Beginning Bulgaria

New country, and this is the first time we have driven Dora in an ex-communist state. We wonder what she will make of it.

There is always a bit of trepidation as you cross any border, their is something about border police that makes you feel guilty, and our recent experiences didn’t really put us at ease, especially as this one we would be driving Dora through their checkpoints.

But we need not have worried, they asked just for the passports, no request for any documentation regarding Dora at all, so that was the border out-of-the-way, what new things would Bulgaria have to offer.

Our first task for the day was to find out about the data-sim, so we could get back online. We headed for the nearest town, just fifteen minutes down the road. However, the road was terrible, not in that consistent Italian sort of way, but that unexpected, really deep pothole that tries to wrench a tire from the axle of Dora, sending reverberations through the whole chassis, so that all the cutlery rattles around in the drawers, and then it is smooth again!

And then there are the other type of vehicles that Dora has never come across before, well not on this trip anyway. Not sure how he copes with the potholes?

Apart from that, the landscape hasn’t changed much since north-eastern Greece, well it wouldn’t would it.

And we eventually get to Петрич, and you can already see the other problem, the language. All the names are written twice, well some of the time they are, and then around the next corner you just get the one in the Cyrillic alphabets.

In this case the town was Petrich, this was going to be fun.

And then there is the town itself. This is so far removed from the Greek towns we have visited recently. Large concrete slab blocks, five to eight storeys in height. Not inelegant, but could certainly do with a lot of TLC; paint, new windows. They also look precariously thin, there look to be no thermal insulation, so they must be unbearably hot in summer, freezing cold in winter.

But apart from that, the place looks clean and tidy, with plenty of public spaces, and we come across our first Lidl. There is always a sense of excitement to see what changes country to country, not a lot as it happens. You get to know instantly a countries likes and dislikes; Bulgarians like sausage, a whole wall is dedicated to every type you could possible imagine. The current offers revolve around Greek cuisine, a bit disappointing as we have just come from there and have had our fill of feta and yogurt. But there are still the dregs left over from the Spanish specials; we pick up some pisto and some alioli.

Back on the road and we are heading straight to the mountains, tomorrow we hope to get deep into the Пирин mountains, where we hope to climb the peak of Вихрен

(I love the guys at Google translate, Susana will give you the pronounceable versions!)

Very funny. SM

There are two ways we could go, the straight way, through the valley, or the indirect way through the mountains. Dora hates us.

Fortunately the road conditions have calmed down. You still need your wits about you, but perhaps the first ten minutes was just a test of stamina. We have passed so are now allowed to continue on our way, without all the bone rattling.

We are actually circumnavigating the base of the mountain, however its summits are currently hiding within a thick carpet of cloud.

And the lower slopes are carpeted with a thick layer of pines.

But it looks like it may be improving, the clouds seem to be parting. It would be good to have a clear day tomorrow.

Eventually we get to a pass. Dora is relieved and we start the gentle descent.

More twisty turny roads, never venturing much above 50 kmph.

And then below us, down on the plain, the small town of Гоце Делчев

(OK I will give you the easy western version Gotse Delchev).

It is quite small.

And many of the buildings they seem to have forgotten to finish, surely this one should be rendered.

We continue onwards, it has been a long but fascinating drive. Now we are out of the mountains, we just need to follow the river valley to get to our final destination.

And it is a stunning, and lively river.

Set within a lovely valley.

Now strangely, I think we were so shocked when we got to our destination we completely forgot to take photos. No matter, that is what the internet is for!

Our destination was Банско.

If you are a skier you may recognise the name…Bansko.

It is famous for having the cheapest skiing in Europe. And in winter it apparently looks like this.

Or this,

This is the most realistic picture from winter, but it wasn’t even anything like this;

At least this one had a fabulous view of the summit we were going to attempt tomorrow!

We even found some pictures from the summer, but it wasn’t like this either.

Or this.

What we found was some abstract ghost town with pretty much every building locked up. We found just two bars open, nothing else at all.

At one of the bars, bizarrely we were approached by a Scottish guy, sitting there having his lunch. He kindly pointed us on the right direction, but we never did ask what he was doing there, in the locked up town, maybe we were afraid, we just wanted to get out of there.

We climbed up through the forest, looking for the directions to the Vihren hut. The Scottish guy was correct, the road was blocked by snow just after a taverna, but this would be a good place to stay the night, and it was only thirty minutes to the refuge. We settled in for the night.

Our thoughts returned to the ghost town, there seems something very wrong with a town just built for four months of the year, but maybe we will discuss that in another post!

GDR