the lake. The lakeside is apparently heaving in July/August, but outside of this period and public holidays/weekends, it's really quiet. All the bars and restaurants were of an industrial-size but with very few people in them.

Hungarian food is very hearty & tasty … and cheap - which after the budget-busting time in Italy (and to a certain extent Slovenia) was good news. Also, campsites are half of the Italian price.

We have now moved further south to Pecs via rolling hills and fields carpeted with poppies. It's a city with a café culture around its huge main square and lots of museums. We now know quite a lot about Zsolnay pottery (really stunning stuff especially in the late 19th and early 20th century) and Victor Vasarely, a 20th century Hungarian artist who lived most of his life in France and loved visual illusion. The next stop will be Budapest as we finally start to turn northwards and think about how to spend the last 4 or so weeks of our 'European phase'.