3rd year of #TheLongestTrip that the war sent us on... 9 countries in one year 🛳️🕍🏝️

More than three years have passed since our lives unexpectedly changed dramatically...

The journey that my two daughters and I embarked on because of the war, in March 2022, became our #TheLongestTrip. I wrote my traditional report post about the third year a little late, but I wanted to have time to write it in 2025, and I did it! :)
Now, when I look back, with gratitude for all the years I spent in Ukraine, and for all these crazy three years of my amazing journey in 12 countries, I am happy to realize: dreams do come true! You just need to have the courage to dream. Not everything always turns out the way we see it, the main thing is to learn to accept unexpected turns on our life path with trust and gratitude to our loving Creator.
So, I invite you to walk with me through my memories of the third year of our longest journey, and see the most beautiful places in the 9 countries we visited during the year: Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria.

Aslanbujak, Kemer. Turkey

In the spring of 2024, we changed our place of residence and moved to a cozy district of Kemer, Arslan Bucak in Turkey, very close to the fantastic mountains, where my favorite canyon is Kesme Boazi. For a month we enjoyed the Turkish spring, the energy of the mountain streams, ate amazing orange medlar fruits, but at the end of the spring we left Turkey for half a year to buy our car and went on our first trip to Europe.

Katowice, Poland

We flew to Katowice, where another dream was born: to visit Hive Fest. The source of my inspiration read here 😊 This happened thanks to a meeting with the famous @gtg. We became friends, and now every time we visit Poland, we always meet up to spend some time together. We are lucky to have such a friend in our lives!
Later, we visited a historic castle Ogrodzieniec nearby together.

Ogrodzieniec Castle. Poland

Our trip through Europe, within our TheLongestTrip, began in August 2024. The second country after Poland was Slovakia.
We visited the city of Kosice, which impressed us with its breathtaking two-story architecture and unique temple, which is one of the most magnificent I have ever seen!

Kosice, Slovakia

We headed through Hungary to Croatia, to the small resort town of Moščanycka Draga, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, where my son was vacationing, to spend a week together!

Mošćanička Draga, Croatia

In fact, this was the beginning of our road to Hive Fest, which took place in September 2024. We had a month to spare, and decided to visit several cities in Italy that we had been dreaming of for a long time!
We drove through Slovenia and discovered a real medieval pearl there - the city of Piran

Piran, Slovenia

Venice is a city of legends!. I have heard different reviews about this famous city, but my own impressions surpassed everything I heard in a positive sense! An unforgettable gondola ride under the city's bridges, houses that have stood in the water for centuries! You must visit it ...

Venice, Italy

We wanted to relax a little longer and bask on the warm sea shore, so we decided to cross Italy from Venice, which is on the Adriatic Sea, to the shores of the warmer Ligurian Sea. On this way, we stopped for a few days in the city of Pisa, and saw the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Pisa, Italy

On the way to Split, we visited a unique place that is truly worthy of being called a wonder of the world - Pletvice Lakes in Croatia
The weather was unforgettable - it rained all day :) This makes our memories even more vivid and unforgettable!

Pletvice Lakes, Croatia

Finally, the day of the Hive Fest in Split has come. We spent three unforgettable days in a community that has been a very important part of my life for seven years. My daughters were incredibly happy to find many friends from all over the world here, to communicate in English. The Hive Fest program was very interesting and rich, the events took place in the historic center of Split
Now we dream of visiting our friends again at the next festival. And I have an incentive to improve my English :)

Split, Croatia

We were in Croatia during the great flood of the Danube and needed to find a safe way back to Poland. So we chose to go through Austria. And here we rented accommodation for the night in an exotic little Austrian village in the mountains, which is truly beautiful!

Ferienwohnung Mautern, Austria

Also a big bonus of our trip was visiting the capital of Austria - the legendary city of Vienna
Walking through the historical center, seeing the majestic St. Stephen’s Cathedral 🏰
It was fascinating!

Vienna, Austria

A month and a half after these events, we drove our car to Turkey. The trip lasted 2 weeks, and we spent a few days in new countries we had never been to before: Romania and Bulgaria.

Sighisoara, Romania

While traveling through Romania, we unexpectedly discovered one of the most beautiful medieval towns I have ever seen - Sighisoara
It turns out that the famous Count Dracula was born there. And we also tasted the most delicious national dessert.

Old Nessebar, Bulgaria

In Bulgaria I visited a pearl that I had long heard about and dreamed of seeing - the medieval city of Old Nessebar
And finally, after six months, we crossed the border to Turkey again.

We ate our favorite lentil soup, and covered several hundred km to the city that had been our long-standing dream - the majestic Istanbul We crossed the Bosphorus Bridge and found ourselves in Asia!

Istanbul, Turkey

In this report post, I have collected my articles about fascinating places in 9 countries that we visited during the third year of our journey.
We are three girls who have developed, changed during these years, some of us (guess who :) have grown and changed a lot!

But we are always grateful to God for the year we have lived and for our lives! I also take this opportunity to congratulate you all on the upcoming New Year 2026. I wish you a peaceful sky and happiness! Thank you to everyone who follows our adventures and supports us! ♥️