Bulgaria - our first look

Srebarna Nature Reserve

Driving through Bulgarian customs, we found a money exchange to change our Romanian lei to Bulgarian lev, and purchased a vignette for Vanni. This is a road tax enabling us to drive on Bulgarian roads.

Sunflowers

We then looked for a good map - Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet and we weren’t sure whether we would understand the road signs.

All set, we then drove on to our intended destination, the Srebarna Nature Reserve.

Ruse city hall

The Reserve is a huge freshwater lake coming off the Danube. It is a major stopover for several endangered bird species on their migration route between Europe and Africa. We had intended overnighting there but when we arrived we found that, while it appeared to have eco trails, everything was overgrown and rather neglected.

We got a view of the lake and some pelicans on the other side, but it was not a peaceful sanctuary for humans to stay and relax – the parking area did not feel safe.

Ivanovo Rock Monastery - Marg

After talking to an Englishman who lived there who gave us advice on the roads, overnighting and the trail, we decided to move on.

Rather disappointed, we headed on to Ruse (pronounced roo-say), a Bulgarian border town flanking the Danube.

After a lovely drive through amazing fields of sunflowers, we arrived late in the day.

We found a relatively quiet Penny supermarket car park and settled in for the night. It worked out OK except for delivery trucks arriving from 6am!

After an early start, we drove into the city centre to explore.

Walking around, we were pleasantly surprised to find Ruse vibrant, with a lot of pedestrian areas, grand old buildings (along with the grottier ones), and trees.

Not at all like the usual dusty, seedy border towns have we experienced over the years.

That afternoon, we navigated our way to the Ivanovo Rock Monastery which was in an area of amazing cliffs.

Cherven Fortress climb-Leigh

We climbed up stairs avoiding vicious mosquitoes, to find it was a very small place in the rock, with ancient frescos that had been quite damaged by an earthquake some time ago.

We then drove on to the Cherven Fortress.

After climbing, in 30 degree heat, two hundred or more steep steps and tramping a long pathway to the top, we found the remains of a remarkably intact 6th century citadel.

You could see where there had been houses, towers and churches - amazing. We went down faster than we went up, then drove away with air-conditioning on!

We had heard that the Preobrazhénski Monastery was worth a visit so we drove up a narrow pot-holed road, through very low branches; so hard to avoid in Vanni.

After feeling like we could go no further, we crested a hill and found a most beautiful set of buildings on the edge of a cliff.

The Monastery was beautifully painted and the frescoes inside showed some stunning art. A worthwhile visit.

Preobrazhénski Monastery-Leigh

We then headed to Veliko Tărnovo and our next stop, where we found a real camp ground with clean facilities – yay!

It is owned by an English couple and several English people were staying there. We discovered that there is quite a large English community in this part of Bulgaria.

They seem to live here because it is much cheaper than the UK and the weather is better.

Veliko Tărnovo camp-Vanni

We were informed that the next day, Sunday was their monthly car boot sale.

What an amazing sight the next morning with the camp full of people both Bulgarian and English, selling a huge range of stuff - clothes, hardware, plants, books – any kind of stuff you could name.

Veliko Tărnovo street

We hadn’t heard so much English spoke for a long time! Marg managed to exchange a pile of books she had lurking in Vanni, for a new range of reading material to supplement the e-reader.

Leigh found a large jar of Marmite (not as good as Vegemite, but the next best thing).

This was a great camp to relax and unwind as it was right out in the country and very peaceful, with not too many other campers.

Veliko Tărnovo street

Veliko Tărnovo, Tsarevets Fortress

It had a lovely café with local food which we sampled several times, along with good Bulgarian wine.

One day a very large 4-wheel drive bus arrived with about twenty people of varying ages on board.

We learned that they were en-route from London to Sydney, and after leaving Bulgaria, would drive across Turkey and down through Indonesia, get a boat to Darwin, and then a bus to Sydney.

A long trip and sleeping in tents made us think that wasn’t quite the right travel style for us, but what a trip!

We shared a taxi with some of them into Veliko Tărnovo and joined a free walking tour of the old city.

Veliko Tărnovo cultural performance

We enjoyed seeing the wonderful little streets with attractive ancient buildings, cute little shops and large monuments, and learning something of the history of the town.

It was at one time the capital of the 2nd Bulgarian Empire, and people in the town seem to have a lot of pride in its history.

Pobitite Kamuni Stone Forest-Leigh

It was a very hot day so after the tour finished we took a break for food and drink before walking to Tsarevets Fortress which stands on a hill in a commanding position at the edge of the town.

It contains the remains of over 400 houses and numerous churches and shops etc. dating to the 5th century.

We felt it was well worth the effort, notwithstanding the heat.

Laguna camp Black Sea beach-Marg

We caught a speedy yellow taxi back to camp in time to see the local village women perform traditional songs and dances.

It was a most wonderful experience.

Moving on after a week or so, we visited the picturesque but very touristy village of Arbanasi.

Aladzha Rock Monastery cell 

We continued on, stopping, after a little GPS deviation in the wrong direction, to visit Pobitite Kamuni where there is a bunch of ancient gigantic rocks.

The rocks are said to be one of the most incredible natural phenomena in Bulgaria.

While interesting and most unusual, we felt a short visit was enough in the heat.

Nessebar old town Marina-Vanni

We then drove on to Varna on the Black Sea coast, and our chosen campsite.

After a fruitless search up a narrow street, which we eventually had to back out of which was rather tricky.

Nessebar old town-Marg

We decided to call it quits and drove north to find another camp at Laguna Beach.

Basic and exceedingly expensive, but safe.

After one night there, we drove further north to the delightful small town of Balchik.

This is a pretty town and fishing port huddled below white chalk cliffs.

Nessebar church -Marg

While it was rather touristy, is located on a much more attractive part of the coast.

Then we headed south again and stopped at the ancient Aladzha Monastery which has been dug into a cliff face.

We climbed up a lot of stairs to see some of the small cells that formed the monastery.

Sozopol houses

Many had the remains of their frescos still evident which was lovely to see.

Still incredibly hot weather, and we drove further south along the Black Sea coast, detouring here and there to see some of the more isolated sandy beaches.

We eventually arrived in Nessebar, a UNESCO World Heritage town founded in 512 BC. The old town sits on a tiny island in the Black Sea and is connected to the mainland by one bridge.

The new part of Nessebar is a tourist beach mecca and looks very much like Australia’s Gold Coast.

We found great parking at the port and headed off to explore the old town.

We found it to be a delightful rambling place, full of wooden houses, the remains of ancient churches, and cobbled streets.

While it was busy with lots of tourists, it had a very nice feel to it.

We enjoyed exploring before stopping at a cliff-side restaurant for a yummy lunch of very sweet and creamy local mussels.

After a good night’s sleep, we moved on to Pomorie, another small ancient town on the Black Sea coast, where we managed to get ourselves stuck down a tiny street of cafés.

After 55-point U-turn in front of lots of diners, we got out, but missed any sights there were to see.

We wanted a Black Sea beach camp for a longer stay, and found a lovely one at Kavatsi beach, just past Sozopol.

While the facilities were a little basic, it was right on the beach of the warm Black Sea and we could see the water from Vanni.

It was still very hot but we had shade and a sea breeze.

We enjoyed the campsite as it was pretty much populated only by Bulgarians, taking their summer holiday and enjoying themselves.

We stayed longer as it was just a nice place to stop and relax in the hot weather.

A little tourist train took us into Sozopol a lovely town, settled by Thracians in about the 3rd century.

There, we discovered its large old town area which was full of ancient wood and stone houses, narrow streets and restaurants, all perched on the sides of the cliffs overlooking the sea.

We wandered around for ages, stopping at a cliff-top café for a cool drink before heading back to camp.

It has been lovely being on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.

It has a long history dating back to the Thracians and is still very much a horse and cart area, yet has a touch of sophistication that’s been really lovely to experience.

The Black Sea is great – the water is warm, and laps onto so many beautiful long, golden-sand beaches. It’s no wonder that it is a key holiday destination.

Next we head west, inland, having had our last look at the sea on this trip.