Now on our own after parting ways with the last of our travelling companions, it was time for us to head to Vratsa in Bulgaria. The scenery during the rest of our Romanian tour was picturesque and the journey was uneventful until we arrived at the Bulgarian border which was actually a bridge. This was probably due to two sides not agreeing on where the border should be, so they drew a line in the middle of the Danube. We were expecting some long delays but to be honest, we got through reasonably quickly. The bridge passes by a local fortress called Baba Vida Fortress but we never got a chance to look around. This is one of the big problems with travelling with dogs and everything you own strapped to a bike; you miss out on a lot but we knew this before we set off.
We were not impressed with the first 30 mins of Bulgaria. There was so much rubbish, derelict buildings and hookers lining the roads every couple of miles or so. We stopped for a coffee at a roadside café but they didn’t accept credit cards and we didn’t have any local currency yet, so we had a picnic amongst the garbage next to café. As we were to later find out, the cash only phrase was something we were going to hear a lot in Bulgaria.
Finally, after riding a couple of hours, the scenery changed as it opened up to lush greenery and mountain ranges. Our destination was the Comfort Luxury Apartments in Vratsa. It took a little while to find because the address was in Cyrillic and I had to pin point the location using the map on Booking.com, for example: ул.Христо Ботев №1 ап.22, 3000 Vratsa, Bulgaria.
Having found our digs for the night, I have to say, we were impressed! A beautiful apartment, comfy beds, a secure terrace with tables and benches and just to cap it all off, garage parking next to our apartment with remote access! This was heaven! The apartment was so good, our wonder around the town later consisted of a brisk walk to a supermarket for beans on toast and back again just so we could enjoy having a night in.
The funny thing about cooking beans on toast in an apartment, is that it’s one of those moments that snaps you back to reality and hammers home that you are not on holiday. We may need to eat more beans on toast going forward!
Varna itself seems quite nice from what we saw. Lots of places to drink and eat and a nice square for people to hang out in. As we were only there for one night, we were going to miss out on exploring the local area. Vratsa is situated at the foot of the Vrachanski Balkan, the town is near numerous caves, waterfalls, and rock formations. The most famous of them are the Ledenika Cave, Skaklya Waterfall, and the Vratsata Pass.
The following day, we leisurely packed our bikes and loaded the dogs up to head to our next destination in Palamartsa, it only took me a week to learn to say the name and my tongue has nearly recovered. Foreign language is hard for a Yorkshireman, which is a nice segway into our next accommodation. Meet John and Jules, a couple from Barnsley in Yorkshire that run the Serendipity Cottage in Palamartsa. I knew there was reason I packed my flat cap!
These guys are ‘reet grand’ and their hospitality is second to none. John has practically built the cottage back up from nothing and when I say nothing, it had no roof or electrics. On the subject of electrics, John fitted a few English sockets just to remind me of home. That or he got them wholesale off the back of a lorry. He also equipped the property with water storage to produce constant filtered water on demand. This is something that the rest of the village suffers with, due to water not being available for long periods of time during the day.
Aside from readily available authentic Yorkshire banter, Serendipity is also home to goats, chickens, dogs and other critters. There is also a hot tub in your own private garden area, equipped with fairy lights for a bit of mood lighting.
Palamartsa is such a quiet village and it seems it is also a top destination for expats. Time for some of that Yorkshire honesty here: as much as we enjoyed staying with John and Jules and as much as we were sorry to leave them behind, I just don’t get it! The roads are terrible, no pubs in the area, a shop that opens and closes when it feels like and water that gets turned off on a regular basis, so what is attracting the expats? The only thing I can think of is that the cost of living is cheaper, which is no surprise compared to the UK. Maybe, they just want a quiet life…really quiet. Or maybe they just want to get away from it all and raise chickens and goats.
I can truly say that Serendipity is one of our favourite places to stay so far and I can only recommend it if you want a nice quiet break to get away from it all, along with great conversation (my accent has just about returned back to normal now).
Back on the road again, we were heading further east towards the Black Sea to a place called Varna. Our accommodation was called the Villa Nasco and this was going to turn out to be a real disappointment.
We had booked 7 nights at the Villa Nasco and this was going to be our holiday but this turned into a working week. The first issue was finding the damn place due to it being in the middle of what looked like an abandoned industrial area. The second issue was the road down to it was a steep gravel track. This is not fun on a fully loaded bike with dogs on. Luckily we found an alternative road later out of the opposite end of the area. The next issue was the 7 cats the owner had. Great upper body exercise when you are holding two Border Collies in each hand and trying to navigate stairs. Keep in mind the dogs need to go out about 4 times a day, which brings me to the cardio workout we endured each day too! Our original beautiful, air-conditioned room was up a small spiral staircase. This was not happening with dogs, not even Molly would attempt it and she is an escape artist. So, we swapped rooms for one a floor below. No air-conditioning but they gave us a fan, no room to move around in, no tea or coffee facilities, no fridge and nowhere to set up our laptops. It was a long 7 days.
Varna itself would appeal to many, especially the type of folks who enjoy Ibiza and Majorca for a holiday. Beach bars, sun loungers and loud music are only 700 meters away. We had a look around but this was not really our thing so we spent a lot of time in our pokey little room and preparing meals in the shared kitchen downstairs.
On the plus side, there was space to let the dogs off and watch them play amongst the abandoned machinery. The local cats were educated and learned how to hide and climb trees quicker, I got to eat at a MacDonalds on the beach, so tick that off my bucket list. Finally, our off roading skills improved immensely.
Now I know some of you are thinking ‘sometimes these things happen and you have to take the rough with the smooth’ but when I book a place I always add a bit of text that states: we are arriving with bikes and would appreciate anything as close to the ground floor as possible due to the amount of luggage we have to unload for safety, as well as the fact that we will be arriving with 2 dogs. This gives the accommodation the opportunity to say ‘sorry we only have an attic or we don’t accept dogs etc. When I got there, the guy said ‘yeah I did wonder about the dogs on those stairs!’
The next place we stayed in overnight was further south down the coast in a town called Sunny Beach, where I got into an argument with the owner about not asking her about the dogs; remember the bit of text above that I add to my bookings? After a triumphant conclusion, we unloaded our bikes and carried the luggage to, yes you guessed it, the fourth floor! Zsofi stayed with the bikes for security while I ran back and forwards about six times with armfuls of baggage.
The evening was better, as we checked out the beach and had a bite to eat in the Irish bar next door to our accommodation called Father Teds. I had the pleasure of the Father Ted burger and a Guinness (recommended) while we chatted with the lad who served us. We were convinced the guy was Irish due to his accent but he was actually Norwegian. He explained that there is a region in Norway whose dialect has been influenced by a group of languages or accents that makes the locals sound like they have an Irish accent. I asked what his name was and he replied ‘Patrick’. Well, that doesn’t help does it? His Irish friends call him ‘Plastic Paddy’.
The one thing I will say about the apartment we stayed in was my god that bed was comfy! So, after a great night’s sleep, it was time to load the bikes up again and head off to our final Bulgarian destination, Haskovo.
During the last evening while chatting, we decided it might be a good idea to buy a tent for some of these one-night stopovers. With bikes next to the tents, we wouldn’t have to keep unloading everything and we could save a bit of money in the long run. After a little bit of research for a good lightweight tent, we called in at Decathlon in the city of Burgas and left with heavier bikes that now carried a tent, a sleeping mat, 2 new lightweight sleeping bags and an inflatable pillow. Now we look like proper adventurers! This will also give us the opportunity to meet other biking communities through a website called Bunk-a-Biker. This is something we discovered a couple of weeks before we set off and is basically a site where people will host bikers for free at their homes. Sometimes they have indoor accommodation or sometimes only outdoor for tents. Quite a few of the hosts offer both for bikers only, so the tent idea was a golden opportunity to meet some of these great people.
Our last location in Bulgaria we stayed was at the Hotel Verticalplus in Haskovo, which was a bit industrial but at least it was quiet. The room was beautiful with plenty of space. Air-conditioning that switched off if you opened the windows, which I found out the hard way and tried to convince the receptionist it was broken, nope, it was a user error or we used to say in the trade an ‘id01t error’ (work it out, you’ll get there in the end). However, outside the place was crawling with stray dogs that wanted to bark and play with our dogs. Ricky doesn’t do playing with other dogs! It’s actually quite impressive to watch one dog put the fear of God into six dogs, that’s my boy!
Breakfast the next day was interesting, I had something called Mekitsa and according to Google, is a cross between Langos and Yorkshire pudding. It was so light and fluffy and is eaten with jam, yummy!
After breakfast, we loaded the bikes again and Ricky schooled the local strays once more before we headed off towards the Bulgarian/Greek border. It was time to leave the cats from the north and the dogs from the south to head into a new country. No more annoying animals wanting to approach our dogs at every opportunity or cats that think their invincible. Just peace and quiet… Wrong! Things were about to get even worse in Greece!
