Bulgaria - Roumania 2016


10/05
My border passes to Bulgaria classically from Promahonas.
The queue for cars is huge, a delay of 2 hours...
I did not understand why because it took me only 2 minutes to pass passports control- I had a girl from Poland together with me- no other control on both sides of the border!
"Melnic" at only 35 km from the border. The beautiful but over-tourist village, famous for its wines! 10 € for 5l. Attitude only for coffee and supplies in the square under a huge plane tree
41.523204, 23.393765




"Melnic"


on our way to visit the monastery "Rozhen" (another 7 km) idyllic landscape, comfortable street, a small monastery with impressive frescoes!
Comfortable parking.
41.530803, 23.426527


an old mansion, a kind of folklore museum. On our way to visit the monastery "Rozhen" (another 7 km) idyllic landscape, comfortable road, It is definitely worth a visit if there is the time!


a small monastery with impressive murals! Comfortable parking
41.530803, 23.426527

Continue to the famous Rila monastery "Rilski manastir" 135 km from Meleniko.

 


We Continue to the famous Rila monastery "Rilski Monastir" 135 km from Meleniko.
We were lucky because we reached it 5 minutes before closing the doors of the main church (18: 00) - the monastery did not close- at least one hour we stayed there. there was no soul except us! that was the best, to live the tranquility of the place far away from the crowds,  we have also no need to pay for parking...
42.132668, 23.339538






Summer? what summer... 

still, daylight so we continued to Sofia (130 km) and straight into the 24-hour guarded parking area, right at the entrance of Hilton hotel, according to the instructions. But not in its own parking lot - Attention to the coordinates
12 € on a 24-hour basis and on the Internet from Hilton!
42.681611, 23.318312 
and almost next to the "cultural center"



free Sofia walking tour



11/05
A coffee with the morning toilet in the hotel
No other benefit than safety.
 Another plus, you walk - about 15 minutes - to the historic center.
I highly recommend the "free Sofia walking tour"
http://www.freesofiatour.com/#_=_
it's worth it though!




Taxi and food / drink, cheap ...we ate at
http://www.izbite.com/en
a lot of friends but I do not remember the cost for 20 people... The restaurant was touristy but the quality was very good!

12/05
departure for "Koshov" 280 km north just before Rousse and the Danube Bridge and border to Romania (cost 1 €).
No tourist interest, the main reason was a three-day party between 40 close friends, from all Balkans and beyond...
Some churches on the rocks were near there but I was not impressed ...
cave church





15/05
departure for Bucharest. About 70 kilometers from Ruse.






Easily found parking, at my favorite spot due to Sunday.
Bulevardul Libertății 22
București
44.431968, 26.091169 
Every day you find parking only after 18:00 pm and before 06:00 am but it's worth it!
It is next to the municipal police building and a 10-minute walk from the historic center! Park with chemically clean toilets, with guards, absolutely safe, and a metro stop at 50 meters.

16/05
Unfortunately, Mika the youngest- dog- in our travel company left this world in vain at the University's "Emergency Veterinary Clinic".
whatever happened it happened within an hour! I went to the best animal hospital, left it in their hands, and within 20 minutes she was gone, Thay was not sure what the problem was, did not even have time to go on with the medical exams ... most likely stroke!!!

I stay almost a week before being able to drive after the sock.

21/05
The coastal road from Kostantza-Varna (163km) is a wonderful road - better than  the Bucharest-Constanţa highway - with no traffic


an overnight stop by the beach of Black Sea in Two Mai. a tiny resort area with a little hotel, restaurant with good disses. A quiet pleasant evening...
 

22/05
Hading to Bulgaria

We were crossing the border in15 min

First stop at the monastery “Ala dja” dug in the rocks, a little walk in the woods visiting catacombs - nothing special - but the walk in the woods is worth it!
43.276953, 28.016886
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladzha_Monastery




Unfortunately, the holes in the rocks were not visited - due to repairs. so the ticket was in half of 4 leva (2 €).
Arrival at the resort of Constantine & Helen and looking for an open-air thermal pool - unlucky it did not exist anymore... A huge construction maybe hotel instead!

abandonment

But the monastery was found, half-buried in the "souvenir shop"...


In the afternoon we arrived in Varna, destination the port but it was blocked by the police, Sunday afternoon, with a lot of people walking around - nor a  parking near there...
After several rounds in the center, it was found accidentally parking on a parallel road behind the Cathedral “Sveto Uspenie Bogorodichno”.
Walking around in the pedestrianized center - from the cathedral to the beach park - We were eating in a clean tourist restaurant under 10 € with wine.

The Cathedral

The tower of the clock

the opera (drama theater)

the fountain - dancing waters

23/05
In the morning at 06:00 something was not going well. looking out I discovered that the parked cars have disappeared and I have parked alone in something like the main road with buses ... I left as soon it was possible and park at a more central point, but in an empty-filled secondary road, pact after 08:00
 I give the coordinates for an idea...
ulitsa "Stefan Karadzha" 2
9000 Varna
43.203772, 27.919698

In Love with Varna, all day long ride with Hara, in the wonderful seaside park and a bit at a pedestrian street...Wi-Fi everywhere slow or fast...
I foresee a third day in Varna...
From the passage...



and keep on the dances ...


seagulls everywhere
when the table is full, there are no crashes ... 
finally the communist Varna ...




A rescheduled route, not to miss the rest of the Black Sea coast, nor the Veliko Tarnovo, nor the fair of the roses in Kazanluk and to take a look at Plovdiv
1)

2)


24/05 
Nessebar 
the most tourist picture I have seen all the way, at  Romania, Bulgaria... from Varna easily the 100km, the road was good.


As about the parking  - at the entrance to the old town just across the narrow strip of land with the windmill - we turn left and go into a huge parking lot for the car, coach. 12 leva from 5 ~ 24 hours.


ATTENTION there is a parking lot on the right and the "clever one" asked for 20 leva because "that is how he likes it" (his answer). Both are unattainable since there is no fencing...
now the city. it would be beautiful if it was not any home a souvenir or clothes or watches shop or anything you can imagine...




on the 2nd afternoon ride with all this shop closed, we really enjoyed it!



In the evening good and cheap food in a tavern with a sea-view balcony, a soup, a chicken fillet with a curious amazing sauce and wine 12 €


25-26/05
after a short walk with  Hara in the empty city, departure for the nearby Pomorie and a visit to the salt museum ). In SPA they asked for 20 € and so we bypassed it ... We Visit a little outside the city - towards Burgas - Thracian Tomb, worth the effort for its different construction! Entrance 1€



Just opposite a "Camping Diana" board, more with two rows of bungalows, and on the treadmill, the 4th caber, which we have met all the way.

Fortunately, there was space just ahead, outside the door and with a beautiful view!

20 leva (10 €) and they gave me, electricity and the keys of a bungalow for use of shower-toilet and veranda ...

That, there is no way, as he explained, to happen in the season...
besides (empty), as well as in almost all the coastline huge blocks inhabited, unfinished, in concrete...



With future buyers mainly Russians in their words!
the sea from below, the mud


The dish from the family's food - the restaurant was under-running 6 ~ 7 € with 1/2 liter of red wine, and a torrential rain, made me stayed two nights for reconstruction, relaxation and re-adjustment of the itinerary.

27/05 Burgas
only a few kilometers away, we arrived early and parked for 2.5 € for 5 hours at the very beginning of the pedestrian street from the seaside park to the center.

There is not much to see according to the map by the tourist office, (you find it in the underground passage opposite the marionette museum and the opera).


the square at the courts house


I walked across the pedestrianized part of the city - I did not go to museums - and there was a hower left for a meal.
Then I moved the camber along the boulevard that separates the park with the city since the reason was to go with Hara - she enjoyed it - the rest of the time in the park.
 Right across from me there is a square with a huge grill "Happy" and an open internet! It is of course on the boulevard with the bustle that this implies but the earplugs are good...
coordinates
42.501010, 27.480495

28/05
One Day! In "Sozopol" and Vasiliko "Tsarovo"
35 km of road with two lanes per direction and a bar till to Sozopol.

The second tourist opprobrium so far after "Nessebar"!!!


One of the same and worse in terms of parking. No space for free - near the old town - and extravagant price, 2 € per hour

Another 37 km to Vassiliko where the situation changes completely!
A small town, with no tourists and nothing to see, It is around a harbor with a tavern on the ground floor of a ship-shaped hotel.

Prices faded more than usual ... the road good ...

The town hall


the park

a house 

The evening we return to the well-known "parking lot" in Burgas across from "Happy" - in the same place!

29/05
All day in the park with Hara, the warmest day of the trip with true sunshine!



bicycle path in the park ...


Lunch at something between a canteen restaurant under the sound of Greek music...

return to the camper for siesta but due to the 33c (unfortunately the sun was blazing it all day) I set the hammock on the neighboring trees and I was happy, Hara too!
 
30/05
 after a ride in the park, departure for "Veliko Tarnovo" 210 km of which 95 on a motorway- without toll- Bonds "Burgas" with "Sofia".

The rest of the route on a relatively good, hill-mountain road.

Arrive at midday and parking at Marno pole 0.50 € per hour but is from 09:00 to 17:00 so 4 € a day and under the shade ...
43.079172, 25.629800

I took a walk up the castle on foot

 Free walking tour”

It's worth it - as in all the tourist towns of Bulgaria - as they walk to the center explaining at the same time about the most interesting monuments, buildings ... it starts in front of the tourist office at 11:00 every day.
the view from a "Grand Canyon" style "balcony"...

the city is built on hills and is difficult to walk!

31/05 
at camping “Trinity Rocks farm”
43.14547 25.62534

It is 10 km from the center (taxi 5 €), next to the river, the motorhome 10 € + 2 € the current. WiFi, 3 toilets/showers and a stunning common kitchen for cooking with all the goodies...


02/06
Relaxed in the hammock literally on the water ...

Wine with a couple of English people traveling with a van and destined to Stoupa-Peloponnese ...


03/06
departure forArbanasi, a very touristy village just a stone's throw from "Veliko Tarnovo" we did not stay very much as Kazanlak was the destination where the rose festival was... we experienced the toughest road with infinite turns and hairpins and with a great difference with the Greek mountains. A green path through forests with huge trees...

http://www.dangerousroads.org/eastern-europe/bulgaria/3635-shipka-pass.html
The purpose was to visit the national monument of the battle of Shipka 

http://bulgariatravel.org/en/object/36/vryh_shipka

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shipka_Pass
and the Soviet construct Buzludzha, the so-called (UFO) by the Bulgarians.

http://www.buzludzha.com/
the road from one to the other the worst possible ... The one hall after the other, not any car at the 13 worst so far, kilometers...

having enough time to spend we visit the nearby dam Κoprinka 10 km from Kazanlak to eat in a fish tavern (are 3) and stay in a supposedly small camping - according to the official Bulgarian tourism website - But there is not exist any!
42.617325, 25.325259

Visit an open-air museum of rose production and traditional machines, looms, kitchen utensils, and more...
Damastsena 
42.670402 25.199716

http://damascena.net/index_en.php 
The disappointment!
I'm ashamed of the camber's strain - on the worst road of the trip - to the adjacent village “Skobelovo”...
Kazanlak now is a nice little alive town because of the festival although it deserted at 11:00 in the evening ...This festival did not differ much from a fair in a small Greek provincial town - perhaps only on the central stage was almost all-day folklore and not only dances, Also a lot of dance workshops,

a place for tasting and displaying local wines and a parade of the lesser ones I've watched...
I can not figure out why the city is flooded by Japanese people who even prepaid from February the seats on the rough platforms to watch it ...


Parking on a road next to a beautiful park - due to Hara- 10 minutes walk to the main stage at the main square and the second point of various events.
At the park took place on Sunday and the inauguration of the new rose Museum, a poor and unworthy discourse ...

42.623489, 25.386045

We also visit a Thracian tomb - you do not see the real- locked - but a copy...


06/06
departure for "Stara Zagora" 33 km of a good road.
 before that, we made a detour and return to "Shipka" 11.8 km to visit two more moundsThracian kings the one proved to be unobtrusive yet. The other one closed (Thracian tomb Griffins) ..

http://visit.guide-bulgaria.com/a/833/thracian_necropolis_grifonite.htm
But we were compensated by the visit to the church Shipka Memorial Church
42.715843, 25.328177

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipka_Memorial_Church
 Stara Zagora” welcomed us with an unprecedented - even for the locals - storm ...parking amidst heavy rains in the center of the city center. Pay a parking meter every three hours from 9:30 to 5:30 ... 1 Leva at the time...
42.426456, 25.626982
In front of us a park and the Roman ruins, the modern opera,

right the main museum
behind the city park and the one and only pedestrian street ...

 Rain intervals continued throughout the day and night!
We did not excite...
The morning departure for “Plovdiv” 101 km of a relatively good road,

with a small detour of 23 km for a visit to the "Red Church"
42.0742 24.5561
www.perunntitsa.bg

At Plovdiv, We arrived at lunchtime and after an unsuccessful effort for decent parking we ended up in the parking lot of a large Bulgarian supermarket BILLA
42.154221, 24.762519
next to the Evros river, which here calls "Maritsa" a bicycle path... the uncivilized

On the occasion, the commissions have been supplemented - for a long time- cheap you see...
 After lunchtime a ride by bicycle to the center and a look for possible parking lots. It was found some beside the main park and the central pedestrian street, 1.7 km away, by the guided tour of the "free walking tour" that we took part the following day and we moved there for an overnight stay. The following day we spent 13.5 leva (8.30 - 17.30) 1.5 hour...
42.140070, 24.747187
at the park


The dancing water...

It is really worth the ascent and the tour of the old town as well as the walk on the main pedestrian street and the neighborhood of the merchants - fouls from bars, restaurants, today - that they call an old trap


Below the main pedestrian street there is a Roman stadium from which they have been excavated for obvious reasons - the center must be demolished - the original and final horseshoe.

the team in front of the mosque

Restored houses in the old town

the Roman Theater


07-08/06
around in Plovdiv

09/06
in the triennial, specifically in the town of Svilengrad, 14 km from the Turkish and 7.8 km from the Greek border, this trip was interrupted - by a decision taken there - the third part concerning Adrianople, Constantinople, was not taken place.
Difficult to explain to you why. Something that was started their Ramazan, something that I had to get red a lot of alcohol but most of all a strong negative feeling that dominated all the 150 km of Plovdiv. 

The highway to Bourgas - the first 50 km - is awful but after going to "Swiveling" the best!

Svilengrad, is a border town full of casinos and doctors' plates in Greek and some in Turkish ...I an around at the central square,



intrnet cafe

on the old bridge of Evros

I was impressed by the number of casinos

I sat for lunch at a neighborhood-local restaurant (chicken soup, burgers, bread, beer, 3.5 € !!!). Trying to overcome the denial my eye was nailed to an inscription in Greek "Orthopedics ..."
This was the last warning and I canceled the following part of the trip by hading to Ormenio...

If something I learned well after so many miles is to follow my instinct!
 it has not betrayed me until now...
Ending at the municipal campsite of Alexandroupolis - a pleasant surprise!!



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ITHACA

when you set out on the voyage to Ithaca,
pray that your journey may be long,
full of adventures, full of knowledge.
of the Lastrygones and the cyclopes
and the furious Poseidon, do not be afraid,
for such on your journey you shall never meet
if your thought remain lofty if a select
emotion imbue your spirit and your body.
The Lastrgones and the Cyclopes
and furious Poseidon you will never meet
unless you drag them with you in your soul,
unless your soul raises them up before you.

Pray that your journey may be long.
that many may those summer mornings be
when with what pleasure, what untold delight
you enter harbors you? Love not seen before;
that you stop at Phoenician marketplaces
to procure the goodly merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber, and ebony,
and voluptuous perfumes of every kind,
as lavish an amount of voluptuous perfumes as you can:
that you venture on too many Egyptian cities
to learn and yet again to learn from the sages.

But you must always keep Ithaca on the mind.
The arrival there is your predestination.
Yet do not by any means hasten your voyage.
Let it best endure for many years,
until grown old at length you anchor at your island
rich with all you have acquired along the way.
You never hoped that Ithaca would give you riches.

Ithaca has given you the lovely voyage.
Without her, you not have verdured on the way.
She has nothing more to give you now.

Poor though you may find her, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Now that you have become so wise, so full of experience,
you will have understood the meaning of an Ithaca.

k. kavafis


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