Bulgaria

By Bea
It was early evening and dark by the time we finally crossed the border so we parked for the night in a guarded truckie stop behind a service station. It was cold, we were tired, we couldn't be bothered cooking and there was a restaurant attached to the service station. The place was run by a young husband and wife who made such an effort to make us feel welcome. They hardly spoke English and the menu was in Bulgarian yet with a little help from google translate we managed ordered, the food was actually, pretty good. He, the cook, came out to make sure we were happy and was super pleased when we attempted to say delicious . They even gave us a glass of the local ‘grappa’ on the house.

The next morning, we happily went back into the restaurant for a coffee and to use the internet to upload our latest blog. There was nothing breakfasty on the menu, well nothing western, that we could decipher (bit of a Shirley Valentine moment, sorry), in broken English they offered to make us some sort of ham and cheese dish on toast, it was simple and delicious. We were liking the welcoming vibe of Bulgaria already!

We made our way into the capital, Sofia, our camping app located a overnight stop right in the centre of town. Now some spots we choose for the ambience and others for convenience. In the bigger cities it is often about convenience, this one certainly was! It was a small, guarded, car park that offered long and short term parking. The owner bent over backwards to fit us us in. He moved cars around like a game of Tetris then positioned us hard up against the fence.

Obviously, he had done this before! He was super helpful and offered a lot of advice on what to see.

Sofia is a complex city with a complicated past, It has all the big name high street brands and graffiti every where, it has churches that spent several centuries as mosques and soviet architecture trying to be reborn as modern city. Right in the middle of the city, there are Roman ruins that were recently uncovered as they extended the metro.

Like ground hog day... we visited the old market hall, bought lunch which we ate in a park over the road. The park was right alongside an old mosque that was built as part of an ancient baths complex.

Behind the market was is the Sofia synagogue, the largest in the Balkan region holding up to 1,000 worshippers. It was also very close to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral built in the 1880s, this place was massive, it can hold around 10,000 people. In Sofia at least, it appears that all the major religions can happily co-exist, an example to the rest of the world!

These aren’t the only religious sites, the city is peppered with them, like the The Church of St George, a rotunda, which is located in the heart of the city and built back in 300s. The non religious buildings are also impressive, the typically Stalinist architecture of the National History museum (that was the residence of the former dictator Todor Zhivkov) and the very grand Ivan Vazov national theatre are nice examples.

We had read several good reviews of a nearby restaurant, Pod Lipite (Under the Linden Trees) that served local cuisine using produce from their own farm. We went for a walk to suss it out, via the Borisova Gradina, a well utilised park that was first landscaped in 1880s, past the local football stadium and several concrete table-tennis tables where some serious looking matches, and drinking were underway. The restaurant was a wonderful old wooden tavern. The staff were friendly and inviting so we reserved a table for dinner.

That evening we headed back out for our ‘date night’ dinner... by tram. The ticket system only took certain coins, which we didn’t have. Thankfully a kind lady, who didn’t speak a word of English, gave us one of her tickets and showed us how to validate it. She wouldn’t accept any money in return. It’s small moments like those that make a place feel special.

The restaurant was heaving with locals when we arrived, which was reassuring. It was the type of place locals seem proud to take out of town friends and colleagues to, or to celebrate random occasions. The waiter was very helpful and we let him suggest a range of dishes to showcase their Bulgarian cuisine, we were not disappointed. We shared a plater of home made dips, homemade bread and hand made sausage. For mains we shared a pork and pickled cabbage dish and Haiduk style Chicken . Then he insisted we try the baked quince with honey and pistachios...and a complimentary glass of Raki, we rolled out of there!

Our fridge had been playing up for some time and was now barely working. Unfortunately the place that was able to fix it also sold a great range of ‘camping goodies’. It was a costly stop... mm a gas bottle that you can just fill up at any auto gas pump need one of those..,.. argh a winter windscreen cover, yep its getting cold... look how dirty the bikes are getting , we really should get one of those covers.... it took most of the morning but the fridge was fixed and the shop was bare!

The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila is the apparently the holiest and most famous Eastern Orthodox Monastery in Bulgaria. Located in the south west of the Rila Mountains, a beautiful 2 hour drive through a national parks thick with trees in autumn colours, from Sofia, the Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by the hermit St Ivan of Rila. St Ivan lived in a cave without any material possessions not far from the complex which was built by his students who came to the mountains to receive an education and is still in use today.

The centre piece, standing in the middle of a cobblestoned courtyard, is the five domed Church. It is simple yet every inch is decorated with beautiful frescos. The courtyard is hemmed on each side by the two storey, white rendered and black wooden beamed monastery. Dotted around the courtyard were natural spring water fountains, the cool fresh water was perfect for topping up our supply. All over Albania and Bulgaria there are communal water fountains like this usually crowded with people filling large containers

Leaving the monastery the next morning we stopped at Stob to visit the stone pyramids. To view them, was a steep 2km hike up a hill.

Our expectations were pretty low, come on in West Australia we have the pinnacles, we were surprised, and a little relieved to discover such an interesting formation, quite breathtaking. These burnt orange sandstone formations that average about 10-12 metres, have eroded over time by the winds, with little hats of stones, some sitting precariously on top waiting to topple. Quite incredible and definitely worth the hike. These natural pyramids are famous for their interesting shapes but also for the legends of love that go along with them.

We continued south to the area of Rupite which is actually a crater of an extinct volcano, known for its thermal hot springs and the prophetess Baba Vanga. What a place, hot baths at our doorstep! A couple of other campers were already parked up and there was a steady stream cars coming and going as locals came to enjoy a leisurely soak in the mineral enriched thermal springs.

Baba Vanga was a mystic and clairvoyant who spent the last years of her life in a house very close to the springs. She who lost her eyesight at a young age, supposedly unlocking her powers of clairvoyance. Many believe she predicated the 9/11 terror attack, Brexit and the 2004 Thailand tsunami.

The ruins of the Thracian-Roman town - Heraclea Sintica are also located near the springs. Recently two cities have been uncovered, one built on top of the other. We were looking at city was occupied for 800 years. The ruins had been partially recovered to protect them until there was enough finances to protect them properly

Late afternoon and time for a bath. It is bewildering how water from the ground can be so hot, its around 80 degrees. There were several ‘pools’ and obviously the further away from the spring you went, the cooler it was. We tried a few ponds until we found the perfect balance of heat and depth! We had plenty of time so I just lay there enjoying the soak. I tried rubbing the mineral mud over me - supposed to be good for you. Whoever came up with the idea of getting dirty was getting clean!

The next morning we turned north and skirted the Pirin Mountains, apparently the home to bears and wolves though none were sited by me, unfortunately! We were headed to the ski village of Bankso which, even though there was no snow, Pete was keen to check it out. Unlike the ski village we visited in North Macedonia, this one had a bit more life. In fact, the town was a buzz with people preparing for the season due to start in a month’s time. A lot of renovations, repairs and stocking up... just waiting on the snow.

The resort area of town was a mass of hotels and looking at the ski map we struggled to see how all these skiers could fit on the mountain. The old town on the other hand is fairly small but really interesting, winding cobblestoned roads and compact houses and shops occupied by the locals. It was still a community as opposed to attracting tourism.

That night we ate at a local restaurant. The guy hawking for business promised great steaks, sounded too good to pass up - yep suckers! To be honest, it actually turned out to be a really good restaurant, It was rustic pub style, cosy, typical ski village restaurant. The fire was lit and the big TV was showing ski and snowboard aerials, we were very happy. The hawker wasn’t lying either, We ordered a plate of foie gras as an entree to share... yes you read that right - this restaurant did an amazingly good foie gras, perfectly lightly seared with a balsamic glaze and blueberries and apple and served with home made bread. This was fine dining food not expected in a resort restaurant in the off season. For mains I ordered beef with champagne and mushrooms and Pete couldn't resist the local slow cooked lamb dish that was incredibly large. Needless to say most of that came home with us.

On our way out of town the next morning we called past the laundrette to pick up our, very large, load of washing which we had dropped off the previous day. It had been quite a while since we had been able to do a proper wash and it was certainly nice to have everything fresh and clean again.

The road to Velingrad started out wide and smooth, we felt it was going to be quite a boring journey, however it unexpectedly turned into the mountains and followed a river through a stunning gorge. The craggy mountains were thick with autumnal forests and jagged slate cliffs jutted out at irregular angles. On occasions rocks overhung the narrow road making me shut my eyes- but Pete has mastered the width of the van now - I just wish my brain could!

Sadly it didn’t last long the road opened up onto a broad valley, we were back on the long stretches of highway cum potholed road.

We reached the town of Plovdiv, an ancient city built around 7 hills and the second largest city in Bulgaria. It has been inhabited for more than 8,000 years making it, arguably, the oldest continuously settled cities in the world. We camped up adjacent to a fresh market, about 5kms from the centre. Needing the exercise we walked into town wandering through leafy suburbs and streets lined with fresh vegetable stalls. The town centre streets, like most towns, were cobbled but these cobbles were massive and very uneven, the roads had subsided a little making it even more difficult to walk on. Im glad we were walking, there was no way the van would have survived!

The Old Town covers the three central hills and is a now historic preservation site known for its Bulgarian Renaissance architectural style of the mid 19th century. Almost every house in the Old Town reflects the characteristic exterior and interior decoration of the time. The two and three storey buildings are timber framed with, typically, brightly painted stucco walls the upper levels often canter-leaver out over the street and are more decoratively painted. It certainly made for a pleasant streetscape.

We continued up through the old town to the ruins on Nebet tepe, an area first settled by the Thracian’s over 6000 years ago. Given its history the site it felt strange that it wasn’t “Historical park” or Museum it was just a place where locals go to hangout amongst the ruins, chatting, playing and taking in the views across the modern city. We wandered back into town past the massive ancient roman theatre which is still in use to day seating 6,000 people, The ruins of the ancient theatre of Philippopolis, remnants of the city’s Roman forum and the Bachkovo monastery that was founded in 1083, second largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.

The next morning we were on the road heading towards Bucharest, it was going to be a long day driving, but we were not in a hurry. The roads here keep surprising us -highways can be bumpy and poorly maintained and byroads can be smooth and pleasant. It just keeps you guessing. At one point the road became congested and cars were parked along both sides, it was some sort of market happening..in the middle of nowhere. Being suckers for markets, and in need of a break, we stopped to have a nosey. It was a Saturday flee market with almost anything secondhand for sale, though nothing from the 21st century! Old phones, computers, even skis and I swear Pete’s Dad’s tool shed was out there for sale! Pete managed to pick up a few odd things for the van and i managed to pick up a pancake stuffed with feta style cheese!

Back in the van and on our way. I had a date with the Count - Romania here we come. Bulgaria, we shall return in a few days..