Greece is the word.

4th September

We had organised with mum and dad and my brother Charley to meet at about one o'clock at a campsite near Nea Kallikratia - they were getting a hire car from the airport. We set off fairly early and found it easily so were there by eleven o'clock waiting for them with a coffee. They arrived a bit earlier than one and we all sat down and got a 'fredo' - a Greek style iced coffee. We all decided that the campsite looked a bit shoddy and the beach wasn't very nice so we'd drive further south to Kassandra, the first 'leg' of Halkidiki. With the satnav back in use we looked up a campsite and me and Pete led the way south. After an hour or so driving we were on the west coast of Kassandra in a very nice campsite called Blue Dream near the Sani Resort. First things first with the Woodfines and we got some beers from the shop and chatted and set up our camp. Having two tents with the van makes it feel like a proper camp! The campsite was right on the beach so we went for a swim, which strangely was very wavey but fun for playing in. After a swim and a sunbathe we decided to walk along the beach to a grassy headland we could see with a tower on top. It was a nice walk which led inland slightly around a harbour full of very expensive looking shops and even more expensive looking yachts. On the headland you could see around into the next bay and it was very pretty and then we wandered back to the campsite and had a beer in the campsite bar. We watched the gorgeous sunset with the Gods over Mount Olympus which was pretty cool. After all getting showered and hanging out back at camp for a bit we headed back to the campsite restaurant for dinner. It was busy and the menu was in Greek - we thought that was a good sign - and we were right. We had an amazing meal, my favourite being the starters of spinach with honey and sesame seeds and spicy feta cheese! Yum. There was alot of wine drunk and even more back at the campsite and we had a great first day and night with my family.

 

 

 

Mount Olympus. ^

 

5th September

After tea and breakfast we went for a dip in the now very calm blue sea at the campsite. Obviously the wind had died down and we couldn't believe it was the same sea as yesterday. We spent a while swimming, snorkelling and trying to catch small fish with our net, and after no success we went back in and sunbathed. Late morning we drove to Kassandra town, in the centre of the leg, to have a look around. We thought it might be historic as it was the oldest town in this area but instead it was just a cute little town with shops and cafes. We stopped for a fredo and then crossed to the east side of the leg for lunch. We got food from a supermarket and then drove through a pretty little town called Athetos to get to the beach. There were very ripe looking prickly pears by the side of the road which we tried eating and everyone got loads of the thorns stuck in their fingers and mouths! We also got some ripe figs straight off the tree. The beach was very pretty but quite rocky along the waters edge and covered with urchins, so not so good for swimming. We had a lovely lunch and afternoon and then headed back to the camp in the evening for some more swimming and frisbee playing at our beach. For dinner we had a delicious chicken barbeque and stayed up drinking and playing 'I'm in business'.

 

 

6th September

Petes birthday!! We woke up and Pete had his couple of presents - including a plastic stag head to go in the van from mum and dad! We'd decided that we would move on today so we packed up and set off quite early. We had an hour or so drive to Sithonia - the second leg - and looked at a couple of campsites before finding the perfect one. Finally we found an amazing space over looking the campsites own private bay in a nice looking town called Nea Marmaras. We set up camp and had a great lunch of homemade hot dogs with Greek kebab sausages. Everyone on the campsite was very friendly and some people looked in our van and said 'that is real living'! The campsite owner was also very friendly and spoke amazing English and when we arrived he told us that the campsite closes at the end of September so the restaurant isn't open now, but if we liked he could cook for us tonight. As it was Petes birthday we said yes and asked for fish, which he said he would go and buy fresh straight away! After lunch we went swimming in the lovely shallow sea and played catch and frisbee in the water. Later in the afternoon Charley wanted to do some fishing and me and Pete fancied exploring around the rocks. We climbed around the rocky cove to the end of the campsite and found a few very posh looking villas with their own private beach. We akwardly walked past the people on to the rock jetty and got set up to fish on the nice calm side of the bay. Out of nowhere a man swam over to tell us we couldn't fish on the side, only on the otherside of the jetty, which was much rougher sea. A bit annoyed we left the jetty and found some nice rocks to sit on and sat not catching fish for a while whilst the sun set! We headed back and at seven thirty we headed over to the restaurant on the terrace. It was all closed up except for a table for us five and the owner served us and told us what food he'd got. We were chatting to him and it felt like we were at his house having dinner. The food was great - Greek salad with tzatsiki to start and a whole bream each with chips and then melon for pudding. Yum. After dinner we went to the bar, which is on the campsite beach, and got a shot and a beer in celebration of Petes birthday. I had also made Pete a 'cake' which was just a massive bowl of Haribo - his favourite - with a 2 and 8 candle on top. So we sang happy birthday and the bar man gave us some more shots for free. We also decided that the sea looked lovely and calm, and as a night time swim was on my to do list for this trip, me, Pete and Charley went for a dip. It was pretty cold but so worth it because we saw phosflourescents! We couldn't believe it! So we waved our arms around a while, watching the sparkling plankton and then ran in to have a hot shower and warm up. We stayed up a little while chatting and then went to bed. Great day!

 

 

 

7th September

After breakfast we decided to go for a walk into Neas Marmaras. We left the campsite and wound our way through the very pretty, green streets, looking at all the fruit growing in peoples gardens (including pomegranites!) and found the harbour. We got a coffee overlooking the boats and watched some men with handlines catching fish off the jetty. We walked further into the town where it got a bit busier with more tourist shops and restaurants but still very nice. It was a hot day and Pete and Charley jumped off the end of a jetty into the sea a couple of times. We got some food in a small shop in town and discovered the 'local' area with a fish monger and butcher. For dinner later we wanted burgers so we asked the butcher for mince and he went into the back fridge, hacked off a bit of beef and minced it to order! Well good! We had omlettes for lunch back at the campsite and spent the afternoon on our beach and playing volleyball in the sea - there was actually a net set up in the shallow water so you could properly dive for the ball! We'd seen a sign in the bar saying that it was it's last weekend open before closing for the end of season so they were holding a kareoke night at ten o'clock tonight. We had drinks and a delicious burger BBQ for dinner and got ready for some singing. We assumed that most of the other campers would go but when we got there it was just the two bar men and another couple. Anyway they started up the kareoke for us and we sang to each other and the Greek men sang terrible Greek songs (we later found out they were all songs from Eurovision!) A few other people did arrive but me and mum scared them off with 'Sweet Child of Mine'. We got some free shots and all got quite drunk and it was really fun as we basically had the thing to ourselves! Hilarious evening, the best song being 'Alcohol is free' - apparently a Greek classic.

 

 

 

 

 

8th Sepetember

It was quite an overcast morning but we still packed our beach bags and headed off in the car to explore the west side of the leg. We came across a large sandy beach with a very cool beach bar on the end called Ethnik. Everything was painted a different colour and the bar was mosaic-ed! We got a coffee here and played cards whilst waiting for the drizzle to pass. Eventually it did and we went down to the beach to play volleyball a while then had a stroll along the sand. There were loads of free campers here - quite like where we stayed in Stavros - and actually along the whole coast we kept spotting campers parked up on the beaches. Good to know! We drove on further through gorgeous scenery. It seemed to change as we got further south; starting with thick green forests around the campsite and becoming more rocky and barren as we went along. We passed hundreds of goats and the only buildings on the hills were little goat farms. For lunch we stopped at a shop in Toroni and then ate on a small beach with a few little fishing boats. There were some men fishing from the shore and catching small fish (everyone we see is catching fish!) After lunch we carried on south and came around to the tip of the leg. It is very wild down here and really beautiful and thankfully the sun was now shining so the views were amazing. From a viewpoint at the top of a mountain we could see the end town of Kalamitsi. We saw it had a nice looking bay, with another secret looking bay over some rocks, so we decided to head there. We drove down and parked in the small town, which looked quite nice and lively, and walked along the beach. The bay in the town was quite busy as it was Sunday but we scrambled up, over the rocks to find the other beach. From the top of the rocks we looked down on a gorgeous, white sand, little beach with a kind of small shanty town built on it. It was like discovering 'The Beach'! And as we looked closer we realised that everyone was naked! They obviously come and live here for summer. We went down anyway and at first by-passed the beach and carried on up the rocks at the otherside. It was all sandstone and scrub land and was really beautiful. After the walk we were all very hot so we went for a swim (in our swimming costumes) and chilled out a while. It was getting quite late so we drove home without stopping and we had another yummy barbeque of kebabs and potato salad back at camp. In the evening we got a drink in the beach bar and played cards.

 

 

 

Volleyball. ^

 

 

 

 

The first beach. ^

 

 

Lunch near Toroni. ^

 

 

 

Views to the tip of Sithonia. ^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kalamitsi. ^

 

 

 

9th September

I can't remember if I wrote it before but when we crossed the border from Romania to Bulgaria we met a Greek man from Thessaloniki. He had recommended Halkidiki and, in particular, a small island off the third leg called Ammouliani. He said it was 'a small paradise.' We love to get tips from the locals so we thought that we'd do the long drive to the island to see what he was talking about. We set off about ten and didn't arrive to get the ferry until nearly one. The drive wasn't actually that long but we stopped at a few places to get a picnic for lunch and everyone at some point needed a wee - but never at the same time! We also stopped to look at the view a few times as it was very beautiful scenery. Anyway we did get there in the end and we got the ferry over to the small town - I don't know the name. We didn't have a map or anything so we drove around following small tracks, which usually ended up in someones house. Then we came down to a beautiful bay with a few people on but we walked to the end and found ourselves a lovely spot. We stayed here and had lunch. Dad, Charley and Pete tried a bit a fishing - unsuccessful - and we relaxed. I followed a little path through the woods, thinking it might find another beach or view, but had to turn around because of too much human poo. The Greeks seem to do this on foot paths. Apart from that it was really lovely - a small paradise indeed. As we'd come all this way we thought we'd better see more than one beach so we packed up and drove from the south west side we were on to the north east. The beaches were completely different - one quite rocky with forests and the other white sand. This was the white sand one and we chilled out here some more and the boys got the fishing rod out. They were getting a bit bored with fishing anyway when Charley suddendly noticed an octopus under a rock in the shallow water. Pete got in there straight away with his snorkel on and decided if he couldn't catch a fish he would at least catch an octopus. He bashed it with a stick a few times and managed to get it on the shore where he hit it with a rock. He says he does feel guilty about it. After all this excitement we packed up, went back to the port and had a beer before ferrying back. The drive was much quicker home but it was still quite late by the time we'd got to the campsite. We had no food and it was too dark to barbeque anyway so we went out for dinner. On the otherside of the campsite from the private bay there is a long stretch of sand with a small promenade of apartments and restaurants. We found a busy taverna with a very friendly waiter and got pizzas for dinner and traditional Greek puddings. The waiter was surprised that we were English and said they don't get many Brits in this area anymore. Apparently the package holidays stopped coming to Halkidiki and obviously not many people want to drive all the way from the UK. Another lovely day and night.

 

The ferry to Ammouliani. ^

 

 

 

The first beach. ^

 

 

The second beach and the octopus! ^

 

Drink in the port. ^

 

West facing beach with beautiful sunsets every night. ^

 



10th September

I set my alarm for half six and got up when it started getting light. Charley had been wanting to go early morning fishing since he arrived and he hadn't ever got up yet! We had a tea and then set off to the jetty around from our campsite beach. Pete came too and we had all fishing gear and lots of enthusiasm. Unforetunetly we lost almost all Petes weights and floats and hooks because Charley couldn't tie knots properly and the tackle kept getting flung off! Anyway it was funny, and nice to get up early anyway. As it was my familys last day we decided to have a chilled one - as we've been so active so far! We hung out on the campsite beach reading and snorkelling and playing volleyball. A very lovely day. We paid the campsite man in advance and he said we had bought light and good energy with our smiles, which was very nice to hear. In the afternoon me, Pete and dad went to the fish monger and got a bream each for our last supper. They were delicious and we even ate Petes octopus as a starter! Stayed up chatting and drinking.

 

Cooking octopus. ^

 

Me and me family :) ^

 

11th September

We all had to get up early as mum, dad and Charley had to leave about eight o'clock. We had teas whilst they put their tents down and said goodbye at the campsite. I was sad for them to go - it was fun to have them here. Me and Pete didn't stay much longer and we set off to find a free camp for the night before meeting Pete's dad tomorrow! Annoyingly we didn't see anywhere to stop on the second leg so we ended up driving back down the first leg slightly and pulled over in a small harbour in Nea Fokea because Pete was so tired. We didn't necessarily plan to camp here the night but Pete had a nap in the van whilst I went and sat on the beach. Pete came and joined me after a while and on the beach were a few straw umbrellas with sun beds. The sign said you only had to buy a drink to use them so we got one coffee to share and stayed on the sun loungers all day! Very lazy day reading and sleeping. Late afternoon we finally gave up our spots and went out to the jetty to watch men fishing (and catching lots of fish!) A lady came up to us and started talking in Greek. We told her we were English and she said she thought we were locals and explained that she was from Athens on holiday in her parents holiday home and had found a dog that had been hit by a car. She was nursing him back to health but couldn't take him to Athens with her and wanted to find him a home. Obviously we couldn't take him but we chatted a bit and wished her luck. For dinner we cooked slyly out the back of the van - we decided that it felt safe to sleep here for a night - and ate on the beach. When we'd finished eating the same lady from earlier came over and asked if we had any plans for the evening. She invited us for a drink at her holiday home five minutes walk from here. We thought she seemed nice and said yes and before taking us back to her flat she drove to Lidl and bought three bottles of wine. Back at her flat we met the very cute dog called Jose and got comfy on the balcony. It was slightly hectic as she needed to bandage the dog and have a shower and wanted to cook and it was getting quite late. The only problem was that we were worried about the van so in the end Pete ran down to get it and parked up outside the flat. Mary - the lady - was very lovely and very hospitable. She made us all a big traditional Greek salad to eat with our wine and Pete helped bandage Jose's leg. We ended up staying up drinking wine and talking until half two in the morning! Very unexpected but enjoyable evening. Mary offered a bed in the spare room but we felt bad and went out to sleep in the van.

 

Nea Fokea. ^

 

Mary, Pete and Jose. ^

 

Starting September in Stavros.

SAME THING WITH THE PHOTOS HERE...

 

1st September

Another long drive ahead of us today. The road south was good though; passing the amazing Pirin mountains and following a beautiful white water river. We used up the last of our Levs in the supermarket and headed to the border. The crossing was easy and suddenly we were in sunny Greece! I'd read about a wild camp in a car park on the beach in a town called Stavros - directly east from Thessaloniki where mum and dad are coming in a few days. We put it into the sat nav, which works again in Greece, and followed it there. Like before it took us the 'direct' route there which was lovely and scenic and hilly but also worrying as we had almost no petrol and it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We saw cotton growing on the sides of the road though, which we've never seen before, and finally we came over a hill and could see the coast. Stavros is quite small with a few tourist bars and quite a busy beach. We drove past all this, following the coast along, passing 'no camping' signs to a big sandy car park right at beach level with cars parked and several other campers. We parked at the end and had lunch in the glorious Greek sunshine. After lunch we had a stroll along to see the beach and see if there were any loos. A bit further up were a few caravans properly set up with awnings out and all there stuff everywhere and there was even a toilet block. Basically it was a free campsite. We decided to move up a bit nearer to the toilets and found a great shady spot under the trees with Bulgarian holiday makers camping either side of us. Spent the afternoon swimming in the sea and chilling out. We went to a beach bar in the evening and the barman gave us two free beers. We didn't know why but we accepted them and they didn't have drugs in! We had dinner back at camp and sat up playing cards.

2nd September

During the night we were joined by a fat greedy mosquito that we couldn't catch a kill so we just had to accept being eaten alive whilst we were sleeping. We woke up for the tenth time when it buzzed in our ears and I saw that the sun was rising. Having had enough of the mozzie anyway I got the van and sat on the beach. Pete came out too and sat in his hammock and we watched a beautifully colourful sunrise over the Aegean. Sadly it was all we saw of the sun for the rest of the day. We've come all the way to Greece and it was a completely over cast day! Cold even! We put on jeans and jumpers and, as we were up so early, we walked into Stavros town to see it waking up. There were people out having coffee and a few shop keepers opening and we had a wander round. It seems like a nice town; we're out of season now, it was Monday and it was raining so it was very quiet. We did a bit of shopping and then got a coffee on what seemed like the main street. For breakfast we went to a bakery and got some pastries and sat in a park of plain trees. On the way back we picked a bunch of grapes from the side of the road - cool! We read for a while and had lunch sat in the van, hiding from the rain. We got restless and walked the other way along the beach in the drizzle. Hid out back at camp again and after the rain stopped we decided to have a swim in the sea even though it was a bit grey and Pete snorkelled and collected whelks to use as bait for fishing. At about four o'clock the sun finally powered through and a few tourists came out of their hotels and the beach was lively again. We took our chairs down to the waters edge and Pete did some fishing. As the sun was setting I went back to the van to make some dinner and bought it out to where we were sitting and we ate dinner next to the sea. Pete didn't catch any fish but it was fun anyway. We had a beer whilst watching the sparkling water and then retreated back to the van when the mozzies got too much to handle.

 

 

3rd September

Woke up to sunshine and had a lazy morning on the beach. At about eleven we walked into Stavros in search for a fish market so we could have a nice lunch. The town was much livlier today as the sun was out but we couldn't find a fish market anywhere. We finally gave up and went to the butchers and got a chicken. Then he actually told us the fish monger was just around the corner, but oh well. Before heading back we went for a coffee in a little old man cafe in a back street. The coffee was Greek style and the lady just boiled the water and coffee together over a little camping stove! The coffee wasn't great and it had all the grains the bottom but we liked the cafe and we stayed and played cards. As we were playing the lady bought us over a plate with two pastries - one cheese and one sweet - and said we could have it. It was delicious. And as we got up to leave she asked 'are you still hungry?' The Greeks are so friendly and hospitable! We strolled back along the coast to our camp and had a lovely lunch on the beach with a bottle of wine - as you do! Spent the afternoon in and out of the sea and giving the van a good clean out ready to see mum and dad tomorrow. Didn't do much for the rest of the day. In the night we woke up because the wind was rocking the van and blowing anything that wasn't tied down away - including our table!

 

 

The Black Sea and Beyond!

DUE TO OUR CAMERA BREAKING WE HAD TO USE PETES PHONE FOR TAKING PHOTOS UNTIL MY PARENTS CAME TO VISIT WITH OUR NEW CAMERA. IT IS SO SLOW TO EMAIL THE PHOTOS ACROSS TO THE COMPUTER SO THERE ARE ONLY A FEW OF WHAT WE'VE GOT. THERE WILL BE MORE WHEN WE CAN!

19th August

Had a morning of packing and uploading music and films to the laptop and saying goodbye to Matty and Ryan and Neil as they went of to school (Neil to work!). We had our last breakfast with Sarah and after a sad goodbye we set off on the road towards the Black Sea coast. The first couple of hours were okay, one lane roads with the usual crazy drivers and Pete got stung by a wasp whilst driving which was not good - thankfully there was a lay by right where we needed one. The last hour or so was great - there was our first motorway since Croatia and it was new and pretty much empty! We cruised in and out of Varna and headed south, trusting a couple of campsite signs on our Bulgaria map. We had forgotton to stop at a supermarket in Varna so got food for tonight from a small shop. We were very happy to see the campsite signs weren't lying and found a small place with wierd loos and a nice owner who told us that there were some other English people here! She obviously was surprised to have two loads of us. The site was about five minutes from the beach, called Romantika beach, and we walked down as soon as we arrived. Gorgeous beach! Wide stretch of white sand running all the way to the horizon one way, a red cliff the other and lined with trees at the back. The sea was blue and wavy and warm. There were tourists (all Bulgarian or Polish) but not too many to make it horrible. After a nice afternoon dip we got some beers from the tourist stalls and chilled out on the campsite for the evening.

 

 

20th August

We got up and got ready for a day of beach. We packed books, food, water and our big umbrella and headed down to the sea. We read, ate, drank, swam and had a lovely day relaxing. Completely different coast to Croatia - having the waves to play with and the sand to jump around on is fun! We got some food to cook for dinner from the tourist shops, as there wasn't a proper shop nearby, and had another evening in the campsite.   

21st August

We left the campsite today, mainly because we had no food and couldn't afford to keep buying food from small over priced shops, and headed south. There were a couple of campsite signs on the map and also a town that our Swiss friends back in Romania had told us they'd stayed in. When we found that the maps sites were huge, ugly four star complexes we headed to Aheloy to the recommendation. It was definitely worth it! We got a lovely spot amoungst the trees facing out to a dried up sunflower field on a campsite with direct access to the beach. Perfect. We set up, hammock and all, and after lunch went down to the beach. The sand here was black, as it's volcanic, and a bit grubbier than the last beach. It stretched south to a town much further down the coast and curved around to the north with some ugly new buildings on the edge. We have seen several huge complexes along the coast - alot of which seem to have been abandoned half way through building - but generally it has been surprisingly un-touristy. We were told it was really built up and August was the worst time to go! Another wierd thing about the two campsites we've been on is that they have little cabins, like in Romania, but here they are all really run down and eerie looking - we think they are ex-communist holiday places (but look more like army camps). Anyway the beach was also very windy which made huge waves that Pete very much enjoyed body surfing in and we played in the sea for a while. Back at camp we read our books and had dinner and ended another lovely day.

 

 

 

22nd August

Got up early for a little beach session and then came back to the site for lunch - less sand in the sandwiches there! We'd seen several people walking up the beach covered in black goo and we wondered what it was so after lunch we set off along the sand to the direction they'd all come from. The further we got the more black gooey people we saw and eventually we found, set back behind the beach, a big pit of black sulphur mud. It was set out in squares - like fields - so is obviously farmed (probably for face masks and stuff!) but there were quite a few people climbing in and rolling around in it just like a load of hippos. It was very funny. We got in and lay down. After you got over the initial gross-ness of it and it feeling like you'd get stuck in it forever we found it was actually really comfy and you felt weightless and floated around like you were on a big comfy mattress! A proper healthy mud bath like in a spa - but for free! Covered in mud we went back to the beach and dry off a bit. Pete got impatient and went straight into the sea but I rolled around in sand a bit, for exfoliation(!) and waited until it was all dry. It took a while to wash it off, especially out of my hair, but I had very silky soft skin afterwards. Great day. Another relaxing evening in the campsite.

 

 

 

 

 

23rd August

Pete had woken up in the night with really bad head and face pain and was feeling very poorly today. We did absolutely nothing - not even go to the beach. He stayed in bed and I stayed in the hammock and read my book and looked afetr him. Pete watched some of the DVDs we got from Sarah and Neil and had a sleep and we had an early night.

24th August

Pete was still feeling crap so he rang his doctor mum to get advice. She thought he needed antibiotics so off we drove in search of a chemist. Aheloy, the town we were in, didn't have a big enough chemist so we headed to Nessebar about ten kilometers north. Pete parked and I ran in and actually managed to get what he needed with no problem at all! I was surprised! Back at camp we had another day letting Pete recover.

25th August

We decided we'd move on today as Pete had felt a bit better yesterday afternoon what with all the pain killers he'd taken. We headed south towards Sozopol which supposedly had campsites in the bays on either side. The drive was pretty easy and after Bourgas we came off the main road on to a back road to find a campsite. We found it was a small dirt track with thousands of cars parked on it and a bay that might have been nice if we could see it through all the umbrellas. Three of the campsites were set directly on the sand, which sounds great when I write it but there was no shade and hoards of tourists everywhere. This is what people had been talking about. We went as quickly as we could along the road and through Sozopol and out the other side. This was no where near as bad and Pete was feeling crap again so we stopped at the first campsite we saw. Thankfully it was actually really nice, with trees hedges to give you our own area and, again, direct access to the beach. There were a few umbrellas here too - it's definitely the most touristy beach we've stayed on so far - but nowhere near as bad as the other side. Late afternoon we went for a dip in the lovely warm sea and we had another day and evening doing nothing.

 

 

26th August

Same again! Pete was feeling a bit better and we went to the beach after lunch for the afternoon. We made a great sand castle and Pete buried me and we got an ice-cream - all the things you should do at the beach. Great day.

 

 

27th August

Spent the morning and early afternoon at the beach again. In the afternoon we decided to visit Sozopol; a nearby town which is the oldest settlement in Bulgaria - colonised by the Greeks in the seventh century BC. We went to get the bus from outside the campsite and a little train thing came (like the ones you get around theme parks) and rode us over the hill to the town. We arrived in the new town and followed the coast around, pass all the restaurants and resorts, until we got to the beach - at least we think there was sand under all the umbrellas. Behind all this was the old town with some Greek ruins and very pretty wooden houses (which were old, but not BC old!) Strolled around here for a while looking at the souvenir shops and an art gallery and then got an ice-cream and sat people watching. Not ready to head home we got a drink from a shop and sat on a bench over looking the beach and used the free wifi. (We have got helpxes coming up in Austria and Poland which is exciting!) Quite a touristy town but we had a very nice afternoon there and when we'd got the 'train' back to the campsite it was time for dinner and bed.

 

 

28th August

One more day before we headed inland so we spent it on the beach. We packed up ready to go before we went to bed so we could leave first thing.

29th August

We had heard from a few people that there are no campsites in central Bulgaria and we believed them. Luckily there is a new motorway that crosses from Burgas right across to Sofia. We got up early and set off straight away on our long journey. The first half of the motorway was brand new, and even the second half wasn't that old so it was pretty easy going. The worst thing about it, as usual, were the Bulgarian drivers. We got undertaken in the hard shoulder TWICE because the cars over taking us apparently werent going fast enough. They were definitely going fast enough - they're just all bloody mad. Anyway we survived and we even got a KFC for lunch in one of the petrol stations! We came off the motorway just north of the Rila Mountains National Park and headed to the town of Sapareva Banya where we found a nice campsite. All up a 400 kilometre, seven and a half hour drive. After dinner we got a cold beer from the bar and sat up drinking wine to celebrate the end of Petes antibiotics!

30th August

Today we were heading to the Rila seven lakes. We got on our walking shoes and lots of layers and set off on the 10 kilometre drive to the village in the mountains where the ski lift starts. (It's a ski resort in season.) We stopped at the shop and got a picnic together and then drove the long windy drive through the pine forests to find the car park. The ski lift was a bit more Lev than we expected so we got a one way ticket up the mountain. I was a bit nervous as it was very high and built by Bulgarians and as we set off I had a bit of a freak out and cried and wanted to get off. (I'm scared of heights.) Obviously I couldn't, so I tried to relax whilst Pete was having a great time enjoying the beautiful view from the tops of the trees. It wasn't so bad in the end - the view was really very nice - but I was secretly glad we couldn't afford the way back! We managed to get off the cable car at the top and found a beautiful grassy plateau that opened up above the forest. We couldn't see any lakes and we didn't understand the map but we could see people standing at the top of a mountain so we headed that way. It was a steep walk up the edge but worth it for the views at the top where we spotted the first two lakes. We thought we were high then but we could see the path carrying on over a grassy tor and we carried on up further and found the third lake where we stopped and had a sausage snack. We watched the clouds rolling up over the peaks and they started closing in. It gave an eerie feeling and I was glad there were quite a few other walkers out or it would have been a bit worrying. Through the clouds though the view was absolutely stunning; we've never seen anything like it before. We thought we were as high as you could walk now as we had an amazing view all around and we had come a very long way up. But we looked up and saw people standing on a much higher mountain. Then we looked up further and saw more people on an even higher mountain and we thought 'that's where we've got to go'! We walked up and up. It was very steep and rocky and we were thinking we were doing really well until we saw little kids and old ladies in dresses come strolling down like they were coming back from the shops! It was well worth the trek though. The clouds had cleared and you could see all seven of the turquoize lakes below. You could also see the mountains that we'd first driven up, which had been so high and now looked like tiny hills! It really was nature at it's most spectacular. We sat and had the most scenic picnic of the trip so far. We scrambled back down and were thankful to get out the wind as it was freezing up the top and we decided to go a different way back which passed the lakes we'd looked down on on the way up. It was an amazing walk and we even foraged a pudding of bilberries (small, tastier blueberries) and wild raspberries - yum. We got to the top of the cable car and had a rest and watched jealously all the people going down and we set off walking down the mountain side, through the forest to the car park. The walk down was good and by the end we were knackered - nearly six hours walking - and we drove home and had dinner a fell asleep early. What an amazing adventure today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foraging lunch. ^

31st August

Had tea and packed up slowly in the morning. Set off about ten towards Rila Monastery - the biggest and most visited in Bulgaria. On the map it didn't look very far but the mountain road was much windier than I expected and it took a while to get there. We drove right up to it and found a pay and display car park and then drove back down the road a bit and joined all the Bulgarians in the free on street parking. We had lunch sitting inside the van and then we walked up to the monastery and had a look around. It was quite impressive being set amoungst the hills and very beautifully decorated. We watched people praying and giving money to a coffin at the front and looked at the colourful paintings inside. We decided that we would try and free camp tonight and we made our way slowly back down the mountain road following a river. We tried a few laybys and found a few dead end tracks and then we found a small over grown track that opened out into a grassy patch with a little path to the river. It was perfect. We parked up and Pete had a dunk in the freezing, but very pretty, river and we hung out in the sunshine. Pete collected some wood together and in the evening we took all our cooking stuff down to the river side and sat on rocks around a fire. We cooked pasta over the fire and even had pudding - wild blackberry sweet bread drizzled with honey. We washed up in the river and had an early night, ready to head to Greece in the morning!