Bulgaria

October 6^th – 10^th 2021

Koshov, Bulgaria

Since we arrived at night on the campground, we got surprised in the morning by the wonderful views to the gorge of the Rusenski Lom river.

We got several suggestions about the area from the owner of the campground. Before hiking, we checked out the nearby tiny village of Koshov. There is a small grocery shop where we could get some foods. We got the impression that the village seems quite deserted and that only old people live here. The rural depopulation is definitely going on, the younger generation can only find better education and work in the cities, quite some are even leaving the country. Now to our discovery tours: Directly starting at the campground we could walk down into the gorge, where different tracks led through the large gap, mostly along the small river.

We were fascinated by the colors and shapes, as well as from the countless caves that were visible in the tall limestone cliffs. The area of the Rusenki Lom river is since 1970 a protected nature reserve. The correlation of cliffs, forests, rivers, caves and grasslands are the reason for an extraordinary biodiversity. The reserve offers ideal living space for amphibians, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, snails, river shells, different mammals and unusual lots of bird species. We did enjoy our hikes through the wild nature.

This area was also inhabited by hermits between the 12^th and 14^th century, That lived high up in natural caves. The natural caves got more and more extended and a monastery colony started to exist. The religious community grew quickly thanks to financial supports of the Bulgarian Tsar and many nobles. Like this, it was also possible to get in the 13^th and 14^th century numerous churches painted from famous artists. They still show today high-level Bulgarian medieval paintings.

On one side, we visited the less spectacular but still interesting cave complex Gramovets, where we could see the remains of such a colony.

October 11^th 2021

Koshov – Devetashka cave, Bulgaria

Miles: 70

Miles total: 4’680

We did see some people come and go during the 6 days at the beautiful campground. Nobody stays as long as we stay :-). But now it was finally time to drive towards south-west in the rain. In the first bigger town, we had to get cash, eat lunch and reload our mobile sim-card. In the mobile shop, we got for 6$, 600 minutes for calls and 5GB for internet, so far so good :-). Lunch we got in the first restaurant we encountered. Most probably a worker’s place where we got daily menus. One bottle of water, 2 daily menus (Potatoes with meat and meatballs with cabbage salad) and 2 deserts for 9$, including tip! Bulgaria seems even a bit less expensive than Romania. The villages also seem to be a bit shabbier than the once in Romania. In many villages it seems, that people are leaving the country side and move to cities. We could see broken and deserted houses, hotels or other buildings.

In the evening, we slept at a parking lot near a cave that we are going to visit the next day.

October 12^th 2021

Devetashka cave – Emen, Bulgaria

Miles: 60

Miles total: 4’740

We made the detour to come to this place even though the owner of the previous campsite said that it is not really worth seeing. When we saw the Devetashka cave, it was obvious to us that the lady either has no eye for natural wonders or has never been here at all.

The huge cave was phenomenal. Not only the size is great, but also the huge holes in the top that bring in some daylight down in the cave and to the river on the inside. Already 70'000 years ago were humans living here and in 2011 it was a scene location for the movie „The Expendables 2“. It is as well one of the most important places in Bulgaria for bats. 30'000 of these animals are at home here.

The first thing we did when arriving in the town of Lowetsch, a few miles down the road, was eating way too much in a famous restaurant! A culinary delight! Starters, main course and two deserts for 20$. So far is the food better and a bit spicier than in Romania. Now the overfilled bellies needed some exercise, so we walked up the hill to visit the old fort and later on the city center. Besides the famous old covered wooden bridge were also especially the houses and a church with their stone plate roofs beautiful.

We arrived in the village of Emen after a two-hour drive. We slept directly at the small visitors parking lot besides a big cave and a gorge. We were totally alone there thanks to off-season and the bad weather.

October 13^th 2021

Emen, Bulgarien

The little hike starting from our sleeping spot went along the gorge to a waterfall and to a small old reservoir lake.

Once again we had to ask ourselves how stupid or indifferent quite some people are. Everywhere was rubbish along the actually beautiful lake! A scene that not seldom in eastern Europe!

We got to know a Bulgarian young guy living in Great Britain when we were at the waterfall. We chatted for quite a while with him and learned many things about Bulgaria. He didn’t talk too well about his compatriots and complained about garbage everywhere, corruption in his country and that the people should be more open and friendlier. Back at the camper we said goodbye to him and walked up the stairs to get to the cave. To us it seems, that in Bulgaria it has countless caves anyways. The daylight soon got swallowed by the huge cave. Our curiosity overcame the fear of complete darkness, so we quickly went back to the campervan to get the big flash light and we started our discovery trip. It didn’t take very long until the first bat was flying around our heads. Once we looked closer, we saw hundreds if not thousands of those little animals at the ceiling of the cave.

We continued deeper into the cave despite the frightening combination of total darkness and the bats. We got pretty surprised and were amazed when we saw some kind of rooms and apparently an old elevator shaft. It is suspected that those are some kind of very old military relicts.

An exciting day of our tour came to an end :-).

October 14^th 2021

Emen – Samovodene, Bulgaria

Miles: 40

Miles total: 4’780

Along the route we made a stop in the surprising city Weliko Tarnowo.

The city is squeezed in on a small area completely looped by the river Jantra and the houses are being built scarily close to the cliffs of the gorge. Also fascinating was the main road with all its fancy and expensive stores and shops. After a yummy lunch in a hip restaurant, we visited the fortress Zarewez from the 12^th century, which stays in the middle of the river-loop. The weather was grey, wet and nasty, so we continued to a campground that was laying picturesquely on a river. The fall-colored trees at the river were wonderful, even with the rain. From time to time you could see bigger birds flying around in this untouched nature.

October 15^th 2021

Samovodene, Bulgaria

October 16^th 2021

Samovodene – Trjavna, Bulgaria

Miles: 50

Miles total: 4’830

After a short drive we arrived at our home for the coming 6 weeks. House and dog sitting is on the schedule. The 3 dogs, Willow, Peggy Sue and Ellie greeted us with loud barking as soon we arrived at the house :-).

October 17^th – November 30^th 2021

6 weeks house & dog sitting in Trjavna, Bulgaria

Miles: 360

Miles total: 5’190

6 weeks off from travelling, what a boon :-). On the internet, we found a house with dogs for house-sitting for 6 weeks. The owners were looking just at the right time for a sitter and the place was directly along our route. So, we applied for the house-sit and actually got the opportunity. The owners from England went back home during that time.

So, we could stay 6 weeks at nearly always beautiful weather in a great house in the middle of a beautiful landscape free of charge. In return, we became good friends with the 3 dogs of the house :-) and we went walking with them 4 to 6 miles (6-10km), which took about 3 hours, every day.

Well, there was Willow, a 2-year-old golden retriever. Then two border terriers, Peggie Sue and Ellie with the age of 8 and 12. And yes, also the 12-year old lady managed the daily 5 miles :-).  

Our walks with the dogs led us mostly through the wonderful forest in the fall time. The red-yellow-green-brown deciduous trees were a true glory, and day by day the picture we saw changed until the trees were empty and the floor was covered with them. Really special was also the absolute silence and loneliness in the area.

Already in advance we really were looking to the time off, for different reasons.

The most important reason for us was, that we had time to think about and process the experiences and adventures we had the past 6 months. For once just to slow down. It was good for our mind to reflect and get new appetite and energy for the continuing journey to Turkey. We also thought a lot about where, how and how long we want to have our further journey.

We of course enjoyed some of the nice side effects that such a break has:

-       For once a kitchen with a lot of space

-       Enough time to extend our cooking and baking expertise

-       To waist no thought about camper stuff like having enough fresh water, emptying waste-water, enough electricity, gas, emptying toilet and so on

-       Time to fix smaller issues at our campervan

We also used the long stay to get the Covid-vaccination done. For us it was important that we could do both shots at the same place, so this was the opportunity. We can move more freely thanks to the vaccination (border crossings, Restaurants etc.) and mainly we don’t want to get seriously ill and end up in a hospital, and definitely not in a country with bad medical system. 

We also explored the nearby towns Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Bojentsi and the very close Trjawna. Mostly to do some grocery shopping.

The very nearby town Trjawna turned out to be one of the highlights in Bulgaria and is with its old town a true gem.

A wonderful view are the, typical for this region, white houses with the stone plate roofs.

At one of the afternoons we visited Bojentsi.

We were also able to see behind the regular tourist backdrop thanks to this unusual house-sitting stay. The people in the area are all very lovely and we felt comfortable. We talked to several people along our dog-walking route and even got an insight view from the Bulgarian Janko to his new bought, but quite renovation-needed house. For 10’000$ he got a house with 5 hectares land around it. We are often surprised about the low property prices in Bulgaria. Therefor is Bulgaria also very attractive by expats, that wanna get a property for their retirement, as a vacation home or just as an investment.

The time has come to move on and to discover new things after more than 6 weeks. We really did enjoy the time and we will for sure miss the dogs from time to time :-).

December 1^st 2021

Trjavna – Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Miles: 110

Miles total: 5’300

For once, let’s start this report the day before, our last day with the dogs. At this day, unfortunately the winter was coming back with 6 inches (15cm) of snow and an icy wind! Already in the morning we grabbed the broom and vacuum cleaner instead of the dog leashes. And to pack the van, we wanted to activate the heating system, since we weren’t in the mood to freeze at 32°F (0°C). For the first half our this worked out, but then the heating quit because of a leak in the water circuit of our central heating system. What a shock! Now we installed a small electric oven and an extension cord and we got the frozen camper more or less warm. But this delight also didn’t last for long and at 7PM the whole village had no electricity for three hours. We managed anyways to cook our dinner, do the dishes and pack the campervan. We did spend the freezing night covered in our thick sleeping bags. The owners came back around midnight.

The next morning, we said goodbye to the owners and the dogs and the Iveco brought us along the Balkan mountains into the city Plovdiv, where a flat tire made the trip more interesting :-(. The entire job took over an hour since the guys at the last tire failure in the Ukraine tightened them way too much. It got quite late due to the tire failure, so we postponed the fixing of the heating and spent another chilly night in the van.

December 2^nd – 4^th 2021

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria and counts as one of the oldest cities in Europe. The early stages of the city are dating back 4000bc. It is built across 7 hills – three of them are today inhabited by the heritage protected old town. The city was home to different inhabitants during the time. Therefor offers the city some historic treasures.

The most impressive relict from the Roman times is the amphitheater, which was erected in the 2^nd century. With its 7000 seats, it is still today being used for open-air events.

But the old town receives the unique charm by the imposing villas, that came to live during the time of the Bulgarian revival. During that time, many rich and educated people moved to Plovdiv. From there big wealth, splendid constructions and buildings were created with architectural influences from all over Europe. Typical features of those so-called Plovdiv-houses are the symmetrical layout and the facades, detailed decorated with ornaments and bay windows.

All in all, we really enjoyed the city: interesting monuments, marvellous old town, pleasant walking areas, art quarters with lots of small creative shops, good culinary offer, good city campground etc. Just by the way, one strange fact about the food culture in Bulgaria is, that the food in Restaurants (and eventually also privately) is preferably served lukewarm :-).

Besides the sightseeing, two Iveco-projects needed some time in Plovdiv.

1. The repair of the tire.

This took place without any issues. The first shop we asked, led us directly to the right place. Some hours later (with lunch break) the hose was fixed. Costs 7$. The reason for the leak was some scratching on the hose, but the tire was OK. How this happened is not clear.

2. The repair of the heating.

Since we will encounter colder temperatures in the coming months, we hooked up the water tank to the heating circuit, to avoid damage at freezing temperatures. The connections were unfortunately so inaccessible, that we couldn’t get them dry. After the leakage scenario during the last night in Trjavna, we decided to disconnect the water tank again from the heating circuit. The connecting and disconnection of the circuit was a very annoying job, and drainage of some coolant into the van couldn’t be avoided.

December 5^th 2021

Plovdiv – Nikolovo, Bulgaria

Miles: 90

Miles total: 5’390

From the South of Bulgaria, we continued East. But before we are entering the next country, we visited the so called “stone-mushrooms”, that were close to our route.

The unique rock phenomena with the several yards (meters) tall mushroom shaped rocks, was definitely worth the little detour.

Just a few miles down the road we stayed overnight at a lonely lake. We observed the countless coots that were checking out the lake in nicely arranged groups :-).

December 6^th 2021

Nikolovo, Bulgaria

A day at the lake :-)