Day 10 (03/06/08) Nis (Serbia) to Varna (Bulgaria)
BULGARIA – THE LAND OF CRAZY DRIVERS
Travelled: 600km
Debbie: Last night Mr Security came to ask us what time we were departing in the morning as his parking lot was not a campsite and he was doing us a favour. So we said we would get up at 4am, pack up and go. We got up at 4, folded the tent and I was just about to pour some hot water from the flask into our coffee cups when Mr Security arrived and literally stood by the vehicle and stared – so we decided to blast that rice paddy and get out of there and ended up leaving earlier than planned. We got to the border at 6am and it was a very straight forward process and we were through in about 15 minutes. We then hit trucker road to paradise cause all we saw all day was truck after truck after truck after truck... all of them thinking they are faster than you and all of them driving hell for leather. Cops were on every corner all the way so we made sure we stuck to our speed limits. All through Europe it’s been compulsory also to drive with your lights on and Bulgaria has the same rule. We stopped in Veliko Turnovo en-route to have some lunch and were shocked at the prices. A really nice pizza cost only £3!! We got to Varna in the afternoon and were met by Des who showed us the way to his house (lucky cause we would have got very lost!). Des took us to a divine fish restaurant where we ate a fish which we hadn’t had before – it was delicious and I cant remember the name. Then we went to a pub/club for a drink in a local haunt for a last drink before bed.
Day 11 (04/06/08) Varna and Shumen
Debbie: Today was great fun. After a lazy morning in Varna, Des and his wife Katja, her father and her sister Toni showed us around the sites of Shumen. It was so nice to be shown around a place by locals rather than follow the Lonely Planet guide. We also got to eat more local food as they were able to order for us given that nothing was in English! That evening we even got to go bowling which was great fun. Thanks to Des, Katja and Toni for showing us a great time and taking time off from your busy work schedules.
Day 12 (05/06/08) Varna to Tsarevo
Travelled: 246km
Debbie: We spend the night in Shumen so after a Bulgarian coffee (one ultra strong shot of coffee) we headed back to Varna where Des kindly took us to do some grocery shopping and acted as our translator. Once we were stocked up we hit the road again all the way down the coast and along the Black Sea. It took us quite a while to find somewhere to sleep for the night as the area we wanted to pitch our tent was very much under development so there were lots and lots and lots of labour around (gypsy’s as the locals call them) and they had set up caravan sites all over the place and we didn’t feel comfortable just sleeping among them... It’s also not 100% summer time season here so we found a few of the campsites closed. Anyway we eventually found a site – rather dodgy but it would do for the night. To date the worst ablutions however I feel that once we hit Africa we will look back and decide that they were not all that bad!
Andrew: Summary of the last few days. We did 2 very long days driving across Bosnia and Serbia where we found it to still be very rural and the locals obviously hadn’t seen many tourists before and generally seemed pretty unwelcoming. Nobody speaks a word of English in these countries. May be there mannerisms a just different from ours. Like the Bulgarians actually shake their head when saying yes. Bulgaria seemed a lot friendlier, possibly because they’ve now joined the EU and are aware of becoming a part of the rest of Europe. The roads in Bulgaria are very bad and the drivers worse, I found swerving for potholes no good as you would just hit another one next to the one you swerved to miss, if you try to miss all the bumps you may as well drive in the field next to the road. I’m sure though that these bumpy surfaces were just a warm up for what is to com in North Africa.
We had a good few days with Des and Katja in Varna and Shumen, it was nice to be driven around for once. With every meal we started with a salad with a cheese very similar to feta and a rakia as an aperitif, it tastes a lot like tequila but is made from grapes and is sipped while eating the salad. We were warned only to have one at the beginning of the meal or we would have to be carried home.
