Signposting in Bulgaria is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, but the Bulgarian way is apparently common in Europe. Instead of a signpost pointing to the nearest town, and having other destinations along the way marked, signposts usually point to either Ruse, Sofia, Varna, Burgas or Istanbul. You’re expected to know which direction you want…
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Day-to-day diary entries
Day 7 Resting near Elhovo
Today we had planned a rest-day, a chance to chill out and relax a bit after our hectic and tiring drive of the last week. We planned to meet up with Chris and Val, who live near Elhovo and had kindly asked us to stay for the night with them at their house. We met…
Read moreDay 6 Rakovo to Malko Sharkovo
We had a free day before our next meeting in Elhovo, so decided to take a detour and so we did a loop via Nova Zargora. There was no reasoning behind our route other than there were some place names we’d heard of, and we wanted to have a look along the southern Balkan Mountain…
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Day 5 Palamartsa to Rakovo
Today was spent mostly looking at houses in the area around Palamartsa, before taking a leisurely drive into the hills around Sliven area. We had no particular idea of where we were headed, just that we fancied seeing a bit of really remote countryside and villages, to see what life could be like far away…
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Day 4 Byala to Palamartsa
After a very uncomfortable night in the car at the truck-stop we went to Polsko Kosovo to quiz Sue, our next unsuspecting ex-pat, on life in Bulgaria, where we saw the biggest grapes I had ever seen!! After some lovely home-made cake and plenty of coffee we headed to Palamartsa. By this time we really…
Read moreYes and no
Bulgaria is about the only country in the world that shakes their heads to say yes, and nods for no. This causes much confusion for foreign travellers! In Kalofer we had been trying to buy cigarettes from small shops. We’d gone in asking for them and they said something, and shook their heads, so we…
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Day 3: Koprinka to Byala
Feeling much refreshed, if a bit grubby, after our night wild camping beside the dam at Koprinka, we headed back along the main road to Kalofer for a meal with some people we’d met on Facebook; Amelia, Mick, Charlie and her daughter Gabby. We had a few hours to kill so we tried to buy some…
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Day 2 Belogradchik to Koprinka
What a nice surprise, we woke up to freshly made coffee courtesy of the campsite owner. Yep we were definitely no longer in the UK. Joe had a disturbed night’s sleep; he woke up to find something prickling his feet through the tent. He kicked it away, but it came back and started attacking his…
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