Bulgaria

The land of millions of sunflowers, Roses and watermelons. Most head to Bulgaria for the Black sea coast but it actually has stunning mountains, lakes and countryside.

Crossed from Macedonia into Bulgaria and the border crossing was easy, I guess this may be as Bulgaira is now park of the EU but it still has its own currency (The Lev).

The joy of having a 4 x 4 is we get to pull of for lunch in some fantastic spots and stopped for lunch down by a river and then continued up into the Rila mountains. We could have spent a week up here walking it was stunning. We stopped just 2km from the famous Rila Monastery and so got to walk round in the day and at night which was beautiful. 300 Monks live there and the colours and painting are incredible.

The next day had an interesting start as we woke late and then I remembered from Macedonia into Bulgaria we gain 1 hour so it was even later. We headed south (a little out of our way) down toward the Greek border and Bulgarias smallest town, Melnik. It was a lovely quant town in a wine growing region of Bulgaria with stunning sand cliffs. It was so very hot but then every day is now (35 degrees) and we climbed up the sand cliffs to see the old fortress and then back in the town purchased a lovely bottle of Melnik red.

We then decided to head back up into the mountains north and to Lake Batak where we had heard about a nice campsite next to the lake. Unfortunately what should have been a 2 hour drive turned into a 4 and half hour drive as the road was awful (potholes, no tarmac, trees in the road ect ect). Arriving at the lake at 9pm it was starting to get dark so we just found a nice spot by the water and set up camp next to what was the noisiest frog ever. The next morning we were up early as the tent is far to hot by 7am and we found the campsite Eco Park Batak (apparently the Bulgarian government does not allow signposts how ridiculous). We met up with the Australians we had met in Macedonia Mick and Julie and decided to spend the day at the lake.

The next day we headed north through the town of Prilev and up to Hisar the small mountain mineral water town and archeological site. We tried to get some of this water that they claim has great nutrients but we would have been there hours as the locals que up with their bottles. Then headed up the mountains to Koprivshtitsa a lovely little village with cobled streets and beautifully painted houses. On our way out of the village we found a spot to sleep for the night next to a stream, in the trees which was lovely. The stream came in handy for a wash and cool off.

The dilemma came as to whether we head in to Sofia Bulgairas capital as it was going back on ourselves and out or way but so far we had seen the capital of every country we had been through and I was curious so we headed back into Sofia.

Sofia well it was a big city with good shopping and a great strawberry milkshake but that was it and I would not have gone out of my way knowing what I know now.

We then made the long drive from Sofia to Veliko Ternovo but we knew that at the end we would have a camp site and be able to take a shower so it was worth it. On the way we stopped at bought watermelon, took a photo in the sun flower fields and tried really really hard to buy a bottle of Bulgarian Rose Liquer (which I never found so if anyone can get hold of some let me know).

We thought we were lost arriving at the campsite as it was in a small village in the middle of no where but wow a beautiful view of the fields and a swimming pool. We decided to spend 2 nights and have a day catching up on washing and try and find some off road tyres for Africa.

The food at the campsite was cheap and local so we had food, cold beers and sat up chatting till late.

We then made for Bulgarias black sea coast and as we only had 1 week Vignette (car tax disc you have to buy in Bulgaria) we decided we would spend one night on the coast and then cross into Turkey saving ourselves another 5 euros.

We stayed at a campsite called The Golden Fish in Sozopol (by the name we knew what we were letting ourselves in for) but it had a beach and was close to town so we didn't let the grubby facilities bother us. Bulgarias black sea coast was far to touristy and commercial for our liking but we enjoyed our one day and night there. In the evening we swam in the sea, walked along the beach, had beers at a bar on the beach and then watched fireworks for independence day 4th July so all very pleasant.

5th of July we were up early and made for the Bulgaria/ Turkish Border which took 2 hours due to bad road surfaces.

At the border we were charged 5 euros for a Vignette anyway as we were one day out apparently (yes Jonny and I cant count) and then 25 euro for car insurance, 40 dolars for Turkish visas and 2 hours of patience and we were across the border and into Turkey (the land of kebabs and where woman are second class citezens).

Hope you are all well out there and no ones house is in flood.

Today we sat in the car in 37 degree heat in Istanbul.

More updates of adventures in Turkey

All the best

Terri and Jonny