Bulgaria

*Kaleto Fortress, Belogradchik, Bulgaria. “This fortress built by Nature for herself against infection and the hand of war.” Shakespeare*

Bulgaria has been another engaging surprise for us and a continuing sobering lesson in how little we know about the world, cultures, and the challenges and history of the Eastern European people.

Bulgaria has natural beauty, discrete wild camping, thousands of years of history and ruins, gorgeous mountains, caves, fascinating geology and unlimited hiking.

Bulgaria was our first dip into the charm of the Balkan countries. As US Citizens, we had mixed impressions going in. Phrases like “political corruption,” “Soviet oppression,” “poorest country in the EU,” rang in the back of our minds. But once again, our deep belief that 99% of the people in the world are good, honest and kind people has proved true.

Compared with other Eastern European countries, the relationship with Soviet era Communism feels more complicated in Bulgaria. Russia at one point liberated the country from the Ottomans and over history Bulgaria has been allied with and against Russia. Post WWII the relationship solidified when Bulgaria switched sides in the war and then officially became aligned with the Soviet Union as a communist nation from 1946-1990. The country is still working through a political transformation and debating its leadership ideology. But we were universally treated with kindness, interest and surprise that two US citizens would choose to come and spend time driving through this beautiful country. Knowledge of English was less than in any other European country we had visited, but there was always patience with our sign language and the use of our Google translate program.

*Our two week route through Bulgaria. Despite having heard great things about Varna and the Baltic Coast, we did not make it that far west. It was late fall so we focused on the inland and mountains.*

We crossed into Bulgaria from Romania through Ruse on November 3rd. There had been a recent spike in COVID cases throughout Eastern Eureope, especially in Romania and Bulgaria. Vaccine hesitancy was taking its toll. We had heard that a recent negative COVID test would be required at the border, in addition to proof of vaccine. We had our tests done in Bucharest and showed up with all our paperwork ready. In the end, our proof of vaccine was enough and we were quickly passed through the border.

*Basarbovo Rock Monastery, built into the cliffs of Rusenki Lom Nature Park sometime before the 15th century.*

We spent our first night in the parking lot of the Basarbovo Rock Monastery, the only rock monastery still in operation. With guidance from our Park4Night app, we approached the monk on duty and, using Google Translate, asked if we could spend the night. No problem! It was a relief to find a safe spot, as dusk was looming and we did not have our bearings yet.

In general, wild camping was easy in Bulgaria, we never paid for a campground. But most of the time we felt a little like we were hiding ourselves away. Camping in the national parks is mostly forbidden. Although not officially allowed, if you use common sense, people are tolerant of campers who stay away from homes and public sites. We used Park4Night and never had an issue.

Driving felt much saner in Bulgaria, people tended to stick to the speed limits. Likely in part due to the preponderance of speed traps with local police stationed with radar guns at the entrance to towns and villages to enforce the slowdowns.

*Ivanovo Rock Monastery in Rusenki Lom Nature Park, built in the 13th century.*

After a peaceful night, we spent the next day visiting the second major rock monastery, Ivanovo then headed to the medieval city ruins of Cherven.

*Cherven fortress, remains of a 6th century hilltop city*

*Protected foundation of one of the original churches*

No surprise that in Bulgaria, as across much of Europe, key view spots across valleys or passes have ancient forts or ruins of prior civilizations. It makes for a fascinating horizon line as you are driving.

In our “Bulgarian history for dummies” learning, we starting wrapping our brains around the series of events from the Thracian tribes inhabiting the region, to the Macedonian takeover, the Roman invasion, the arrival of the Bulgars (who brokered peace with the surrounding Slavic tribes and created the first Bulgarian empire), the Ottoman invasion, the hard re-won independence and the on-again, off-again alliance with the Soviet Union which spanned two world wars and is still a factor in modern politics.

From Cherven we made our way to the next site, Madara. The ruins here were not as extensive or intricate, largely reconstructed, but the famed Madara Rider was worth the trip.

*Madara Fortress, stronghold in the 7th century*

*Madara Rider, a life sized rock carving dated back to 710. The rider is thought to represent the Bulgarian Khan Tervel, victorious in creating the first Bulgarian empire.*

As west coast Americans with no historical infrastructure to visit back home, ancient ruins never get old so we made our way to some Roman ones.

*Nicopolis-ad-Istrum, remains of a Roman city originally built in AD 110.*

Used to the high security and policing of US history sites, we were amazed to be able to explore the ruins of a Roman city on our own.

Feeling the need for some nature adventure after so much culture, we made our way to Emen Canyon for a beautiful hike.

*Emen Canyon hike - beautiful, easy out and back - a little over a mile each way to a small pool and waterfall.*

*Emen Canyon - there’s Andy on the edge again*

Then back to fortresses and ruins, and the beautiful historic town of Veliko Tarnovo.

*Wandering the streets of Veliko Tarnovo*

*Cobbled streets, artisans, fortified walls, cafes, what more could you need?*

*One of the oldest streets in one of Bulgaria’s oldest towns*

After exploring the town we headed to the main attraction, the restored Tsarevets Fortress, a citadel of the second Bulgarian empire (after the Russians helped the Bulgarians beat back the Turkish and regain independence in the late 18th century). The fortress was built, sacked and rebult for centuries starting somewhere around the 5th century.

*Veliko Tarnovo, strategically set on the Yantra River with hills surrounding it.*

Driving across Bulgaria, we would stop in various towns to stretch our legs and get a sense of the communities and architecture. Usually we were the only tourists around, and after staring at our unusual truck, people left us alone. We found the Bulgarian culture to be more introverted in general than other countries.

*Beatufiful home in the mountain town of Karlovo*

*One of our favorite wild camping spots, a hilltop along Troyan Pass in the Balkan Mountains*

We drove out of our way to visit the famous National Revival architecture town of of Koprivshitsa and it was definitely worth it. The painted homes of the 1800’s were beautiful and unique. Our understanding of the National Revival period is that Bulgarian citizens were working to establish their identity while fighting the Ottomans to regain independence.

*Unique National Revival architecture of Koprivshitsa*

*A Bulgarian we spoke with joked that the painted columns were the practical Bulgarian way of replicating Roman architecture in an affordable manner.*

Flipping between centuries, our next stop was the town of Hisarya, known as a spa town with healing properties. We did not partake of those amenities, but had a great day wandering the Roman ruins.

*Driving through the eastern gate remains– yup, posing the truck again*

We hit the second biggest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv, with no expectations at all. We are ashamed to admit that before starting to research Bulgaria, we had not even heard of it. What a great surprise! Roman ruins literally popping out of the streets, a walled old town, pedestrian shopping streets, and the Kapana district with its cafes and street art. It was a cultural party for the senses.

*Roman ruins in the main pedestrian shopping street, Plovdiv*

*Did our favorite city activity - the free walking tour, learned so much!*

*Lunch of traditional Bulgarian food, Dawn ate hers for three more meals.*

*Unearthed roman columns just lying around*

*Remains of a Roman theatre, still in use today (well, it will be again)*

*Old town National Revival architecture*

*Street side bakery - breads and baklavas*

The rare luxury of just parking the truck for three days and exploring on foot.

*View from the hotel! (Old Plovdiv Guesthouse, great value and location at $40/night)*

*Asen’s Fortress, we parked and walked the road in to stretch our legs*

We left lively Plovdiv and set our course for the Rhodope Mountains with several stops along the way.

*Beautiful setting, the most preserved part of Asen’s fortress is the church*

*Picnic lunch - rolls, salami and baklava. Total cost $4*

*Dawn fell in love with $.35 vending machine cappuccinos. At that price it’s just a rounding error in the budget.*

Looking for some more outdoor adventures, we headed to the mountain town of Devin and then through the gorge to the village of Yagodina, jumping off point to the hike to Eagle Eye and a visit to Yagodina Cave.

*Wild camped in a meadow above the village*

So many beautiful adventures in this area! We hiked a 3 mile steep loop up to Eagle Eye, then made our way out to Yagodina Cave. We had a small group tour of the cave which was an intimate experience with the stunning geology of the cave.

*Overlook at the top of Eagle Eye hike, Rhodope Mountains*

*Yagodina Cave - 1.5 kilometer walking tour*

Motoring on, eating up the gas (our biggest daily expense as we tend to stay on the move) our next stop on our wonderful Bugarian tour was Melnik. Two attractions: The Melnik Pyramids (actually rock formations) and wineries.

*Melnik Pyramids form a backdrop to the town of Melnik*

*Views from the hike from the village of Melnik to the Rozhen Monastery*

*Fantastic hike followed by Villa Melkin winery tour and tasting. With cheese. Andy is really more about the cheese.*

Onwards to the Pirin Mountains. Using Bansko as a base, we found a four mile hike to get us just up to the glacial Fish Lake just at the snow’s edge.

*Bakery in Bansko - so much awesome bread!*

*As the weather turns colder, favorite truck food becomes soup– even better with bread.*

*Fish Lake, Pirin Mountain National Park*

So many highlights in Bulgaria, but Rila was definitely one of them. We visited the intricately painted Rila Monastery and tackled the famous Seven Rila Lake hike in Rila National Park.

We arrived at the trail head planning to take the chairlift to shave a few miles off the hike, down to 6-7 miles. When we arrived we were told the chairlift was broken but a driver would take us up the 4-wheel road in a jeep. No problem! We climbed in with fellow hikers from Bulgaria, Italy, New Zealand and the Netherlands and bumped our way to the upper trail head. Gorgeous hike, 360º views at every turn, it was a spectacular day.

*Heading up the mountain for the Seven Rila Lakes hike, view of our first lake*

*Then the hilarious ride back down the four wheel road in which all the hikers of the day (eleven) were somehow crammed into the same five seat jeep.*

*Celebrated the successful hike with pasta with meat sauce*

Our final city stop in Bulgaria - Sofia. Unlike many other European cities, Sofia does not have an “old town,” but the old is mixed in with the new. Unpretentious and cosmopolitan at the same time, we enjoyed rambling around Sofia. And of course, our free walking tour. We also booked a tour on the Communist history, run by the same company. Extremely educational for us. Two learnings we were asked to spread the word on (actually mentioned by several tour guides): 1) Bulgaria refused to and successfully evaded evacuating or killing any of their Jewish citizens during WWII despite initially siding with Nazi Germany, and 2) the Cyrillic alphabet was actually developed in Bulgaria by Bulgarians.

*Rotunda Church of St. George, 4th Century, Sofia*

*Roman ruins found when digging the metro*

On the way to Sofia, Andy had noticed that something was out of alignmenton the truck. We visited Stefan Pistronev at his replair shop in Sofia and he immediately took a look and figured out that a nut on one of the ends of the rear leaf springs was missing - yikes could have been catastrophic. He fixed us up for the day and we came back the next for an alignment - problem fixed.

*Stefan Pistronev’s shop in Sofia at Queen Joanna Blvd 9 - he fixed us up quickly and professionally!*

*View from our Airbnb in Sofia - $35 a night for a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and washer and dryer. We literally felt like we were getting lost going from room to room. So much space. . .*

Then, our last stop in Bulgaria, Belogradchik featuring incredible rock formations with Kaleto Fortress as a highlight.

*Kaleto Fortress, Belogradchik, Bulgaria. Built and re-built through the century by Romans, Bulgarians and Ottomans*

*The town of Belogradchik, typical Bulgarian architecture, red tile rooves on white houses. Bonus, find the truck (we parked in town and walked up to the fortress).*

*Filling our tank requires some gymnastics (we still UV treat it)*

And then finally, our last night in Bulgaria we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. Grateful to be sharing this adventure together. We have been together longer than we have been apart!

So, this will be it for a little while. We are heading back to Oregon for holidays with our children. Leaving the truck with family in England.

The only down side to full-time truck travel - staying in touch like this! We will be back on the road early next year, thank you for reading!

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