We’re a couple, originally from Essex in England, who have been living in Adelaide, South Australia since 2004. South Australia is a great place to live for good food, and good wine – we have the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills wine regions on our doorstep, and Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra just a short drive away. We love visiting local wineries and restaurants, but also miss having Europe close enough for just a quick trip, so for the past couple of years we’ve combined trips home to visit family with a couple of weeks holiday in Europe, hiring a motorhome to be able to explore fully.
We’ve also visited some places that are nearer to us here in Australia, such as NW Bali.
Our destination for 2020 is Bulgaria and my post on that is about the planning stage in case it helps anyone else thinking of doing something similar.
Enjoy, and I hope in time this blog is as helpful as other people’s have been to me.
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.
Shy fountainsSofia tramDa Organica’s 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.
Rila MonasteryOne of the only 8 monks that now live in the monasteryThe view that greeted us our first morning from the window of the motorhome
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.
Rupite Hot SpringsKamping Kromidovo
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?
The old streets of MelnikChurchill’s favourite drop – apparentlyShopka Salad and local beerOutside Villa Melnik winery with the owner
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.
Carbonated spring water to fill your bottlesCures everything (but may contan arsenic)Bus routes from Glamping Alliance into Plovdiv – catch from busstop just outside nextdoor medical facility, and get off just after the tunnelRoman ruins in the basement of H&M storePavaj luncch – meatballs and schnitzelThe BEST dessert
Day 8
More exploring of Plovdiv, including another good lunch – this time at Aylyakria Restaurant.
Outdoor seating with heating
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.
Slowly falling apart
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.
Backstreets of Old NessebarWhy have one layer of tiles when you could have two…or three…or fourCarpark free out of season – prime seafront positionSunset over the Black Sea
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!
Old Russian (?) fighter jet on display in NessebarKamchia River boattripTurtle!Kamchia BeachView from our site just north of Varna
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/
The lovely cobbled streets of Old Veliko TarnovoOUr campspot for the night was just behind this monumentWall artWall sculpture
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.
Enough tiles, already!We found CamelotWe knew it must be Camelot because they had King Arthur – and his sword – out the frontKavarmaYoghurt with honey and nuts
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.
The path has been washed away
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.
Facilities with excellent ventilationIvan’s Oasis of Calm on the outskirts of SofiaTrees in blossom
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.
Just ten nights available to us, and relatives to visit in Girona and north of Alicante, we spent ten nights in a motorhome travelling down the coast, then back up and inland to Zaragoza, before heading across country to Girona then a brief circuit into the Pyrenees. Nowhere near long enough, but enough for a taste of Spain….
Day 1
Flew out from Gatwick to Barcelona, and picked up “Justine”, our home from home for the next ten nights, from Carlos at Autocaravana de Alquiler https://autocaravanadealquiler.com/ Our Motorhome is the ‘Jewel in their Crown’ and comes equipped with everything, including a couple of folding bikes, wifi, bedding, camp chairs and tables and a barbecue – and a flashy coffee maker if we have electrical hookup!
Because our flight is a little delayed, we head to the closest pre-planned spot at La Selva del Camp (115km 1hr 20mins) just north of Taragona. 41.209838, 1.139524 It has a supermarket nearby for us to stock our fridge and shelves, and costs €5 a night which includes electrical hookup.
Justine
Day 2
Head south. (222km and 2hrs 40 from Reus) to Coves de Sant Josep. Underground caves with boat trip. Open from 10am
Boat trip through underground caves – tours roughly every 20mins, last 45mins €10 pp. Motorhome parking available in the carpark. The tour is all in Spanish but we get the gist and manage to duck our heads enough to avoid the very low rocks!
Continue on via Valencia (49km 43 mins). Park up at sea front marina and explore by bike. Valencia is a flat and bicycle-friendly city with a decent, growing network of cycle paths that connect the central neighborhoods of the city. We somehow don’t find our way to the centre, but do find our way to the Centre for Arts and Sciences.
Return to Justine and head south to Raco de Les Eres. Paella Restaurant in Discovery Espana guide offering free parking. (20km 25mins). The town however is completely closed – everything! Every second house seems to be a restaurant, but none of them are open. It’s like a ghost town! We stay overnight in the town carpark anyway.
Ghost Town
Day 3
Depart town and drive south to Guadalest, where there is a Historic Vehicle Museum, and nice lunch restaurant. Unfortunately they don’t serve lunch for another hour when we’ve finished in the museum, so we head on to Vilajoyosa and find a beachfront restaurant for mussels and chips.
VillajoyosaIt’s always uphill
Continue onto Godmother’s place at Busot (55km 58mins). Kind neighbours let us park Justine on a patch of hardstanding and we have an enjoyable evening catching up.
Loquat TreeThe shape of things to come
Day 4
Leave Laine’s mid afternoon and head north to RibaRoja de Turia (161km, 1hr 57m). Sat nav leads us astray and we end up having a long reverse down a VERY narrow lane between stone walls and low hanging trees! Then try to navigate ourselves to the parking spot, which takes us through all the (also very narrow) backstreets of the town.
Overnight RibaRoja. 39.550139,-0.561239 at the side of a park alongside a river. Walk to town for some essentials, and back for well deserved evening drinks.
Day 5
Set off in morning and stop at Hot Springs in Montanejos. (90km 1hr 50mins) Montanejos hot springs, in the Region of Valencia, is an epic wild swimming area in a river located in the countryside just outside the lovely village of Montanejos. There are trees with lovers’ carvings on all along the river, some dating back over 25 years. The water is not all that warm, but beautifully clear.
After a swim and picnic lunch set off northwest to Caranena (198km, 2hr 23m)
Overnight in car park of the motel, and walk into town to find a restaurant for a lovely meal. The restaurant is called Asador Bako and all the restaurant dishes are enough for two people to share, so we nearly order enough for an army before the waitress explains this to us!
Day 6
Leave Caranena and drive into Zaragoza. Park at Parking Macanas, C. Garcia Arista, 50015 Zaragoza, Spain and explore by bike. Good place to park for free, it is a paved esplanade, next to Del Río and cycle paths into the city.
Explore the market, roman wall remains, and an interesting museum. Lunch in Zaragoza, then take fast road east to Vic (320km 3hrs 20)
Overnight at Sant Julia di Vilatorta. 41.921596, 2.321344 We arrive when there is some sort of village event happening, so can’t get into the Aire till later. We park up nearby and wait for the barriers to be removed, then head into the village, where a local bar is showing the Football (Real Madrid and Liverpool), so have a bite to eat and watch that.
Sant Julia de Vilatorta
Day 7
Visit my aunt and uncle who live near Girona. (75km 56mins). Lovely late lunch at a local restaurant.
Then into Girona (13km 20mins). Park at Pàrking Vayreda la Devesa, a safe, gated motorhome parking site. We’ve been warned to be careful when parking in towns, so this feels like a safe option. The current price per overnight stay (24 hours of stay) is € 13
Explore Girona – climb hundreds (so it seems) of stone steps, walk along the walls, and finish with a glass of Vermuth and bowl of olives. Then accidentally order a huge jug of sangria! There’s some sort of street celebration going on, so the place is buzzing.
Day 8
Set off after breakfast for Queralbs in the Pyrenees. We follow sat nav instructions even though they seem crazy, but we do finally make it through the town and up to the parking aire. There is a tiny station here with trains heading up into the hills and a place called Nuria. It’s called a ‘sanctuary’ but looks to us more like an ‘asylum’! The weather has taken a turn for the worst so we order a hot chocolate and watch the rain through the windows.
Day 9
Twisty turny road through the Pyrenees yesterday, with a lunch stop at lovely village called Pobla de Lillet. Beautiful old bridges and a ‘menu del dia’ neither of us (or Google translate) could interpret but tasted great! Spent the night at Gironella where the wall murals are spectacular, the local dog even better (and a handy lift from river level to top of the old town)!
PoblaGironella
Day 10
Head south to Sant Feliu de Codines for the bird of prey centre at Cim d’Aligues. In an amazing setting on the crest of a mountain overlooking wooded valleys, we join crowds of school kids for the daily raptor show. There are owls and vultures and eagles, and all seem to really enjoy soaring on the thermals.
Camp overnight at Camping El Pasqualet (6km 10mins) Ctra. BV-1243 to Sant Sebastià de Montmajor km 0.3 08140 Caldes de Montbui. Empty fridge and cupboards, and donate left over vodka, tins of tonic and some unopened olives to a very happy frenchman camped next to us.
Day 11
Return Mobile Home to Carlos at Sant Cugat des Villes (26.5km 24m). He kindly drives us to the local station and helps us navigate the ticket machines for travel into Barcelona. 25mins (10 stops) to Pl Catalunya. Book our case into a Left Luggage locker while we explore on foot.
Explore Barcelona market, buy gifts and have a paella lunch at a market-side cafe.
Retrieve our case and catch a bus to the airport for our flight home
Thought I’d add a report I wrote from a trip to NW Bali back in 2018.
I was unsure whether to post this or not as the place we spent the majority of our time was so nice, I’d hate to boost its popularity and see it get ‘spoilt’, but I found it fairly hard to find info about this particular part of Bali before I went, so hoping I can help someone else with a few ideas!
We bought a Luxury Escapes Voucher about a year ago for a week’s stay at the Menjangan Dynasty Glamping Resort in NW Bali, and finally got round to booking our trip. The voucher included return airport transfers, but having read that the transfer took about 4.5 hours, I decided to break the travel up after the flight with a couple of nights in Sanur, and the Resort kindly re-routed our transfers to and from there.
We stayed at the Parigata Resort in Sanur – good location, rooms nice – clean if a little dated – and over three floors, access to the beach by a short pedestrian path. The pool area was nice and the public areas have a lot of water features which is very relaxing. The massages we had were good. breakfast was a little disappointing in the hotel so we found a place on the beach to eat instead on our first stay, and then the Mona Lisa on our return visit which did excellent breakfasts and great dinners and lunches. We also ate at the Warung Little Bird one night – good food, great prices, good atmosphere. Hardy’s is great for souvenirs.
Our transfer across the centre of Bali to the Menjangan Dynasty was very interesting – I’m really glad we did it during daylight hours so we could enjoy all the sights along the way. The inland lakes looked beautiful, and our driver stopped at a Luwak Coffee place – we tried the (in)famous civet cat-poo coffee, but then read afterwards about the less than kind ways the cats are sometimes treated, and wished we hadn’t. If you suffer from car sickness, you may need meds before doing the trip as it’s very twisty turny, and we were glad to have a driver that obviously knew the roads well.
The Menjangan Dynasty Resort is lovely, and the ‘tents’ are very upmarket. Views over the bay are lovely and the Resort has one of the few silver sand beaches in the area. Those off the nearest town of Pemuteran are more black and sparkly. Food and drink in the Resort are nice, they have their own onsite spa (great massages with the sea lapping at the beach to listen to as you are looked after) and their own onsite dive shop. Many guests – pretty much all adults when we were there – seem happy to stay in and around the resort for their whole trip, and the prices are a little higher in resort as a result of this captive audience. The staff at the Resort are lovely, always smiling and willing to go out of their way to assist with any requests. They managed to organise us the hire of a moped, which I got the impression wasn’t something they normally do, so we were able to explore a little further afield.
Pemuteran is about 10-15 minutes by moped away. Nearer to the Resort (just at the end of its entrance drive) is a nice restaurant with accommodation and a small pool called the Bananaleaf. In Pemuteran there are several small warungs offering food and accommodation, as well as larger hotels. Lots of dive shops too. My OH dived through YOS Divers – one day out to Menjangan Island the the other off the shore at Pemuteran at the Bio Reefs. You can also reach some of these snorkelling off the beach and are quite likely to see turtles and loads of fish on these.
We ate at the Suki SariWarung in Pemuteran – lovely food and looked like great accommodation too. Also the WarungGanesh. We also explored by moped west of the Resort as far as Gilimantok and then managed to find a track off the main road (very rocky and bumpy) that gave us access to the National Park that is across the bay from the Glamping Resort. We had lunch at the amazing Bali Tower Restaurant – nice food and great views – and then spent the afternoon on the beach near the Octagon Hotel, snorkeling off the jetty there. Were also lucky enough to see a couple of the wild deer that live in the park.
We loved this part of Bali – we had previously visited Lombok on another trip which we were told was like Bali ‘used to be’ – but found that there were a lot of people – adults and children – trying to sell us bracelets and sarongs all the time there, at all times of the day and night. There was none of that here, and the only children we saw were either playing football in the cow fields, or at school during the day which is at it should be I think! 🙂
This part of Bali seems to attract more european travellers than Australians – many having come over from Java as part of a longer trip. The local people seem to have other income sources (agriculture, industry, fishing) so tourism is not their be-all and end-all, which shows I think in their more laid back attitude.
It ticked all the boxes for me of what I look for in this type of holiday – I’d definitely go back, although would probably stay somewhere in Pemuteran rather than at the Resort. If you want somewhere special for an anniversary or honeymoon though it’s a great choice. If you like diving and snorkelling, and just generally relaxing in a beautiful part of Bali, with great people and nice food, and don’t mind a bit of a car trip to get there, have a look for yourself!
Arrived Zagreb Airport and were met by people we were hiring our motorhome and bikes from (a Dethleffs Globebus we nickname Globby). After handover, drove to Lake Jarun via a supermarket. Entry to Lake Complex is 5Kuna, we find a spot to park and go for a walk to explore the lakes, watching lots of fit people rowing
Tuesday 28th May
Cycle to the tram stop, chain the bikes up and catch tram into Zagreb. Spend the day sightseeing and exploring – Dolac market, the cathedral, the Museum for Broken Relationships – resisted adding to the exhibits – unusual place. We like Zagreb. Tkalciceva street for lunch and then Corazon Mio Bar where they make the best Sangrias in the world – hot cherry sangria was very good. Starts to rain late in the afternoon. Overnight Lake Jarun.
Wednesday 29th May
Still raining, pack up and head for the Slovenian border. Cross into Slovenia heading towards Brežice, Slovenia. From there turn right and head north towards Rogatec, then turn towards Ptuj. Stop in Ptuj for lunch at Gostilna Ribic right on the river, great food. Still raining though so river views a bit less than they could be.
Decide to find somewhere nearby to spend the night. Find a site alongside Lake Ptuj which is free to stay at – bit hard to find but when we do finally manage it, we park up next to a large circus tent that is pitched on the tennis courts alongside.
Thursday 30th May
Two nights and a day of nonstop rain seems to have finally cleared.. today in the beautiful Jeruzalem wine region of north Slovenia.. some wine tasting then picnic lunch with views over four countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Austria). Globby performing well keeping us warm and dry! Sunshine and warmer temps forecast from tomorrow onwards. Afternoon walk in the woods around Trnek. See a deer and lots of birds including a pair of woodpeckers.
Friday 31st May
Such lovely people here in Slovenia – camped last night next to a small country pub (Gostilna Trnek) and went in for something to eat last night before realising we didn’t have any cash and they don’t take cards! Whoops! Friendly landlord insisted we eat and drink anyway and said we could come back to pay tomorrow.
A quick detour to a local ATM to get cash to leave for our dinner last night. Bossy Betty (the Google Maps Dominatrix) takes us through some lovely villages with brightly painted houses, hares and huge cranes (storks?) in the fields, to the city of Maribor. The sun came out for us despite Maribor’s slight obsession with umbrellas! Betty is ALWAYS right, as we discovered when we thought she wasn’t, and ended up in a quarry car park! We park in Maribor, and explore by bike.
Still have a bit of time left on our parking ticket when we get back to Globby, so quick bite to eat before continuing towards Vransko. This lovely site is in a region famous for its hops. We thought it was time we stayed somewhere with proper showers, and strike gold here – the site has some of the best amenity blocks we have ever experienced…
Saturday 1st June ·
After a day spent exploring the village, discovering a motorbike museum packed with old European models where Ian was in heaven, we spent the evening with a group of Slovenian motorhomers on the site, watching the Champions League football final, putting the world to rights, and enjoying some home made schnapps (with health-giving properties apparently!) with beautiful, friendly people.
Sunday 2nd June
Head towards Lake Bled, do a bit of supermarket shopping then park on the roadside to walk to the stunning Vintgar Gorge. Beautiful place, wooden walkways all along the gorge, trout swimming in the crystal clear waters. I never want to see another stone step again though!
Head back towards place we were intending to overnight (car park near supermarket that said it was free from 6pm overnight) but local policeman tells us we can’t stay there and escorts us to new site (at the back of the Cash & Carry) where it costs Euro25 per night. Decide not to stay there and drive around Lake Bled to check the place out. Find the station carpark, where there are other motorhomes parked, and decide to give that a try instead. Awaken the next morning to workmen moving in heavy machinery and motorway barriers to barricade us in (we think, but turns out not to be the case)!
Monday 3rd June
Make a speedy exit and head back to supermarket carpark where we pay for couple of hours parking and set off by bike to find local Tobagganing place we’d seen on Travel Man. Finally find it (not very well signposted) with the help of a local man on his bike who sees us looking at a map and offers to take us there himself, and return to bring Motorhome to the carpark there, where we can stay until 7pm. Spend morning tobogganing, then cycle around Lake Bled. Nice place for lunch at Vila Prešeren Bled – still reasonable even with this view and handy to keep an eye on the bikes too. Chat to fishermen around the lake fishing for Carp. Return to our station spot for second night, enjoy some drinks at the Station Bar and chat to some lovely German motorhomers.
Tuesday 4th June
Today we decided to check out public transport, Slovenian style. Took a train from Bohinjski Bistrica to the town of Nova Gorica which has the border with Italy right through the middle. Caught a local bus into the centre then got caught out when we asked which bus to catch back to the station – turns out there are TWO stations, one Italian and one Slovenian! Managed to get back to the right one just as the train was leaving, and they stopped it so we could get on.
Camped at Lake Bohinj campsite overnight .. wondering if the Vogel lift will work with the thunder we can hear approaching. Ian goes off for lone cycle ride around the Lake when the storm passes, while Diane stays in the camper stewing some apricots we bought from a stall by the side of the road.
Wednesday 5th June
A busy day going up and down mountains in cable cars and chair lifts (still patches of snow around), driving along scary mountain roads, lunching on roasted mountain trout, and another stunning gorge walk (I never want to see another stone step – EVER!) up the Tolmin Gorge with at least three million stone steps to climb to get from river level back to the car park!
Camped in the Vipava Valley wine region among the vines near a small town/village called Dornberk.
Thursday 6th June
One of the best things about this country is the people you meet by accident. Stumbled across a lovely winery when out exploring the area on our bikes this morning, and had the best wine tasting – as well as some home cured ham, local cheese, bread, asparagus and cherries – and a tour of the cellars by the very welcoming wine-maker, who also suggested a good place to eat tonight. 2013 Barbero was a wine made for the Gods!
A house in Dornberk that looked totally residential from the front turns out to serve the most delicious local food if you go round into their back garden – would never have found it on our own, but one of our most memorable meals in Slovenia, surrounded the locals, and being guided by our fantastic waiter (the son of the family) on what to eat.
Friday 7th June
So remember I said I never wanted to see another stone step? Well, today we visited the Skocjan Caves and guess what? 500 more of the bloody things – and I swear at least 75% of those were steps up! Not allowed to take any pics in the caves though, which are Unesco listed. The River Reca (which means River River) flows through the cave system – in February of this year they had so much rain it filled 70% of the cave system. The bridge inside is 45metres above the river and the water level was over the bridge.
After the caves (and maybe a medicinal wine or two) we went to see the famous Lippizaner horse breeding stables where they teach the horses to dance, and train them for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The foals are all born brown or black and turn white as they mature. Beautiful animals.
We then head for the coast and park by the Marina in Izola. Intrigued by the Lasko IPA in the supermarket, the hops for which we passed on our drive to Vransko, Ian decides to give it a try. Made with 100% Slovenski Hemlj it says. Mmmm not bad not much malt character but fresh and fruity, with a touch of new world citrus and floral notes. Sundowner!
Saturday 8th June
Headed to Piran. Parked the camper 2km away and cycled in along the shore on purpose built cycle tracks and roads where bikes have priority over cars and stopped at a seafront cafe for breakfast. So safe, so civilised, so European. Ian has a swim in the sea and we visit the local Salt museum. Leave Piran and are amazed at the traffic heading in the opposite direction to us, coastwards. Find out after it’s a long weekend in Europe.
Head back through countryside to Pivka and stay at the Camping Plana & Bar 66. Run by a lovely German lady, and they serve Bavarian beer in the bar there, so Ian is happy! Early dinner then head to Postojna to meet our guide for a bear watching trip into the forests.
Our guide, the amazingly knowledgeable Tina, takes us to a hide where we spend three hours waiting for a bear to show. He does eventually and it’s the highlight of our trip. We also get a visit from an Edible Dormouse in the hide, and a tiny bat, and see playful fox cubs on our drive back to Postojna
That’s a bear footprint!
Sunday 10th June
Decide to have another night at this campsite. Ian goes off for a ride on his bike to explore, and luckily doesn/t meet any bears. Otherwise we relax with Kindles, German beer and local wine and cherries.
Monday 10th June
Head towards Ljubljana, park at the (free, including electrical hookup) Park & Ride at Dolgi Most then cycle along the cycle path into the city (about 15 minutes) to explore. Visit the market, and the castle where we pay for the self-audio guide as the other options have already started for the day (we get there around 3pm) – money-saving tip: if you’re a couple, just pay for one and share it between you! Someone really needs to tell them to put the numbers in order – what’s with the constant backtracking? (Oh and more stone steps of course!)
Try really hard to order a glass of the famous Orange Wine but despite stressing to the waiter that’s what I wanted, he still bought me the plain white stuff (which was very nice, but I couldn’t work out why it was called ‘Orange’ until I realised it wasn’t!)
Eddie Izard managed to find umpteen water fountains when he visited Ljubljana – we only found the one, a kangaroo, but an appropriate one, I think! There are some weird and wonderful sculptures dotted around the city…
Tuesday 11th June
Return to the city and take a boat trip along the river, followed by a visit to the Botanic Gardens (a little disappointing, but we’re spoilt with our equivalent here in Adelaide) – interspersed of course with more eating and drinking and a bit of cycling to try and work it off.
Return to the Motorhome and decide we’ve had our fill of the city, so head to Skofja Loka. Find the local Motorhome free parking spot, and head to the Visitor Information Centre to ask for a recommendation for dinner. Explore the beautiful old town on foot and then head to the Gostilna recommended – housed in a stunning old grain store, now housing bank on ground floor, restaurant in basement, and museum upstairs … we only made it to the restaurant though!
Wednesday 12th June
Ian has time for a last minute bike ride around the Loki Trail before breakfast
Clean the camper, bin any left-over food, and return to Dolgi Most to hand Motorhome back. Time for one last cycle ride to a local cafe before we have to return Globby and The Trusty Steeds (hired bicycles). Motorhome owners give us a lift to the airport for our flight to UK. Airport is about 40 minutes from Ljubljana city. Spend the time at the airport finishing off the last of our snacks and drinks, which includes rather a lot of vodka and gin, watched in bemusement by local cab drivers.
Have been so impressed with Slovenia – the people, the scenery, both natural and man-made, the infrastructure.. something for everyone and all contained in a very manageable sized area.
Recuperating from a rather unexpected operation, my go-to ‘happy place’ is to plan a holiday. This year (2019) we had a fantastic trip to Slovenia – we hired a motorhome through Campanda (a sort of peer to peer site for motorhome owners willing to rent out their vehicles), flew to Ljubljana and spent 16 nights exploring that beautiful country.
After considering Croatia for our next trip, for some reason my eye fell on Bulgaria, and after a bit of internet research, my heart began to be set on exploring there. I’m a big fan of places that are not hugely popular with tourists yet, but developed enough to hopefully be safe to travel in. As part of the EU but not using the Euro yet, Bulgaria seems to offer a combination of history, scenery, welcoming people, good food, and of course, wine and beer, with prices that seem very reasonable after 15 years of living in Australia.
After locking in dates and booking flights – Adelaide to UK first to see family, then Easyjet to Sofia, and back to Adelaide from there, I do some costings and get some other quotes. Hiring just a car and using AirBnBs is quite a bit cheaper, but we have enjoyed motorhoming and money spent on holidays isn’t real money, so I decide to stick with that option.
We’ve used Anywhere Campers in the past and they were great, everything included, but unfortunately they can’t compete costwise with a local company this time and we don’t need their option of pickup and dropoff in different locations. Georgi from Rentacampa.bg in Sofia, that we find through Campanda, is great communications-wise, and offers to hire us a couple of bicycles to go with the camper for our trip. We’ve hired a Knaus Sky Wave 650 MGfrom them.
Next step is to start researching an itinerary. I’d love to be one of these people that can just ‘go with the flow’ and book up last minute as we go along, but I’m a bit too much of a control-freak to do that. Besides, planning a trip is half the fun!
So, first stop on the research trail is that old favourite, Tripadvisor. I post a general query and within a few days am blown away by one amazing contributor who sends me a whole load of information by pm about places to go, things to see, places we can stay at overnight in a motorhome. I never cease to be amazed by the kindness of strangers, and if this person is an example of how nice Bulgarians are, it’s a great sign.
Next step is Google MyMaps, to start by entering all the places of interest and get an idea of distances and travel times between places. I come up with an itinerary that combines a bit of natural beauty (waterfalls, mountains, caves, gorges, hot springs), a bit of history (Bulgaria has a LOT of history, going back further than I can imagine), some wine, beer and food exploration, and a little beach time.
So my itinerary looks like this: Sofia – Rila – Melnik – Rhodopi Mtns – Plovdiv – Burgas -Varna – Ruse – Veliko Tarnovo – Kazanluk – Sofia. Official Campsites in Bulgaria are few and far between, but Wild Camping is permitted as far as I understand from reading countless blogs, and from my helpful Tripadvisor (TA) friend, and Park4Night has a great map search function which I make full use of to check out and save GPS locations of likely overnight spots.
On reading through the fantastic information from my TA local again, I see “Burgas – Varna looks on the map like a short, easy and scenic road, but its not” and various other blogs have said that the one overdeveloped and heavily touristy bit of Bulgaria is the coastline, so I revisit the itinerary and change a few things around. My alternative route is now Sofia – Rila – Melnik – Rhodopi Mtns – Plovdiv – Shipka – Veliko Tarnovo – Varna – Ruse – Krushuna – Sofia which still gives a couple of nights at the coast, but allows a bit more exploration of the northwest corner of the country, and restricts daily driving to around 2 hrs maximum.
In terms of what there is to see and do along this route, here is my rough plan:
Rila – apparently there’s a chair lift to the top of the mountain where you can walk and try and find a vantage point to see all seven lakes. Handily it seems that we may be able to park overnight in the chairlift carpark, so after picking up our motorhome in the early afternoon, this seems to be a good first destination. This blog gives some good information https://ourtour.co.uk/home/team-daves-summit-attempt-the-7-rila-lakes and this one – https://travelwithbender.com/travel-blog/bulgaria/panichishte-and-bulgarias-famous-rila-monastery – reassures me that it won’t be too physically demanding for a slightly unfit middle aged couch potato such as myself (note to self: get on the exercise bicycle after writing this!)
Rhodopi Mountains – this seems to be popular for winter sports, but there are more hot springs at Devin, or gorges at Trigrad, depending on how we are feeling after the previous days wine tasting! There are also wild bears in the woods around Trigrad. We saw some in Slovenia and I’d love to see some more, although maybe not quite such a close encounter as this tourist had there http://balkani.org/en/rules_bears/
Shipka – time for a bit of history with the abandoned Communist monument here, as well as the famous (infamous) Shipka Pass – I like to give my driver a bit of a challenge every holiday and by now he should be confident about driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road again and able to handle anything!
Veliko Tarnovo – as well as having one of the best camping sites in Bulgaria, this city is also supposed to be one of the country’s most beautiful. This site gives some useful info https://sofiaadventures.com/things-to-do-in-veliko-tarnovo/ and again, there’s a free walking tour we can join at 11am from in front of the Tourist Information Centre, if we get there early enough.
Varna – we’ve never been to the Black Sea, so we had to have at least one night there. I also quite fancy doing a 4×4 tour from there which gets good reviews on TA. I’ve contacted a company that organises them, http://www.visitbulgariaon.com, and have made a note of their contact details, as I don’t want to commit to being there on a particular date until we’ve seen how easy driving is, and our plans might change.
Ruse – on the banks of the Danube, this place is steeped in history, so will give us a dose of culture, before visiting some caves in the vicinity, the Orlova Chuka Caves.
I looked at travelling from Ruse back to Sofia in one day, but it seems a bit of a long trip, so I look for a good midway stop, decide against Pleven but am drawn towards the Krushuna National Park, with waterfalls and walking trails which sound great.
Final stop before handing the MoHo back needs to be at a campsite, so we can clean and empty tanks. I’ve found a place called Camping Zverino which will leave us about 1hr 30mins to travel the next day to return the Knaus to Sofia.
So that’s the plan, I have written up an itinerary, saved links etc, and started this blog. I’ll keep it updated as the planning progresses and more details are added, and then of course when we actually do it, I’ll see if the reality lives up to the imagination! Next step is to start learning a bit of the language, as the cyrillic alphabet used in Bulgaria is going to be quite a challenge! Off to read some more hints and tips from here https://www.claimcompass.eu/blog/tips-visit-bulgaria/
2022 Update
Well, has there ever been such an ill-fated trip? Firstly the online travel agent I’d booked our flights through – Bestflights – went bust over the Christmas 2019 break. After much to-ing and fro-ing Emirates Airlines kindly took over the booking for us…. but then Covid happened!
Our June 2020 trip changed to September 2020 (“it’ll all be over by then, surely!”) and then eventually to an Open ticket valid until April 2023.
Cancelled the Easyjet flight for a credit, no problem. Likewise the AirBnB in Sofia. Overnight at Travelodge not so good – lost our money there. Contacted Motorhome Hire Company and they agreed to hold onto our deposit until such time as we could use it. Never imagined it would be such a long gap though.
So now we’re in 2022, international travel has restarted, although not without its issues, and I’ve rebooked our flights (now from Melbourne as Emirates no longer fly from Adelaide) to March-April 2023, which will mean visiting Bulgaria from the first week of April until the third. Fingers crossed no more spanners in the works!
First problem is that many Bulgarian campsites don’t open till May, and the weather could be anything from wintery to springlike at that time of year. The itinerary may have to be somewhat ‘fluid’ to allow for this, but I’ll start off with the same bare bones and adapt as we go.
Wining Poms 