A bit of Bulgaria
In the middle of March, we managed to go on a short about a week-long trip to Bulgaria. We had to drive more than five and a half thousand kilometres in eight days (more than six hundred kilometres per day on average).
The idea of a trip was born when I was returning from a business trip; I met a young lady on a plane sitting next to me. She told us a lot of interesting things about Bulgaria and we went to check how it is there in the west of the Balkan peninsula.
Arrival to Bulgaria
Late in the afternoon, we arrived in Bulgaria by ferry connecting the Romanian town Calafat and Vidin in Bulgaria (the location of Vidin and Calafat on the map). The size of the Danube River is very impressive there – another coast of the river looks quite far away. And here it is – a journey back to the last century: apart from customs and border control, there were several other official authorities collecting currency for various mandatory border crossing “services” – phytosanitary control, veterinary control.
As it was not enough with those, although we had all the necessary insurance policy documents, a range of different insurance offices were asked to pay for something more.
Many East-European countries had similar policies at the beginning of the nineties, however, all that was gone after countries joined the European Union. Unfortunately, this was our first, not the best, impression of this country.
Belogradchik Rocks
Our first destination in Bulgaria was 50 kilometres away from Vidin – Belogradchik. Near this town, is located one of the natural wonders of Bulgaria – Belogradchishki Skali (Belogradchik Rocks). Those are fairy-tale-like hills consisting of sandstone and conglomerate.
We have seen similar rock formations in the Northern part of Italy (Piramidi de Segonzano), however, these near Belogradchik are more impressive (more about Piramidi de Segonzano you can find out reading our travel notes about the Italian Dolomite Alps). Belogradchik Rocks also are similar to the Devil’s Town (Djavolja varos) in Serbia.
One more interesting fact – rocks are connected with the Belogradchik Fortress making perfect inclusion of rocks into the fortress system made by men. The first construction period of the fortress system was about 2 thousand years ago, the second one during the 8th to 14th century, and the last in the 19th century.
The fortress has five gates and it is possible to go inside it. Like about many other natural sites, there is nothing much to tell about this – it just has to be seen by your own eyes.
Bachkovo Monastery
After visiting Belogradchik Rocks, we went to Melnik for a local wine tasting, passing the capital of Bulgaria Sofia. Melnik was the most Southern point of our trip and we continued our trip towards the Black Sea. Not far away from Melnik, we found another interesting site – Bachkovo Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries on the Balkan Peninsula.
The monastery is located in the Rhodope Mountains, not far from the town of Assenovgrad. Since 1984, Bachkovo Monastery has been on the tentative list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites.
Not having any particular plans for a visit, we accidentally met an interesting old man who was walking around the car park to find somebody who would accept his offer to be a guide. He looked quite poor but educated and we accepted his offer after a short bargain.
Fortunately, the man had strong knowledge and was talking both about monastery and Bulgarian history. He was able to answer all the questions we had. All stories (more than half an hour long) were told outside of the monastery.
Asking why we did not go inside, we were told that the man was not allowed to go inside the monastery. His explanation about the reason for that was very exciting – years ago he was a monk in this monastery. Because of some offence, he was later evicted.
As we were completely satisfied with his guidance, we paid the agreed amount and entered the monastery alone. It was really interesting inside the monastery to visit their premises; especially we liked the very old and fascinating wall paintings.