Bulgaria: Helpx No. 2

4th August

We woke up and had a relaxed morning at the campsite. We planned to meet Neil and Sarah - our new hosts - after lunch. We had no food left in the van so we thought we'd leave a bit before lunch and get some food in town before finding them. This plan didn't work out very well as after we'd left the campsite and it's free internet we realised we didn't exactly know the address or how to get there. So after circling the one way systems through Veliko Tarnovo for a while we finally found a parking space where we hoped we wouldn't get towed away and got a coffee in a cafe to use their free wifi. We found the village of Ledenik on the map, memorized the way there and after a few u-turns found the village centre. It should have taken about half an hour but it took almost two! Oh well. We were just buying a snack to eat in the shop when a big Land Rover pulled up and Sarah got out and said hello. We followed her down the track to the house and met Neil and their two adorable little boys, Matty and Ryan. Neil and Sarah are originally from Birmingham but have lived in Bulgaria nearly seven years. They are lovely and we instantly felt at home and we played with the kids and had dinner out in the garden in the sunshine. We also have a really nice room with an ensuite bathroom, which makes a welcome change from the van. They had plans with friends in the evening so were left in the hous, where we sat back and watched loads of English TV! We actually did manage to drag ourselves off the sofa to go and find the village river they had told us about, which was really wide and shallow over rocks so there were a few people who had driven over it to wash their cars. Went back home and when Neil and Sarah came back we chatted a bit and then had an early night, ready for some gardening in the morning. 

5th - 9th August
 

They have a good sized garden with a lawn and flower and veg beds around the edge, which had become really over grown. We spent the first week clearing all the weeds and chopping back/down some of the trees and just generally making the garden look better. It was really fun and we made a huge difference and it looks great. Getting used to working in nearly forty degree heat was tough but luckily they have a huge paddeling pool which was perfect for dunking in every hour or so! We were generally left to our own devices but Neil and Sarah work from home so we had lunch together in the garden every day, which was lovely.

They boys are absolutely adorable, they are six and three, and we have played with them alot in the pool or doing colouring. Pete got out his guitar, ukelele and harmonica which they absolutely loved and we had a few jam sessions together.

We had one afternoon off and we drove to Kapinovo Waterfall which they had told us about. We found it easily but were a bit confused when all we could see was a big outdoor swimming pool. We eventually realised we had to go through the pool, luckily without paying, and found an amazing river with a big waterfall and very deep pool. Pete joined all the Bulgarian lads and climbed up the waterfall to jump off and we chilled there for a few hours. We then got a beer up at the pool which was about 50p for a half litre and we decided we might have to move here with those prices! We ate our picnic for dinner and then drove home and stopped for another beer in Ledenik (the village we're living in) and watched the gypsy kids filling their water barrels and riding off on their horse and cart.

Another night we had a barbeque in the garden with some friends of Neil and Sarahs and we ended up getting the guitar out and having a sing a long for a few hours very loudly!

We also both got to drive the Land Rover around the village, which was very cool.

 

 

Pete cooked meatballs for everyone. ^

 

Some pictures of the garden. (Note: the small patio.)

 

 

Night drinking and singing. ^

 

Pete jumping in. ^

 

Afternoon out at the waterfall. ^

 

 

Jamming. ^

 

Around the house with the cats. ^

 

10th August

We had the weekend off so we had a little bit of a lie in and then got lift with Neil into Veliko Tarnovo. We had a wander through the town, which is the old Medieval capital of Bulgaria and is really very pretty. It runs around a river and has an old fort on top of the hill and is surrounded by greenery and mountains. We walked to the top of the hill and got a coffee in a bar with an amazing view. We found the fruit market and had a look around there and then got a beer whilst we waited for our bus to get home. We didn't know if it was because we were in a city but it definitely felt like the hottest day so far and we needed to lie down under the fan as soon as we got home! In the evening Neil and Sarah got a babysitter and we drove back into Veliko Tarnovo to go out for dinner. We went to a lovely restaurant on a terrace, called Staslivetsha, which served amazing Bulgarian food and we got chicken liver and an array of other meats served on hot plates which was delicious. Great day.

 

 

 

There is loads of really cool street art around Veliko Tarnovo. ^

 

Out for dinner. ^

11th August

Today we had a family day out. We packed a picnic and headed of early to a monastery, which I don't know the name of, but it was set on the side of a mountain with huge boulders that had fallen down around it. It was covered in paintings, like the one in Romania, and was very pretty. Next we drove to Nicopolis ad Istrum, which is a site of Roman ruins. We arrived and asked the man if we could have a ticket. He looked a bit confused that we wanted to pay and when Sarah said 'if we don't have to pay we won't' he said okay and let us in for free! The site was amazing. It was a town and it had roads and a theatre and loads of columns and carvings everywhere and you could walk all over it. We couldn't believe that the boys were allowed to climb over the two thousand year old door ways, but it was really cool. On the way out we saw that they were still excavating a large area and there were a few bits of pottery that they had just found lying on a wall. We were having a look at these when the guy working there, who'd let us in for free, came over and said that Matty and Ryan could have a piece each to take home! Well good. So they were very happy to have some real treasure and we set off in the car again to Hotnitser Waterfall, another very beautiful waterfall. It was the weekend so it was quite busy with Bulgarians blaring out crap music, but really nice all the same and we ate our picnic by the water. Usually people swim but it was getting a bit over cast and chilly and hearing the story about the guy drowing there some years ago put us off a bit. What you could do though was follow a trail up the rock to the top of the waterfall. It was quite steep steps which led through a crevice in the rock to the top, where there were some big holes in the floor heading straight down, which was quite scary. Me, Pete and Neil went up and followed the bridges over the water and along the river. The heights and the dodgy looking structure of the bridges put me off a bit but Pete and Neil went a bit further to find that the path faded out and they got scared themselves. Back down at the bottom we all headed home and had a very relaxing afternoon as we were all quite tired after the days activities and it was back to work tomorrow!

 

 

The monastery. ^

 

 

Nicopolis ad Istrum. ^

 

 

Hotnitser waterfall. ^

 

12th - 14th August

 

We had a new project starting Monday which was to build a concrete patio joining the small terrace coming out from the back doors. It was to be seven and a half metres wide, two and half metres long by seventy centimetres tall - so not a small task. Obviously Pete and I didn't know how to do this and even Neil and Sarah hadn't done anything like this before, but through talking to friends and the wonders of the internet we could find out what to do. Thankfully they were both there to help this week and we all did three days of very hard work in incredibly hot sun to make it. We had to build a wooden frame, create a drystone wall type thing, smash up several hundred tiles with a sledge hammer, shift six tonnes of hardcore and lots of other bits and bobs before the concrete man arrived and lifted a crane over the whole house to spray the concrete in. It was bloody hard work but really fun and really good because now we know how to build a concrete structure!

 

 

Bikini building! ^

 

Dunking.^

 

Ready for the concrete. ^

 

Done! ^

 

15th - 16th August

 

The concrete dried quite quickly so we had breakfast on our new terrace the next day and could take off the wooden frame in the afternoon. It was a complete success except from a hole in the front where the concrete hadn't quite got in! But we filled that up with extra concrete and it looks great. Thursday and Friday were a bit more relaxed as we had all worked so hard to build the patio. Sarah is a Bowen therapist and to soothe our aches and pains we all had a Bowen treatment from her which was great!

 

Pete made the boys wooden shields and swords which they won't put down and all weekend haven't stopped asking us to fight with them.

 

Pete shaved off his beard completely - first time he's been clean shaven in seven years - and he hates it.    

 

 

Having a BBQ (note the table and chairs on the new patio!)

 

Trying out a new look. ^

 

Shields and swords! ^

 

17th August

 

This weekend there was the Motorbike Rock Festival in Veliko Tarnovo. Neil and Sarah had been a few times in previous years and at midday we all headed into the town to watch the biker parade. The internet told us about three different times it would start so we weren't sure and no one in any shops knew anything about it. After about an hour it hadn't come and we gave up and went home which was a bit disappointing. We had a chilled out afternoon and for dinner we had a proper Indian curry ordered from a company run by some other expats. It was great - curry is something we haven't had since home! After dinner we got glammed up, left the boys with the babysitter and went back into town to the rock gig, also part of the festival. The gig was on an island in the middle of the city around the art gallery and was a great setting for a gig! There were loads of old bikers in leather and the first band was a Serbian Iron Maiden cover band. We drank beer and rocked out to Iron Maiden and the next band which covered a selection of heavy metal. It was really fun. Much later, after a fire show, were the heading liners - Uriah Heep. They weren't a cover, they were the real deal and they were really quite old. We were having a great time moshing and on Uriah Heeps last song they invited ladies on the stage to come and dance with them. Me and Sarah ran to the front and got up on stage and danced along with the band to a song that I have no idea what it is! It was really funny and on our way down we even got a hug off the lead singer. After all the excitement we headed home, but first we had to wait to cross the bridge because apparently it was a bit 'dodgy' and they couldn't have more than about twenty people cross at once. Which was comforting. We made it home in one piece anyway and went to bed after eating left over curry.

 

 

Daytime in VT. ^

 

 

On stage! ^

 

18th August

 

Today we went out in the car again with the boys to an old Communist building called Buzledzha - a kind of parliament building set on top of a mountain. It was abandoned in the eighties and is all boarded up but Sarah had heard some friends had climbed in through a hole in the wall so we thought we'd give it a go. We drove the couple of hour drive there and climbed the top of the mountain to get to it. Even from far away it looked incredible, like something out of James Bond or a UFO landing. It was a huge circular building with a massive tower with a huge red star at the top. Up close it was even more impressive and after we'd eaten a picnic looking over the amazing view we went to climb in. The hole was a bit dodgy looking - it was quite high up and you had to climb over a two metre drop - so the boys couldn't go in. Sarah and Neil went in first and then me and Pete went in. Oh my god it was so cool. It was completely derelict but there was a huge circular room, we guess for meetings and stuff, but the walls were covered in mosaic communist pictures in incredible colours. As usual I can't explain it properly at all but there are some quite good photos below. You could also walk around the edge and look out the windows over the mountains. It was one of the best things we've seen so far and Pete even got a mosaic tile from Karl Marx' beard! We made our way down the hill and on the way back home we also stopped at Shipka monument on the opposite mountain which had some good climbing rocks and great views around. We all dozed on the car journey home and for dinner Pete cooked us a lovely roast dinner. Another thing we have missed from home! We were all knackered after a long day so we watched some more TV, read the boys bedtime stories and went to bed. We are sad to be leaving here, we couldn't have imagined a more perfect helpx in such a great place. We have made two great friends, who we hope to see again and we will miss little Matty and Ryan lots and lots.

 

 

Walk up to and outside of Buzledzha. ^

 

 

Inside Buzledzha. Wow! ^

 

 

Buzledzha from afar! ^

 

Shipka. ^

 

 

The rest of Romania and going South.

29th July

As we'd been moving campsites daily for what felt like weeks we decided we'd stay here a few nights and not do so much driving. An un-interesting day to report really! We did absolutely nothing - read alot, I wrote the blog, we ate and we felt slightly hungover. All other guests left so we had the whole campsite to ourselves which was good. The furthest we moved was to the campsite bar to get a coca cola!

30th July

Got up early to have a day of sight seeing. Pete was feeling a bit poorly though so we ended up having a slow morning and setting out a bit later. Drove to Bran; 30km south of Brasov with supposedly the best Dracula type castle in all of Romania, according to two guidebooks. Drove the short drive there, trying not to crash into all the insane drivers in the city (cannot emphasise how incredibly bad and dangerous and infuriating Romanian drivers are by the way. By far the worst we've seen.) Got to Bran and parked amoungst hundreds of other tourists and walked through stalls piled high with tourist tat to find that we didn't want to pay to see the castle. Had a wander round to get a view, which we just about managed through all the trees, and found it to be quite disappointing anyway. A nice castle but not quite the dark, gothic turreted building we imagined. Oh well. Drove back towards Brasov and decided to stop in Rasnov, which has a citadel ruin high upon the hill behind it. Even from a distance we could tell that this would be better so we walked around and up the hill to see it. The ruins were really pretty and had stunning views of the surrounding area. A few little shops selling tourist stuff but nothing on Bran. We had a lovely hour or so looking around and then made our way back towards the campsite. Chilled evening doing the blog. Lots of rain in the night.

 

Bran Castle. ^

 

 

Rasnov citadel.^

 

 

 31st July

Woke up to find everything soaking - we hadn't been bothered to get out in the night and save our stuff from the rain. Packed up anyway and headed west towards Fagaras. According to our road map there was a campsite just at the top of the Transfagarasan Pass (which we want to do tomorrow). We headed there slightly doubtful of whether it would exist and ended up driving through some back streets and around a small village deciding it was no hope. We smiled at a man staring at us in the street and he smiled and he asked 'camping?' and gave us intructions how to get there. Yay! Absolutely lovely campsite. Its run by a foreigner who has just done the place so well with a library where you can book swap, good internet and a big paddeling pool. Couldn't ask for more. Spent the afternoon playing frisbee, having a swim and hoping that the clouds would clear for our mountain drive tomorrow.

 

Some nice churches we saw on the drive. ^

 

The campsite by sunset.^　

1st August

So happy to wake up to clear blue skies! Today we are driving Top Gear's voted 'Best road in the world'. We set off early to avoid traffic and we think this paid off as we ascended the mountain pretty much by our selves. The mountains were incredible even when approaching them. They shoot up above a plain so they dominate the whole horizon. The first 20 kilometers or so was through the trees - very windy and pretty, but then we got to the bottom of the open stretch. There are gorgeous grassy mountain tops and a crazily curvy road that from the top you can look down on, just like a car advert (we actually saw one being shot whilst driving up!). Stopping at every opportunity to take photos we slowly made our way to the top. WEX wasn't feeling too pleased at the end, but happily cruised down the other side. We had a very early lunch when we thought we'd got to the bottom of the mountain and then found that the scenic road carried on further along a big lake. We were looking for camping spots - we wanted to try our hand at free camping today - and we came across a beautiful area on a river for camping for only 10 lei (2 pounds) and we set up there. A few families arrived to picnic and the sun was shining and we felt safe. Early evening a ranger came round in his car so we could pay and he told us we could stay the night but to move further away from the bins as bears might come in the night! And then a young Romanian couple picnicing next to us moved their car further down the river and told us we should move too because of the bears. When we asked 'are they big bears?' he said 'big enough'. It was still light so we made dinner where we were and then moved with the others. Really lovely evening camped amoungst the trees with the Romanian couple booming out pop music and a Romanian family with little kids cooking dinner in the dark. Pete made a great fire and we sat up late watching it and staring at the stars. At one point the Romanian guy came and asked us to take a photo of him and his girlfriend and as a gift gave us two beers! He was very friendly and just before they went to sleep he came over and told us to wake him if we had any problems. After a few hours of sitting out one of the wild dogs chilling next to us started barking alot towards the woods. Then we heard what could only have been the cry of a bear barking back. We could hear the bear in the trees and we were thinking this was really cool and feeling safe by our fire when we saw the Romanian family all pack up and get in there car. We thought we better do the same and we got in a van and listened to the bear and dog argue! It stopped after a while and we got back out and finished our beers by the fire. Very exciting to hear a bear that close! One of our best days so far.

 

 

 

 

The road! ^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Campsite. ^

 

 

Moved away from the bears.^

 

 

Scenic loo.^

 

 

Petes very well prepared fire. ^

 

 

2nd August

We were prepared for quite a long drive today. We had looked up on the internet for a campsite in the south of Romania and found there was only one; in a town called Alexandria. We set off early to get there for our last night in Romania before crossing the border to Bulgaria. The land flattened out in the south so the drive was okay. One interesting thing we saw was loads of Roma's camping at the sides of the road in proper horse drawn wooden wagons, straight out of a western film. They had pots and pans and chairs hanging off the outside and they were all full with cute kids. We assumed there must be seasonal work down here as corn was growing as far as the eye could see. We had a quick lunch in a lay-by whilst struggling in the ridiculous heat. As we approached Alexandria we weren't feeling too hopeful. It was a big industrial city and there were no camping signs, even if there were we didn't think it would be the nicest place to stay anyway. So we carried on, and the only place left to go was to the border. We got to a very strange town that seemed only to be a massive power plant and a ferry crossing the Danube river to Bulgaria. There was no one to talk to about the ferry and finally, when a truck arrived, a little man came out and we managed to find out that the ferry went at half five. It was nearly three o'clock now and we decided we would wait. One other Czech family came in a camper but apart from them it was all trucks. We must have chosen the wierdest border crossing ever. After sitting for an hour and a half in stifling heat with the only shade being in van, which is a hot box, we eventually got on to the ferry - which was more of a floating car park - and got to Bulgaria. There was some confusion as to whether we should be weighed with the lorries but apart from that the passport control were really friendly; I think they're not used to tourists crossing here! We needed to buy a vignette (road tax) and went to a petrol station to do so where they spoke no English at all but were very smily and helpful. The Bulgarians seem by far the friendliest people we've met so far! We went towards two towns with camping signs on the map and, although we went a slight detour, we got there in the end. The detour was down to the fact that road signs are in Cryllic so very hard to understand, especially when hidden behind a tree as they so often are over this way! The detour was amazing though - over rolling fields of old sunflowers whose yellow was excentuated by the colour of the setting sun. We got to the town of Bjala and found no campsite. Then we drove 6 kilometers down a track to the other town of Borovo and found no campsite there either. When we asked the locals they looked very confused. We were very hot and very tired by now and didn't know what to do. We thought we could at least get some money out and get some beer and some bread and then just park somewhere. We had no idea where a cashpoint might be so we decided to ask a local. After lots of him not being able to give us directions we finally let him get in the van to show us the way. I got out with him and he walked with me down a small side road to a cashpoint and almost helped me press the buttons to get the money out! I was a bit weary but after he'd taken me back to the van and shaken our hands we were just so bemused by his helpfulness! That wouldn't happen at home. So, very tired but in good spirits we headed out towards the country side and happened to find a small track into a meadow where we were hidden from the road. Perfect. Sat up a while drinking beer and looking at actually the most incredible stars we've seen yet until we got scared into the van by what sounded like it might be a wolf. Probably a dog, but anyway we fell asleep instantly.

 

Ferry. ^

 

Our first scenic view of Bulgaria. ^

 

Lovely countryside. ^

 

Free camp! ^

 

3rd August

We were woken up at about eight o'clock this morning by two farmers knocking on our window wondering what we were doing. We tried to explain we'd just slept here one night and now we are going and they seemed to understand. We quickly brushed our teeth and packed up and went on our way. After a coffee in Bjala we got back to the main road and headed south towards Velinko Turnovo - which is where we will be starting our helpx tomorrow. I had heard of campsite online, a few kilometers north of the town, run by an English guy who'd been here six years. It sounded great and after only an hour of driving we found it - never got to a campsite before 10am before! The place was amazing - set next to a lazy river with a communal kitchen/living area and lots of land, it was exactly what we wanted. Spent the whole day doing not much in the heat and appreciating it as we will start working tomorrow! Pete did a spot of fishing in the river, with no luck of course, and we lazed about and chatted with Cliff, the owner, and a few other volunteers that work here. Actually Cliff knows our helpx hosts and says we'll have a great time. Couldn't have come to a better place, we're just sad we can't stay longer.

 

Pete swimming in the river. ^