It is now ten past seven in the evening and we have just returned to our room to dry off after being out sight seeing in a fantastic electrical storm ⛈!
We have changed countries and moved from the hustle and bustle of a city to the quietness of the foothills.
We had a journey of three parts today. Leaving Belgrade we spent 1 1/2 hours tootling down the main auto route with every conceivable fellow European traveller fro Czech to Turkish and Greek and every country in between-I have a lot of time to look at registration plates as we overtake them! It was a very busy route; we then came off this main arterial road and spent the next hour or so enjoying a beautiful ride through the farmlands and foothills of Serbia. As we got closer to the border the properties became noticeably poorer and the area less affluent this continued after crossing into Bulgaria.
Border crossings are going to feature a lot in our travel from now on so we're hoping that it is always as quiet and smooth as today, although today wasn't without its moments!
So, we pull up behind a Spanish car at a deserted crossing and wait and watch. Another Spanish car pulls up on the opposite side, so our guy jumps out and runs over to the other car obviously asking him what happens. Two border guards then come out and point our guy back to his car. In the meantime a little old lady in a Bulgarian car pulls up behind us, gets out of her car, opens her boot then gets back in and has a cigarette. The border guards come over and take all our passports and have a peer into the lady's car. In due course one Guard returns with all our passports as he is approaching the Spanish car in front of us, two Romanian cars go straight through on the opposite side without stopping. Our guard then starts to yell and gesticulate to the other guard who leisurely ambles over and lowers the barrier, just as he does this a Bulgarian car arrives and is most surprised to see the barrier down and even more perplexed when our guard makes him reverse about 100 metres to the stop sign, the last thing I saw was the guards walking back into their room-I have a feeling the Bulgarian couple might have had a bit of a wait!
Our final journey began as we exited the Border and followed the signs for Belgradchik 25kms away, nearly there we thought but what we hadn't considered was the condition of the roads which are sh**t!
We arrived at are B&B and the husband on finding out we are from England asked the time old question "Manchester United or Manchester City?" at least people have an idea that we aren't from London!
We followed the recommendations of the proprietor to visit a local cave before visiting the Fortress which was behind us. In the words of the proprietor the cave was a "pretty small one", now the people who know me well, know I have two main phobias in life, one being heights and the other claustrophobia, so today I experienced both!
The cave was a 25 km journey away and at one point I thought we were going back into Serbia but thankfully not! We purchased tickets and descended into the cave. I expected a 5 minute/10 minute look around, an hour later we resurfaced! Colin assures me that the caves were more impressive than the Blue John Mines-I have never been in these mines due to my CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!
I would encourage you to look at the website for the Magura Caves, they are excellent, also look on the Belgradchik Fortress, we stayed just below the walls.
As we rode back to the B&B the sky began to cloud over, we arrived and got off the bike to the sound of thunder. We spent the next hour wandering around the fortress accompanied by a fantastic electrical storm, which added greatly to the experience! We made it back to our room only slightly damp and then the heavens opened and for the next 8 hours we were treated to the most amazing thunderstorms lasting well into the night.
Once again the emergency coats and brollies were unearthed as we walked into the town for a meal. The roads were running streams and not many people about, we asked a police man where we should eat and he recommended the local hotel so off we went.
The hotel was so out of keeping with the rest of the town and surrounding area being very opulent both inside and out. The restaurant was huge and empty apart from a family of four so they managed to squeeze us in!
We'd just ordered when an American family came into eat, Colin had had a discussion with the lady at the fortress over photography so she said "hello" and they chatted away. I thought her husband looked thoroughly bored with the whole thing. At the end of the evening as we were leaving, a conversation was struck up between the two of us and the Americans, it turns out that they are based at the American Embassy in Sofia and regaled us with stories of their previous postings. Our mode of transportation came up in the conversation and from that moment Terry became animated and engaged with us, to the extent he gave us his business card and mobile number in case we run into any difficulties!