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Bulgaria
for the Idiosyncratic by Hilma Miles The Sunday Telegraph readers have just voted Bulgaria as their "least-favourite destination" - appealing only to "idiosyncratic travellers and Danish archaeologists." Having spent a week there last June, I don't know whether to protest - or happily accept the label "idiosyncratic traveller". After all - when comfortably employed (by IBM), my holidays tended to be packages to Alaska, hiking in the Pindos, walking the Tour de Mont Blanc, and a wonderful 6 weeks travelling alone through New Zealand - (on an agent-planned itinerary, with arranged walking guides and a group 5-day canoe trip. I'm not that independent!). Following my 'voluntary redundancy', I took the pay and headed of, with companion and trusty "Lonely Planet" guide, for a planned "2 months across Russia and China". From June to the following February (s/w engineers, always behind schedule?!), we travelled "Czech to China by choo-choo" (sorry!), and finally flew home from Cambodia. Having been informed, 2 days before our return, by the owner of our wooden-hotel-on-stilts-on-the beach, that he'd just been watching Sky TV. "Do you know Chichester? It's 6 foot under water". I live in Fareham, a mere 20 minutes from Chi, so was none too impressed... But that was before! Following a lull in jobs and travel, my partner Mike and I decided to have a "cheap week away" in June. An Internet search turned up a hotel package on the Black Sea - £157 each, for transport and a week's accommodation (with breakfast) on a beach side hotel. About the same as we pay for a weekend away here in the UK, so - we went for it, not expecting more than we paid for. We started well - a 4-hour delay at Heathrow. Finally, we were off - to Birmingham and then to Bulgaria, touchdown, a long coach trip to our site (Albena) and check in at around 4am; with instructions for breakfast and our "rep's speech" for 10am. We'd had the choice of 2 sites; Albena, or "Sunny Beach" - which was rejected on the strength of its name alone. Our room (finally!) was large, clean, and its en suite bathroom/shower was also large, the shower being new, powerful, and always hot. It was all that we required, there were no complaints there, nor for the rest of our stay. OK, so the deal was a package - a sort of "Butlins for the hard-working communist workers", a purpose-built resort on the Black Sea, with identikit lego-style hotels, tourist shops, multiple restaurants, and the serried ranks of brollies on the beach that is everything I - and Mike - usually loathe about holidays. Day 1 saw us book one rep-trip, which was later cancelled due to lack of interest. We explored the town (campus), inspected luxurious thick fur coats in the expensive hotel foyer-shops, and ordered a "coffee and cake" - which turned out to be a small cup of coffee and an ENORMOUS slice of gateau - the Russian influence, perhaps? Mike had a static ground-based bungee-jump, in which he was shot up on an elastic band, and we checked out the first of the (campus) gold shops. However - "have driving licence, will travel". We booked a car for the following 4 days (a Daewoo Tipo with left hand drive - no problem, except that an over-shoulder rear view check showed only interior panelling). As Mike was then without licence (for quite legal reasons) and we're both law-abiding citizens, I got to do all the driving. This was
fun on a number of counts. Huge unmarked holes in the roads took me a
day to get used to - but soon I was accelerating over them to avoid a
bump, as if it was what I was used to! Pedestrians seemed quite unconcerned
about approaching traffic as they wondered across, or along, the roads,
the only one giving us any attention, and waiting, being a woman on a
zebra crossing. These were numerous and varied; from elegant ponies, to donkeys, pulling a range of carts, and at times, huge families. Two such conveyances in particular stuck in my mind. One was an oldish couple, as erect and dignified as royalty, pulled by an ancient donkey. Then there was an uncle and nephew (we guessed) galloping (or trotting or cantering, I'm not horsey enough to differentiate) along and laughing with glee; the horse pulling them being the only ones we saw going at anything more than a walk. I have no doubt those horses, as well as their passengers, were having more fun than anyone else on the road. Another oddity of the road, but for the Bulgarians rather than for us this time, (and especially noticeable as we drove past the security guards as we left and entered the site each day), was that I, a blonde female, was driving - and had a male passenger. Jokes may be made about that arrangement here in the UK - but sheer disbelief met it in Bulgaria! The roads were our only point of mild disagreement - I refused to consider driving after dark, so we couldn't try a "genuine" restaurant. Instead, we ate 'on campus' every night. However - the food, and variety there, were such that this was no hardship. And it meant we could both enjoy the "Bulgarian champagne", at around £2 a bottle. ("Champagne please" "Red or white?" "Er, white." "Sweet or dry?" "Er, dry". I was waiting expectantly for the "Still or sparkling?" - but that never came). Even at home, the bottle we brought back with us was drinkable, unlike so many of those local wines that are fine in situ, but lose their appeal once home. Food too, was good. The Bulgarian lev was about 3 to a £; but the meals seemed fairly cheap even when compared against comparable numeric amounts, simply substituting the currency units. For 60 lev, we got 2 bottles of "champagne", starters, salads, main course and desert, and drinks - a potent brandy for Mike, something less vicious (and viscous) for me. The food quality too, was good - flambéed steaks (pork or veal, same price - and the veal steak was thick, tender, and delicious!) - and plenty of traditional dishes; often with live entertainment, from traditional Bulgarian dances (best were the young boys, who really enjoyed dancing their traditional dances, in their traditional costume) through to belly dancers. Less exciting acts included the ageing dog, with more aged 'trainer', who reluctantly jumped through hoops, then collected notes from the audience. A meal out usually included a night's entertainment, and there was plenty of variety. (The worst meal we had was at a Chinese restaurant. The Russian champagne was sweet and extortionate, at £5, and my main course arrived before I'd finished my starter. But even then, the food was good.) Day 2, now mobile, we headed for Varna, the East coast main city, possibly a mistake as our first destination, given my newness to the car, as it was as packed as any other city. Fortunately, a traffic warden appeared (I never through I'd use that phrase!) so we managed to pay, sort out how long we had, and go off, without too much worry. First stop, MacDonald's! I don't eat burgers, I like traditional food; but Mac's is one place in any country you can guarantee a (relatively!) clean loo. Apart from the fact the seat was broken, it was fine. Then, we hunted for a guide book to Bulgaria. This sounds easier that it was. We rapidly found the Tourist Information Bureau - a large, modern building, empty, bar a small desk and a rack of leaflets about car hire. My requests for a "tour guide" were met with a blank stare, then a recommendation to check the "book district of the market". So we headed off to the market, via many under-passes, which were lined with beggars and stalls. The market was fascinating. There were stalls of all kinds, from fresh-squeezed fruit juices, general tourist knick-knacks, needlework, leatherwork, amber, and a huge book area, with books on everything under the sun - including Bulgarian Microsoft programming manuals, and "MCSE for Dummies" - a title I always find amusing in English, let alone Bulgarian. Finally,
we saw a stall with maps, and (Bulgarian-language) guide books; but an
English-speaking trader, who very helpfully directed us to one of the
shops in one of the underpasses. Off we went again, and finally found
it! An English-language tour guide, and an A4 printed sheet of highlights,
hidden away behind some very naff greetings cards, in a shop in the corner
of an under-road alley. The first site to attract me was "The petrified Forest. Muzeum revels the rich. A unique natural phenomenon, located 18km west of Varna along the Sofia highway. Open 10am - 5pm. Phenomenal earth formations or sculptural remains of prehistoric times. Astounded, the visitor stops in front of earth columns rising 5-6m, with different diameters at the base. They are about 50 million years old..." Sounds good...But it took us 3 attempts to find. We easily found the town 18km west of Varna along the Sofia highway, but there was nothing hinting at what we wanted. (In fact, we saw no signs for tourist attractions the whole time we were there.) On our third attempt, driving out of the town, Mike decided, as we approached the 3rd left turn off our route, "Take that". So up we went, the road rapidly disintegrating into a track that got worse as we climbed, until we finally stopped at the furthest the car could go, between an earth rampart, and a pile of broken (purple) glass. Over the earth rampart, and there was countryside, the bleat of distant goats and goat-bells - and about 2 km distant, some kind of cliff face. As we got nearer, we saw - amazing limestone pillars, some individual, some still part of the rapidly-eroding cliff, similar to the carved pillars of the temples in Petra, or other places man has carved an habitation from a cliff - but with ornate pillars. Here, they were all wind-carved. The pillars were almost powdery, the rock were so fine and soft, and studded with numerous fossils. Nothing like the true 'fossilised forest' of course, but geologically fascinating, all the same. The guide was right, we were astounded; but the place never closed, we never found the museum. On our return from that site, we passed banks of this sand, riddled with the burrows of swift-type birds (swallows, whatever), where the sand bank seemed to be more holes than not - a veritable lacework of bird-burrows. Day 3 sent us to "The Madara Horseman. The most spectacular feature, on a UNESCO Protected Site of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage list...the huge bas-relief sculpture rising 23m above the base of the rock face from which it is hewn is conservatively dated...between 705 and 831". (BC, I think, but don't quote me!). That wasn't so hard to find; and even had a gift shop and entry fee. Inside, we met a Dutch couple with their hired tour-guide-come-taxi driver. That is probably the way to do it, finances allowing; I spent much of the week wishing I'd bought a "Lonely Planet" guide before leaving the UK. The guide entertained us with a story of how he'd killed a poisonous snake and protected his clients, along there where we were going; and made a few comments re Manchester United. We duly thanked him and set off to find snakes and the Horseman. It was spectacular. At least, it would have been, had it not been for the mass of scaffolding in front of it! Thanks to the super-zoom on my compact camera (200mm) I managed to get much of the sculpture framed by only a little bit of scaffolding; but must pictures were nothing but steel framework. I guess they're trying to protect it - but it did seem very odd. There were parts of the sculpture totally obliterated from whatever angle we tried. Then we wandered around the area, where there was much evidence of early life (a chapel and caves, walls and doors) - and an interesting river walk alongside a moss-covered rock face. I was fascinated - at intervals along the path, white plastic cups were set, to catch the water streaming off the rock face. We never even guessed what they (whoever they were) were collecting the water for - but it quenched my thirst. Day 4 saw our longest drive out, about 150km. This was to the Srebarna Nature Reserve, on the northern border of Bulgaria. (This, because Mike decided he wanted to see the Danube, and Romania over the border - and the nature reserve was the nearest thing in that direction that I wanted to see!). All the roads were wide, and relatively empty, and many better than the pock-marked roads. Another interesting feature about the roads were the numerous "ladies of the night" - whom we saw at all hours - first, at a crossroads apparently in the middle of nowhere (but on the outskirts of an industrial town, we later decided - at 11 am). We saw more at about 6 pm, along the less-than-salubrious coastal road into Varna, around the dock area. Seeing a male passenger, three ladies approached us (i.e. walked into the road in front of us) - but stopped in shock as they saw me driving! I smiled and waved, and got a - rueful? - grin. Heading for Srebarna, we drove for miles along an avenue of towering trees. "What are they?" So I stopped, we found the fruit, and cracking a nut open, Mike decided it was a walnut. This made his day "We can go back now, I'm happy") whilst I - though I'm deeply ashamed to admit it - thought only of what walnuts cost me in Sainsburys! My biggest thrill of the drive was the fields of sunflowers that lined the roads - I think I took half a film of "sunflower field pictures", it was just so - gush. Colourful. (Well, ok, sunflowers in full bloom would be, but it was against a rich blue sky). As we drove along, Mike asked, "What's that in the road?" So I slowed down; to see a dog, as if waiting for us, in the middle of the road. Once it was sure we'd seen it, it set off to the side, checking over its shoulder to check we were following, to where a towering statue overlooked the area. We duly stopped, took its photo (the statue, I'm afraid, as the dog had gone) - then carried on. All part of the scenery...as were the wooden look-out towers and many brooms by the sides of the wheat fields, which we finally decided were fire look-outs. The wheat fields were beautifully red-gold; but a little odd at first sight. Then it dawned on me - there was weed growing in amongst the crop! No doubt, organic food is the norm there, not an expensive luxury. The farmers cannot, or do not, spend on expensive fertilisers, so instead, get what we are paying extra for - a very different way of life in all respects! At one stage, we tried to stop for a drink. We saw a Coca-Cola sign, so pulled into a drive, expecting a café. There was nothing, so I turned the car around. In those few seconds it took me, a troop of ducks waddled across the driveway entrance. No problem, I was in no hurry, I could wait. Until they settled down in front of the car (in the shade of a nearby tree), effectively blocking my exit. No fear of the car, it seemed! They lived there. Town-coffee and some contradictory and confused directions later, we finally found the National Park. There was a café, with a nearby obligatory old man selling his home-produced honey. Obediently, we bought two jars; which were later declared "the worst, most tasteless honey" Mike had ever had). We managed to buy sausage (which was defrosted and cooked on the grill), and had a good meal with a simple, but wonderful, fresh salad, and "real" bread - although we had indicated the meatballs that the other visitors were having. These 'other visitors' turned out to be workmen, so their fare was possibly not good enough for foreign visitors; or possibly, too good? The café sold a single tourist publication, "Where to Watch Birds in Bulgaria"; then we headed off into the museum. It was a beautiful, new building (I took many photos of the building stones, being a hobby-geologist, though I didn't know what any of it was) - and we collected an English leaflet to the reserve. That was the only English language we saw at the site. Inside the museum was much nice stone work, and glass cases stuffed full of dead birds; but every sign and explanation was in Bulgarian only. If the place is, as it advertised, listed in the World Heritage sites, and is, "since 1989" an important bird area in Europe", surely some more well-known language could have backed up the local lingo? I do, cynically,
question who funded the site, it being new and modern-looking; but at
least it meant we were out soon! (After the loo stop, which was much less
impressive than that at MacDonald's. There was no electric light, nor
a window, to my cubicle. Fortunately, we were the only ones in the museum,
so I could leave the door open, but it seemed out of keeping with the
rest of the museum.) The scenery was beautiful - lakes and trees, which I do like! However, it was a long drive for those of us so ignorant of things natural, although the trip was also, unusually for me, an enjoyable drive. The scenery was different, interesting - and peaceful. We stopped on the way home, looking for the Danube; finally finding a dock and ferry area; but although people seemed to be wandering past the security without being stopped, we passed on that, had an ice-cream, and headed home. Day 5, our last car-day was almost as good as the first. We tried to find the "Museum of Natural Sciences, located in the Sea Garden. Open 10am to 5pm. It possesses some extremely valuable collections, Geologikal samples from NorthEastern Bulgaria - and more". But when we finally tracked it down - it didn't appear to have been open for a year, judging by the rusted lock and old paper posters outside. However, we had a beautiful walk in the Sea Garden, which is only 5 minutes out of the city centre (by car) - but still on the outskirts of the city. The trees and gardens were beautiful, although we were less sure of the "modern sculptures" - that looked like bits of twisted metal following an air-crash to our untutored eyes. However, as they were mounted on plinths, they must have been art. We had coffee and cake in "The Happy Bar and Grill" ("Made in Varna. Bulgaria. Established on Christmas Day 1994"). This is Bulgaria's own fast-food chain, and was clean and cheap, with rapid service. The menu offered standard delights, such as "mashed potatoes with Béarnaise", and "Speciality of the Boss". Mike was particularly impressed with the girls' uniforms - very (very) short black skirts and red tops, and deep-red (near-purple) lipstick. He was also impressed with the girl who sold him some (very cheap!) Wranglers, whose English was excellent - as was her grasp of English pop-music and football - we both thought "not a lot" of the Spice Girls and David Beckham. It made a change from the Far East, when all the locals wanted to talk about was Princess Di, but - I do wish there was something else that was the definitive "talking point" of Britain, when chatting to locals abroad! I was more impressed by the downtown graffiti e.g. "The Agnostic Front". I'd never envisaged agnostics as caring enough to form a Front - but - I'm open to new ideas. The Bulgarian shopping that interested us (me!) most was the amber, and gold. I was very tempted a beautiful lizard preserved in amber, maybe 5cm long - but at about £30, I was too suspicious to buy. Since then, I have been reassured - it must have been fake, Unlike - I sincerely hope! - the gold. Gold was sold by weight; and only 14ct was available. We were asked for between 18 and 20 lev per gram (in town; but around 25 lev on site. Still - everything "on campus" was understandably over-priced, as they had a captive market; and even at those prices, it seemed very good value to us Brits.) A whole afternoon was devoted to a gold hunt. It was everywhere; not only in specialised gold shops, but where in the UK a dress shop may have a small display of costume jewellery, they had a small display of 14ct jewellery. Some "gold" shops that advertised in the main street turned out to be hidden down dark alleys, situated in a tiny room with perhaps just 3 rings and a bracelet as their complete stock. Very odd... Finally, we found the "gold area", within a large market area, where discount stores, plastic emporia, vacuum cleaner shops (but no Dysons there yet) and tacky clothing shops were in amongst the large and impressive gold shops - whose jewellery displays were massive. Finally, in the last shop in the market, I found a set I liked.... The next day, we set out to buy me an early birthday present. As Mike tried to withdraw the cash from a hole-in-the-wall, I assured him credit would do, and we really shouldn't carry that much money about. "But I didn't see any credit card signs". "Of course they'll take credit..." So we went back to the gold shop, selected and weighed up the jewellery I wanted - then wasted an hour looking for a bank, as it was cash only...Once we found an ATM, he had to put his card in three times, as there was a limit on the amount of cash that could be withdrawn. But not, fortunately, on the number of withdrawals! (At least, 3 consecutive withdrawals were acceptable). I got some money, changing the last of my US$, that I had foolishly bought in the UK. This was a hangover from my Far East experience of the global currency. In Bulgaria, any Western currency is as good as another. Before entering the "official" currency exchange booth (a shack on the street!) a "young man" came up and offered me a far better rate of exchange. Although I travelled around China consistently using money-changers, I was less confident here, so I accepted I may have lost a few £££, and went into the booth. I was stunned when I came out, Bulgarian lev in hand - and the changer was still outside, berating me and demanding to know why I had wanted to use the shack when he offered such a good rate. He really seemed to want an explanation, and it was a difficult question to answer. So we bought my jewellery - then I had to get my ears pierced when I got home. (The discount, having got the necklace and bracelet, was so good for the earrings, that I had to have them - but I didn't have holes yet...as I'd never felt the need before). I'd also bought myself a wooden salad bowl (from the souvenir shop outside the Madara Horseman; I don't know why, either!) - and commissioned a handbag, from a leather artist in amongst the tourist tack on the campus. His work was superb; leather shaped into all sorts of designs, on all sorts of objects - bags to mirror-surrounds to candle holders. There were no examples of white leather; but that is because everyone likes to handle the good on display. So, for 60 lev, I commissioned a bag, with my monogram in it (! An extra 15 lev for the initials, but hey! It is unique) - to be ready in 2 days. From our leather artist, we also found out why no one seems to take credit. It seems that when the facility was first offered, a few "businessmen" somehow ran up large credit card debts, then absconded, leaving the banks with huge deficits. To avoid this, a business now needs to give a guarantee of £1000s, a large sum at least, as a sort of credit account, to allow them to operate credit cards. Or something. Whatever; the start-up costs of accepting credit is too high for many businesses. (But surely not the gold?!). Something that must surely change if they try to encourage the "Western Tourist"... We had our massages on Friday evening. I always try to get a massage when abroad; from Turkey to Siberia to Javenese; they're all different - though this was standard oil and muscle manipulation - and the most painful I've had, though not the strongest. We were packed first thing Saturday, for the noon coach home. Would I go again? Unlikely, as there are many countries I haven't been to yet! Would I recommend it? Yes, as long as either: * What you
are looking for is a cheap, all inclusive, beach holiday, for which it
is ideal. There is
a lot there, and it's not yet spoilt, but nor is it geared up for tourists.
Which is, perhaps, why it is not yet spoiled. The locals we met were few
except for the occasional lunch; where they were as polite and helpful
as they could be with no common language; but they didn't seem particularly
welcoming - they could take us or leave us. Only the shop staff who were
trying to sell us things were interested in us. First published in VISA issue 39 (winter 2000). |