From Berlin to Athens by electric car

DEUTSCHLAND 🇩🇪 GERMANY
ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA 🇨🇿 CZECH
SLOVENSKO 🇸🇰 SLOVAKIA
MAGYARORSZÁG 🇭🇺 HUNGARY
СРБИЈА 🇷🇸 SERBIA
БЪЛГАРИЯ 🇧🇬 BULGARIA
ΕΛΛΑΔΑ 🇬🇷 GREECE

We love Greece very much, especially the islands of course. Athens is not only a great starting point for a trip to and through Greece, it also has a lot to offer like most big cities in the world. As well as the famous Acropolis, there are many great restaurants in Mikrolimano near the port of Piraeus and in areas such as Pangrati, the very friendly and relaxed Athinians, museums, the famous Syntagma Square and traditional hammams, and the greater region of Attica and Peloponnese with beautiful coastlines made us decide to take this little adventure, drive to Athens and stay there for two months to live in this bustling city and explore many things in and around it – and of course visit our business partners and partner hotels.

After leaving Germany, all the motorways are in top condition (apart from a bumpy roadworks site just after the Serbian-Bulgarian border). Niko (our Tesla) was able to drive most of the way on his own (with us keeping an eye on the road to be safe), so even the first 10 hours of driving to Budapest went by without too much effort, interrupted only by 2 or 3 stops to recharge the battery.

In the end, we would actually make it all the way to Athens using only Tesla Super Chargers along the way and so-called destination charging at the hotels we stayed in, even if they had just regular plugs.
Yoga in the mornings, city walks and hotel gyms also provided a good balance to our sedentary travels.

So we crossed the Czech Republic and Slovakia in one go, until we reached Hungary. Budapest is known as a very beautiful city with amazing buildings, wide streets, a pleasant atmosphere and very friendly people.
We were amazed by the glamour and elegance of the city’s best hotel: The Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace. We visited one of the bathhouses, enjoyed great food and explored the vibrant city on foot and via the oldest metro in continental Europe.

After 2 nights in sunny Budapest, Serbia seemed a bit dull – probably mainly due to the rain (which fortunately only accompanied us on travel days), the boring motorway and our rudimentary contact with the locals. On the way back we may stop for a coffee in Belgrade, but this time our hotel in Sofia was waiting for us. At the EU borders, we were a little worried about how long the border crossing would take and whether we would be checked more closely as we had packed a lot of stuff in the trunk and the frunk. But as is often the case with new experiences, the unfamiliar is just as harmless as the familiar. In both cases everything went well and we had max. 40 minutes waiting time to get confirmed by entry and exit stamps. However, we felt very sorry for the hundreds of waiting truck drivers we passed and found it strange that there were hardly any foreign trucks on the motorway in Serbia.

Neither Niko nor our mobile phones had internet in the whole of Serbia. Fortunately, a Tesla does not need it to plan its route or find a Supercharger. (Strangely, there are no foreign mobile internet contracts with Serbia!) To make things a bit more exciting, the only free charging point in Belgrade failed us, so we swapped charging spots with a very nice Ukrainian woman, whom we met again and again on the way to Sofia. At least we were able to talk to Tesla support on the phone, although they couldn’t really help us because the car was offline!

We had little contact with the locals in Serbia, but in comparison Bulgaria, being part of the EU, seemed very welcoming to us straight away. We had several great meals at our Grand Hotel Sofia and were upgraded to a huge suite. Sofia is full of positive energy and everyone is very sweet and friendly, if a little reserved. The countryside reminded us very much of Greece and nowhere did we feel the least bit unsafe or surrounded by machos, which is how documentaries like to portray Bulgarian men.
After our second night in Sofia, our detour to see the Seven Rila Lakes turned into an unexpected trip into the snow, as they are located at 2100 metres above sea level, and we had not considered that there would most likely still be snow on such high mountains in March. So it became something of a sunny snow adventure as we alternated between sliding down the slopes and sinking one-legged into the deep snow. But the views, sunshine and fresh air with 5 other people far and wide made it all worthwhile. We managed the remaining 4 hours to Thessaloniki without recharging as it was mainly downhill and the battery was more charged than discharged.

At the border between Bulgaria and Greece we encountered our 3rd border control, which we passed in a matter of minutes, once again passing a long line of waiting lorries.

Thessaloniki is also well worth seeing as it is right on the sea and is full of happy people during the day and at night with many good and nice bars and restaurants, especially near the waterfront.
A perfectly equipped car wash made Niko shine and a deep tissue massage in the hotel felt good for my spine.

The last 500km to Athens passed quickly as the toll roads in Greece are also in excellent condition.
We had been amazed at how exemplary, relaxed and considerate (almost) everyone drives in Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. In most parts of Greece this is also quite ok… But Athens and its environs are a different story: The driving madness of scooters and motorbikes with helmetless drivers talking on their mobile phones between cars in all too often unmarked lanes, which were almost everywhere half blocked by parked cars, is only emphasised by the fact that most cars are quite scratched on all sides…