Black Sea – at last! April 2023

Our much delayed, long awaited Bulgaria trip has finally happened!  Constrained slightly by the expiry date on our airline ticket, we travelled in April 2023 – a little earlier than we’d have liked – May or September – but still very springlike. Here’s where we went, what we did, saw and ate!

We made a few adjustments to our planning before we went, such as deciding to head South from Sofia first, and dropping Russe from the itinerary, and some other adjustments as we travelled, once we’d got used to travel distances and times.

We booked an apartment in Sofia for our first two nights, then hired the motorhome for 14 nights.

Day 1

After a ridiculously early Easyjet flight from Gatwick, we arrived in Sofia around midday, and dropped our cases off at our apartment for the next couple of nights (the North Tower Apartment, booked through http://www.bookings.com), before setting off to explore a cold and snowy Sofia.

At 2pm we joined a free food tasting and walking tour, run by Balkan Bites (http://www.balkanbites.bg/) and conducted by the lovely Dani.  This finished at the Hadjidragana Tavern, and we were tempted to stay there for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but instead went back to the apartment pre-dinner and then ate at the nearby Happy Bar and Grill.

Day 2

Exploring Sofia, including many of its huge number of churches.  Spent some time trying to find the tourist information office, and finally stumbled on it by accident.  After a slightly disappointing lunch from a local ‘hole-in-the-wall’ eatery (what WAS in those sausages?) we had a much more satisfying dinner at Da Organica – a vegetarian restaurant with a very friendly resident cat, and some very blue mayonnaise.

Day 3

Time to part company with my sister and her partner, as they head off for the train to Plovdiv, and we go pick up our hired motorhome for the next fortnight from www.rentacamper.bg and the super helpful Georgi Tsenev.  

After the handover we head out of Sofia southwards towards the Rila Monastery. We stop for lunch at a lovely riverside restaurant serving fresh-caught trout.

Explore Rila Monastery, an amazing UNESCO World Heritage Centre, marvelling at the elaborate frescos painted on what seems like every surface.

Carry on up the mountain road to the little village of Kirilova Polyana, where we check with the restaurant that it’s ok to camp overnight there, and head back for a great dinner later on with homemade wine, baklava and rakia, as well as our first taste of the local dish “Mish Mash” which seems to be similar to ratatouille, cooked in an earthenware pot with an egg baked on the top.

Day 4

We decide against the open air toboggan at Belitsa and a visit to the bear sanctuary, which is still closed for the bears’ hibernation, and instead head further south towards Melnik.  We visit the hot springs at Rupite, and Ian explores the once fabled ancient village of Heraclea Sintica and then park the motorhome at Kamping Kromidovo,http://www.campingkromidovo.com/ run by lovely English ex-pat couple John and Sara. 

Day 5

A wine-packed day today: The site owner drove us into Melnik – known for its production of wines rumoured to be Winston Churchill’s favourites. Explored the village, and tried (and bought) some local fruit wines (blackcurrant and strawberry). Stunning landscapes of sandstone ‘pyramids’, interesting architecture, and a very friendly and very pregnant restaurant cat at Aleksova Kashta who took ownership of my scarf.

Picked up by the lovely couple volunteering at the campsite, we stopped off at Villa Melnik, where the owner, Nikola Zikatanov, took us on a great winery tour, followed by a very comprehensive tasting. Great company, great wines. Who could ask for more?

Day 6

Having carried out some minor repairs on the motorhome’s plumbing, we set off eastwards along a very scenic road through the Rhodope Mountains.  Our night stop this time is near the public thermal baths (closed as out of season) alongside a river just outside Devin.  Lovely walk up the river, with boards suggesting additional exercises you can do if you don’t feel the walk itself is strenuous enough.  Free-camp in the carpark overnight next to the rushing river.

Day 7

Continue north to Plovdiv, with a short stop in the village of Mihalkovo where there is a water fountain with naturally carbonated water said to have great health benefits (although ‘may contain arsenic’)

Pre-book at an ultra-new campsite called Glamping Alliance.  We are one of only two guests there, and the pool and activity area are still in winter mothballs.  Google Translate is invaluable in finding out from the receptionist how to catch the bus into Plovdiv, from the bus-stop outside the neighbouring hospital.  Bus-ride takes about 15 minutes.

Plovdiv – reputedly the oldest still-inhabited city in Europe – has so much history, it just hits us in the eye whichever way we turn! From an ancient stadium discovered running the length of today’s modern shopping precinct, including ruins in the foundations of the current H&M store, to a Roman library, to the remains of an aqueduct running down the central reservation on the bus route!

So many echoes of a far distant past you can almost hear the roar of the crowd baying for the blood of the unlucky losers in long-gone athletics competitions (note to makers of the 3D info film – I’m pretty sure they competed nude, not in those nifty little loin cloths you portrayed – ah well, gotta keep it family friendly I guess, especially in 3D <sigh>).

Late lunch/early dinner at Pavaj restaurant, including the best dessert of the trip so far.

Day 8

More exploring of Plovdiv, including another good lunch – this time at Aylyakria Restaurant.

Day 9

Northwards through the Rose Valley to Shipka.  Still too early in the season for the roses to be in bloom, but we do see a storks’ nest on the edge of a village on top of one of the electricity poles, and the snow-topped mountains behind fields of ripening canola are quite a sight.

Wind our way up the mountain to see the abandoned Communist Buzludzha Monument (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzludzha_monument)   Stunning views, and a carpark where we stay overnight by the Torch Monument.

Day 10

Try to visit the Kazanluk Rose Museum, but it’s Orthodox Easter Friday and everything is closed, so we drive on to Sliven and take a ride up the 1974 chairlift, followed by what seems like a very long walk to a fast food-type restaurant and back.

Then head further east towards Burgas, where we stop in the village of Vetren – formerly Aquae calidae – where the Romans built a large bathing complex in the 1st Century making use of the natural hot springs there.  It’s surrounded by parklands, which are full of families celebrating the holiday, and a great craft brewery called Metalhead Brewery, where we sample some of the produce and stay the night in their carpark.

Day 11

The day we finally see the Black Sea! 

Drove to Nessebar, beautiful old town with cobbled streets.  Lovely fish meal at Familia Fish and Grill Restaurant https://familiafishandgrill.com/, and waterfront parking in the car park there – only a little noisy overnight when the Easter Saturday midnight church service ends with peels of bells and exuberant departing churchgoers.

Day 12

Travelled north up the Black Sea coast to Kamchia for a boat trip on the river – thought as it was Easter Sunday, place would be busy, but was just us and our mostly silent captain! Saw a snake and a turtle though and very peaceful. Then an afternoon stroll on Kamchia beach in the sunshine.

Headed for overnight campsite, which was abandoned and very closed.. so ended up just north of Varna at another site that probably SHOULD have been closed! After Ian turned their hot water on with his wrench though, we did manage a hot shower!

Day 13

A day travelling in the rain towards Veliko Tarnovo, and another great free overnight stop by the monument in the bend of the river. 

A beautiful town, with some very picturesque streets, and interesting wall-art, as well as a very ugly but very prominently located, abandoned hotel – the Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo – which apparently finally shut its doors during the pandemic, having been steadily declining in the years before. Interesting article about its history here https://www.exutopia.com/interhotel-veliko-turnovo/

Day 14

Visit to the nearby village of Arbanasi.  Explore the deserted streets, stop for coffee at one of the local restaurants, then continue a few minutes out of town to Hillview’s headquarters for an ATV tour of the surrounding hills.  The rain holds off long enough for us to have a great time, and then starts again just as we finish. 

Dinner at the Spider Restaurant, recommended by the friendly staff at Hillview, where we try the local dish ‘Kavarma’ –  slow-cooked casserole of pork, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms – and an oversized  meat skewer. 

Park overnight nearby to the sound of rain on the motorhome roof all night.

Day 15

Westwards from Veliko Tarnovo and up over the mountains again, with promises of magnificent 360 degree views from the top.  Unfortunately when we get there, everything is blanketed in thick fog so no views for us!

In the hope of another chairlift ride, we continue to Sopot, but turns out the chairlift only operates at weekends, so we explore the local monastery, fill our water bottles at the local water fountain and try to walk up to a waterfall only to be stumped as the path has been washed away.  Finally pitch camp surrounded by sheep and cows and goats, accompanied by their sheep/cow/goatherd and his faithful canine workers, for another peaceful night.

Day 16

Slight detour off the main road to a village called Koprivshtitsa, reputedly one of the prettiest villages in Bulgaria.  Many brightly painted houses, and beautiful cobbled streets, which we explore before getting coffee and cake at one of the cafes there.

Our final night’s spot is just on the edge of Sofia.  Hidden away behind roadworks and building sites, in an industrial area, is a tiny garden oasis of calm, run by a lovely guy called Ivan, where an assortment of campers and nationalities take advantage of the location and great price and enjoy a choice of super modern shower facilities, or an outdoor version complete with tree!  It’s not easy to find or reach, but well worth the effort! 

We make our own version of mishmash with as much of our leftover food as we can, before donating our unused toilet rolls (minimum we could buy was four and even we don’t use that much in a fortnight!) to Ivan and returning our motorhome to George the next day.

Summary

Another great trip, a fair amount of driving, but plenty of stops along the way to see as much of this amazing country as we could in the time we had.

We initially bought drinking water, but everywhere along the mountain roads there are free springs with the sweetest, freshest  water where you can fill up your drink bottles.

Architecture around Bulgaria is a crazy mix of Roman – even pre-Roman – ruins, stark and confronting communist and post-communist projects, and cobbled streets and painted houses of the Revival Period before the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in the 19th Century.

We were there in April, and the main season doesn’t really start until May, so a lot of places were either closed or very quiet.  This meant we could use the Park4Night app without trouble to find free camps that didn’t offend the locals, and only actually paid for six nights camping over the 14 nights we had the camper.  Campsite prices seem to be sometimes in Bulgarian Lev, other times in Euros.

When I did my initial research, there were very few campsites around Bulgaria, but George gave us a copy of 2022’s Camping Bulgaria guide by Camping.bg https://camping.bg/ which had a few in it I hadn’t found before, and apparently the 2023 version has another 9 campsites added, so it’s a growing tourism trend.

The roads are mostly ok, but you do have to watch out for potholes on the smaller roads – probably particularly bad at this time of year after winter – and herds of sheep or cows crossing minor roads.  There is a great new motorway running west from Varna which is still being extended and built (although signage when it ended was a little sparse!)  Speed limits are a little confusing – we seemed to be the only people on the roads that took any notice of them though!  And we saw some crazy rash overtaking manoeuvres on blind bends and brows of hills.  No actual crashes though.

We didn’t feel unsafe anywhere, even in the towns at night.  People were generally friendly, although travelling this way you only really interact with those in restaurants and shops, and other tourists in campers.  We mostly shopped at big supermarkets such as Lidl, because of the ease of parking there.  I’d say prices were pretty much on par with Australia at the moment for food and drink.

We did hire bicycles with the motorhome, but didn’t actually use them – mainly because all the towns we visited had cobbled streets, which are not overly conducive to a nervous cyclist like me. We did use local trams (in Sofia) and busses (in Plovdiv) though which were very cheap and easy to use.