Sunday 20th July 2008 – Sapanta, Romania

We woke this morning to the sounds of the river, swollen by yesterday's rain, on one side of the campsite and the bells of the cows returning to their pasture on the other side – much better than a busy road or railway line!
Our main reason for coming so far north, just 2km from the Ukranian border, was to see a cemetery. Not just any old cemetery but the 'Merry Cemetery'. In 1935, a local man called Stan Ioan Patras started to create wooden crosses for the graves in the village churchyard. Rather than standard grave markings, these were carved with depictions of the person's life, including their image, and underneath this is a rhyme about their life. The crosses have a base colour of 'Sapanta blue' (representing either hope and liberty, according to Michael Palin, or the sky where the souls of the dead rise, according to the cemetery information board) and are then painted in bright colours. This together with the ironic and humorous verse is why the cemetery is called 'Merry'. It really is a celebration of the people's lives and, although it is still a place to remember the dead, it has a much more cheerful atmosphere than any other churchyard that I have visited.
When we arrived, we found that there was a service in the church and the path to the church was full of women, many in traditional dress. They still observe the tradition of separating the sexes in church – the men stand (there are no seats) at the front of the church and the women at the back. There wasn't enough room for the women and they spilled out of the door into the porch. Beautiful, eligible young women in pretty traditional dress were stood around in groups whilst grandmothers, dressed in black, chatted.
We spent a couple of hours in the churchyard wandering around the over 800 painted crosses. Although Stan Ioan Patras died over 30 years ago, recent graves are still marked by the crosses, now made by one of his apprentices. There was no guide to the crosses that translated the verses into English (surely a business opportunity!) and given that Romanian is totally incomprehensible to us, we had to work out the story from the pictures. Some crosses had pictures on both sides and these appeared to be, in some cases, different aspects of the same persons life and in other cases were two separate people, perhaps a mother and her child who had died at an early age. Others were tragic such as a the three year old run over by a car; a 22 year old killed by a train; a farmer shot by a bandit and a baby's grave marked by a carved but unpainted cross. Most were much more cheerful, showing people at their work – many farmers (with their tractors, with their flocks of sheep or herd of cows, threshing, hay making or fruit picking), lumberjacks, carpenters, a shopkeeper, a bar owner, a nurse, a vet, miners, musicians, a repairer of electronic equipment, a seamstress. Women were often depicted in domestic situations (in the kitchen, weaving, spinning wool) but were also shown working in the fields and in a few cases, on their knees, praying. The other side of these crosses often showed other aspects of their life – eating a meal with their family, dancing, playing cards with friends. It was absolutely fascinating. I was particularly intriguing to see the crosses with ladies spinning wool, one of which was dated 2006 and showed just the same equipment that we had seen a few days ago.
Eventually, we dragged ourselves away and headed for the church, signposted off the main road. This church was not mentioned in our guidebook and when we got there (surely much further than the 500m that the sign indicated), we discovered why. It is a newly built wooden church with a massive wooden spire, the tallest in the region and surely a contender for the tallest in Romania. The interior is not yet complete but the building is extremely impressive, with massive oak timbers resting on a stone base and rising to the slender spire with the whole roof covered in shingles. Another smaller, two-storey wooden spired building has been built to one side and a large concrete building is being constructed nearby. A small woodland park surrounds the buildings. The signs actually directed us to the 'monastery' and it may be that this is what it will become, although the description of 'monastery' is often given to simple churches.
It was now very late for lunch and we were rather hungry. Back on the main road I spotted a pension that had a sign indicating that it did food and there was obviously an open bar in the basement. I went in and asked whether they had food and the initial answer was negative. The lady hesitated and although she spoke no English, she indicated that we should wait a minute and she disappeared off to the farm next to the pension. When she came back, she showed us to a table and soon came along with some bread, cutlery and what we both assumed was vinegar in an old plastic coke bottle. Returning with two glasses, she poured out the 'vinegar' for us – it was, of course, plum brandy. This was very good of her but it was really hot and what we really wanted was long cold shandies. I tried to order a beer and lemonade but discovered that one simply went behind the bar and extracted the bottles from the refrigerated cabinets. There was no menu, the food simply arrived – a large pan of meat and vegetable soup with cream and stuffed cabbage leaves. There was too much soup for us even after I had a very large second helping. There was normal white bread for the soup and a special bread, which I am almost certain was a polenta bread made with with maize flour, that we were told had to be eaten with the cabbage leaves. It was all delicious and was followed by a desert of crescent moon shaped biscuits with jam. During the meal, we watched the river rushing by below us as we sat on a wooden balcony full of solid wooded furniture.
Paying the bill should have been easy but it wasn't. Because the lady from the farm had provided the food, she had to be consulted as to how much we should pay. We walked over to see her but she wasn't there and her daughter(?) didn't know what to charge. In the end, we consulted a old lady dressed in black before returning to the bar where our hostess indicated the price by typing it on the calculator – 25 lei. The whole meal and drinks came to £7! I gave a large tip and with many expressions of thanks we set off back to the campsite.
Photos: Girls in traditional dress at Sapanta church; The grave of Stan Ioan Patras with a small part of the graveyard behind; A collage of some of the painted crosses – the lady in the top right was a seamstress, shown here using her Zingher (as opposed to a Singer) sewing machine and the lady bottom centre is spinning wool; The new wooden church of Sapanta.

Saturday 19th July 2008 – Sapanta, Romania

Blue sky greeted us this morning and the views were much cleared as we retraced route to 15 kilometres north of Vatra Dornei where we took a road north towards Sighetu Marmatiei. We were now following the river Bistrita again and we soon came to the village of Ciocanesti where there were many beautifully painted houses. There were also some lovely B&B places here, even one offering places for tents and motorhomes and, on another occasion, it would be a lovely place to stay and investigate the village further. We saw more painted houses after this but not the number that there were in Ciocanesti.
The road surface deteriorated and I discovered that badly patched asphalt is almost as bad as patched concrete. However badly patched asphalt is better than potholes with no patching and that came next. We had many kilometres of this very poor road with no villages, only mountains, the river and forest. The forest was the main source of employment here with much evidence of tree felling. We saw rafts of tree trunks stuck in the shallows at the edge of the river - they obviously still use the river in the Spring to transport the logs. At this time of the year there is insufficient depth of water for this and huge timber lorries pulled their massive loads up the hill – probably the cause of the massive number of potholes. We encountered a few of these but the road was so quiet that it was easy to pass them. We followed the river until, climbing up above it, we saw it move off west to its source just a few kilometres further into the mountains. Meanwhile we climbed the short distance to the pass where, despite the fact that there are only two alpine cabins (bars and restaurants), a few goats and alpine cows, they are building a huge church. I could be cynical and say that the money would be better spent on the road. We were surprised to see that quite a few other people had made it to the pass, including two coaches. We watched the young owner of an old car syphoning cooking oil from a plastic container into the fuel tank. This might have been because we were a long way from any fuel stations, but it is more likely to be because of the difference in price of cooking oil and petrol.
As we started to descend, deep valleys appeared below us as did the deep potholes in the road. We stopped in a small lay-by in order to admire the view and came across one of the many beekeepers that we have seen in the mountains. Most, like this one, have portable beehives in the form of brightly painted trailers, much smaller than those that we saw in the Danube Delta. I suspect that the trailers are left in their pitch for most of the year, only being removed for Winter. This is unlike the Danube Delta beehives that are moved around to find suitable crops.
The last part of the journey was on flatter land with much improved roads. The ethnographic experiences continued – today we saw ladies sat on benches outside their houses spinning wool using equipment that I have only ever seen in museums. It really is like going back in time over 100 years, the only things that spoil the effect being the vehicles on the road (and Henrietta is one of them) and mobile phones. It is really incongruous to see a man standing with his scythe resting on his shoulder, surrounded by a field of cut grass whilst he talks into his mobile phone - “Get the dinner ready darling, I will be back with the horse and cart shortly”.
We had read that there is an international folk music festival in Vadu Izei (just south of Sighetu Marmatiei) in mid July each year but searches on the Internet only showed reports of previous years events with no mention of dates for this year. The campsite owners in Bran had even tried to phone a regional tourist office for us but we still couldn't find any details. We arrived there hoping to see evidence of the festival but it was very quiet and there were no posters or banners advertising it. There was also a distinct lack of campsites there and in the large town of Sighetu Marmatiei (the most northerly town in Romania, just 2km from the Ukranian border) so we drove on a further 10km to Sapanta where our old guidebook said there was a campsite. It wasn't well signposted but, after a brief search, we found 'Camping Poieni' – very small but plenty of space for us. We parked up, hooked up to electricity in the barn and watched the alpine cows, bells jingling, wandering down the lane to the farm for milking.
Surprisingly for such a small campsite, it had a good bar and restaurant (called Casa Ana) and, after the regulation thunderstorm and torrential rain had subsided we made our way there. I had the local speciality of stuffed cabbage leaves, which was very good.
Photos: Inspecting the bees; One of the many painted houses in Ciocanesti with an excellent example of an elaborately decorated, enclosed well; The tall and very slim church in Ciocanesti; A wooden church at or near Salistea de Sus; The interior of the locked church, probably about to be restored.

Friday 18th July 2008 – Sucevita, Romania

Today was a long but enjoyable drive through some of the best scenery that we have encountered. The journey started with the road skirting the reservoir, past houses with wonderful views over the water to the mountains beyond. The weather was cool and overcast so we didn't see the views at their best but the water was calm and the mountains were reflected in it. Alpine cows, complete with bells, wandered along the roads and the steep slopes were dotted with hayricks. After the reservoir, we followed the Bistrita valley, crossing the river on a number of occasions. This is a wide, fast flowing river with many rapids and we saw many fishermen on bridges and on the banks. The scenery was definitely alpine and the older men wore Austrian-style hats with their wives wearing traditional dress and headscarves. In one case Jane spotted a man wearing two hats, one on top of the other. We don't know whether he was insecure, expected really heavy rain or was just showing off the fact that he could afford two hats! The villages in the valley were small, narrow (usually just one house deep on either side of the road) but often followed each other without a gap. Pedestrian suspension bridges linked communities on the other side of the river where there were no roads. We saw many women drawing water from wells – these were always covered and were often totally enclosed by elaborate and very pretty constructions of wood, metal and glass. There were many more horses and carts and we saw whole families involved in hay-making – cutting the grass with sickles, raking it into piles and using pitchforks to load the cart or create hayricks built around a central pole.
The road had been very uneven (concrete sections badly repaired with lumps of asphalt) and it was good to join a more major road in better condition at Vatra Dornei. After following this road for a few kilometres, it turned east away from the river. Taking another road north we climbed high above the valley heading for the monastery at Vatra Modovitei. This is one of the famous painted churches of Romania. We have seen plenty of churches with beautiful frescoes but these churches are different – the frescoes cover the inside and outside walls. Remarkably, they have survived the effects of sun, rain and freezing temperatures since the end of the sixteenth century. Both this monastery and the one at Sucevita, 30km north, were originally occupied by monks but they are now convents with the nuns giving guided tours to the coach parties. The frescoes were painted to explain the bible to the illiterate congregation and are much more interesting than bible readings or sermons! They show scenes from the bible, the ubiquitous martyr scenes and lots of illustrations of what will happen to you if you don't follow the bible's teachings. We were particularly impressed by the 'Ladder of Virtue' at Sucevita. This shows a ladder between Hell and Heaven with wording on each rung indicating the virtue that is required. Mortals climb the ladder encouraged by a host of angels but at each stage people are falling off. It must have been so annoying to have reached the last rung and then slipped off – the sinner who had done this was shown being speared by the Archangel Michael and was going to fall into the clutches of a devil below.
Just south of Sucevita was a campsite, Popas Touristic Bucovina mentioned in our old guidebook and by our Austrian friends. It has been considerably modernised, compared with the description in the guidebook, with very impressive rooms (100 to 120 lei) and an area of the car park set aside for motorhomes (€12 or 42.50 lei). This sounds rather like last night but there was really no comparison. The shower block was brand new and although there was only one shower each, you could have showered a whole family in them. They even provided soap and shower gel – definitely a first! Being the only motorhome present, we effectively had our own private bathrooms!
We had been treated to a thunderstorm at the Sucevita Monastery and we now had another one accompanied by torrential rain.
Photos: Vatra Modovitea church; The interior of the church is also beautifully painted; Sucevita exterior with one side that is not painted – legend has it that the painter fell off his ladder and died before he could complete the job. However the information board at the site suggests that two brothers painted the frecoes and if both fell off ladders, then they were very unlucky; An end view of the church showing the 'witches hat' roof; Sucevita Monastery showing the defensive walls and towers with the hayricks standing guard outside.

Thursday 17th July 2008 – Near Bicaz, Romania

Our 5 hour drive north today started by driving around the city of Brasov and just north of there, we took a short diversion to the town of Pejmier. This appears in our old guidebook with a short paragraph, concluding with the note that it “makes an interesting side trip from Brasov”. It turned to be one of the most interesting trips that we have made and we highly recommend it. The town is pretty in its own right but the star is the fortified church, included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The church originally built in the 13th century but modified and added to over the next 3 centuries. In the 15th century the fortress was built around the church in order to protect the village inhabitants in times of siege. Later, 275 rooms in four storeys were built around the inside walls to house the population. Additional areas were set aside for provisions and together with access to a spring within the fortress, they were well prepared for any siege. We walked through the outer courtyard (a 16th century addition) and the 32m vaulted corridor with its portcullis, into the inner courtyard dominated by the large Church of the Holy Cross. Here were the cells around the walls looking like an early version of high-rise flats. We were able to walk all round the fortress (some 800m) inside the fortress walls that are between 12m and 14m high and 5m thick at their base. All around the walls are loopholes for firing arrows and spouts for pouring boiling pitch. We were also able to view some of the wooden cells, using the complex series of stairs and walkways. Fascinating!
Our route took us north through Sfantu Gheorghe to Gheorgheni where we turned east heading up into mountains. The whole of this journey was through very rural areas where the main occupation was definitely agriculture with almost every house in every village having a barn behind it. Judging by the amount of pasture and number of hayricks, many of these barns must of contained animals as there were none in the fields. We saw more horses and carts per kilometre than ever before and this was definitely the main form of transport in the villages. I wanted to get a picture of one loaded with hay but every time we passed one, Jane couldn't get the photograph – her camera wouldn't focus fast enough.
The mountain road twisted and turned, the steep gradient and hairpin bends slowing us down considerably. Finally we got to the top and found ourselves descending into a major resort – Lacu Rosu – full of parked cars and throngs of people. It was set in quite dramatic scenery but the main attraction seemed to be a huge number souvenir stalls set up in a large area just off the road. It was as we descended from this village that we discovered what had probably attracted the tourists – a very dramatic and beautiful gorge. This went on for a few kilometres until we came into a slightly wider area with timber yards and then the valley widened further and farming returned. It was here, at Muncelu, that I spotted a horse and hay cart stopped on the side of the road. Three generations were on the cart – Grandad, mother and son were sat on top of the hay cart, grandmother was stood on the back and the father was standing by the horse. Much to Jane's dismay (“you can't do that!”), I pulled of the road a little way beyond the cart and went back to take a photograph. I was greeted with a wave and a handshake from the young father and there were smiles all around as I took a series of photographs. I ran back to the van to get a pen and paper and the mother wrote their address so that I can send copies of the photographs to them. Then they were off and shortly afterwards, with much waving, we went past them.
After following the Bicaz river, we came to Bicaz town and turned north, soon arriving at a large dam. Here was a hotel and basic campsite but the huge dam wall reared up behind the site, so it wasn't a very attractive setting. The Austrian couple at Camping Darste had told us about a site on the lake (Izvoru Muntelu), so we decided to push on to find that. The road crossed the dam and soon after we started to follow the shore north, we saw signs to Plutitor Lebada camping. The complex consisted of some very pleasant cabins in the wood and two hotels, one on the lakeside and a floating hotel on the lake itself. Motorhome facilities were rudimentary – parking in the car park with electricity provided from two domestic sockets inexpertly fitted into the outside wall of the hotel (health and safety???). However we were able to walk just a few metres to the lake and admire the view across to the mountains. However, the hotel kitchens then lit their wood fires in order to prepare dinner and the view became even more hazy than it was before. Turning back to Henrietta, which was parked next to the kitchens, she was enveloped in wood smoke. Fortunately the smoke soon died down and we were able to eat our meal with the door and windows open.
Photos: The fortified church at Prejmier; The cells on the inside of the fortified church; The hay cart; Part of the family (soon to be increased) on the hay cart – the beer was for Grandad, not the baby!

Wednesday 16th July 2008 – Bran, Romania

It was a dry night until jut before the alarm went at 07:15 when the rain started. It had stopped by the time that we had finished breakfast but one look at the sky told us that we were going to get more. It was positively cold – the thermometer showed the outside temperature as 12°C and for the first time in more than two months I wore trousers, long-sleeved shirt and even a jumper.
There had been a Romanian caravan parked next to us for two days but our doors were on opposite sides and, although we had seen the occupants, we hadn't actual met them. As I prepared the van for departure, the man was doing the same with his caravan and we fell into conversation. His name was Lucian-Laurentiu and he was a fascinating person. I asked him what he did as a job and he explained that his first love was mechanical engineering but he had then taken a degree in economics and then a masters in foreign relations but he was actually a policeman! Quite a varied career! He hoped that later in the year he would be able to move job into government, dealing with the implementation of the Schengen Agreement that Romania plans to join in 2011. This will involve liaising with neighbouring EU countries and should include some foreign travel. He is obviously looking forward to using his skills in international relations. He is a very enthusiastic person and the conversation covered all sorts of topics including in-depth discussion of politics and economic policy of Romania, China, Russia and Britain! Needless to say, his English was very good. Half an hour later, after prompts from Jane and Lucian-Laurentiu's wife and daughter, we exchanged contact details and said goodbye.
We had a planning session yesterday, deciding to give Brasov a miss, we are going to head for to two local castles before driving to the north of Romania. We drove south and then turned west, climbing up through forest. It was raining and the low cloud meant that we had no idea how high the mountains were. There was no sign of a castle as we entered the outskirts of Rasnov but as we approached the centre it suddenly appeared from behind a low hill. It is a very dramatic sight and, after a minor diversion due to a total lack of signs, we drove up towards the castle. We parked in a large car park and then walked up the long road to the narrow entrance. The walls of the castle are complete and some of the internal buildings have been renovated but others are in ruins. A fortress existed on the site from the 14th century but it was in the 15th century that the massive walls were built. The interior of the castle was packed with buildings providing a lot of accommodation. The very important well is 146 metres deep and took two Turkish prisoners 17 years to dig. The information board told us that they were promised their freedom if they completed it but it didn't tell us whether the promise was honoured. The castle had managed to resist many sieges over the years and the well would have been a vital factor. The clouds had lifted a little and this allowed us to see some of the views over the plain from the castle. We were supposed to be able to see some mountains but those were shrouded in clouds.
We then drove on to Bran, site of the famous Dracula's Castle. Absolute rubbish, of course, but the castle looks the part and it does wonders for the local tourism. Bram Stoker wrote the fictional account of Dracula but used the historic figure of Vlad Tepes as his inspiration. Vlad Tepes (The Impaler), prince of Wallachia, is actually a hero to the Romanians as he fought fiercely and bravely for Romanian independence from the Turks in the 15th century. He dealt harshly with his enemies (impaling them, hence his title) but was fair to his subjects. He was known as Dracula as it means 'son of Dracul' and his father was a Knight of the Order of the Dragon ('dracul' in Romanian). The vampires were purely Stoker's invention although I am sure that Vlad Tepes's impaling of his victims may have stoked (sic) his imagination. Vlad Tepes is unlikely to have ever visited Bran Castle and certainly didn't live there but we don't want that to get in the way of a super story!
It will be no surprise when I tell you that Bran Castle was heaving with tourists, arriving constantly by coach and there are an incredible number of tacky souvenir stalls selling every type of Dracula paraphernalia in addition to the standard pottery and wooden objects plastered with 'Souvenir from Romania / Bran / Transylvania / Dracula's Castle'. I threatened to buy a Dracula tankard but I couldn't find one that was sufficiently tacky and of the correct size. I really fancied serving friends with a pint of beer in a tankard with Dracula's face and blood-covered fangs on the front.
We visited the castle, shuffling along the corridors with the hundreds of other visitors. It was actually quite interesting, especially the architecture and the warren of rooms and corridors, including a secret staircase – no castle should be without one.
'Vampire Camping' (no, they don't claim that Dracula stayed there) is only a couple of kilometres away from the castle on the edge of the village and that is where we headed. Run by a Dutch couple, it is a very comfortable site with very generous pitches and a really rural feel to it, having a backdrop of wooded hills and hayricks surrounding the pitches.
Photos: Rasnov castle perched on its hill; The interior of Rasnov Castle; Bran Castle looking just like Dracula's den; The courtyard and surrounding buildings at the centre of the castle – note the hoards of people.

Tuesday 15th July 2008 – Brasov, Romania

It was still thunder and lightning when we woke and the rain was incessant and heavy. Our plans to visit Brasov were postponed and we decided to stay in the van until the weather improved. It didn't!It rained the whole day with only occasional short breaks. During one of these we saw a pair of woodpeckers on a nearby tree and as soon as these flew off, a pair of tree creepers arrived on the same tree. We then heard a pecking noise on the van windscreen, discovering a wagtail eating the squashed flies off our wipers. We thought that we were going to have a day of wildlife but, apart from the goats, sheep and cows travelling through the field, we didn't see anything else.
We didn't have any bread left and, given that we had plenty of spare time, I decided to make some. It was good to have some really tasty granary bread – Romanian bread is not very exciting. We have played lots of Scrabble and cribbage over the months but took the opportunity to try something a little more challenging. We used Jane's book of card games to find out the rules of Canasta and gave it a go. It took a while to get the hang of it but it it was good fun and filled a couple of hours.
Late in the evening the rain stopped and the sky cleared just a little, perhaps the sun will shine tomorrow?
Photos: It is possible to rent chalets of different sizes at Camping Darste but these, the smallest, look like Wendy Houses!

Monday 14th July 2008 – Brasov, Romania

It was hot last night and we slept with the windows open. The road and railway are both busy and that woke us up occasionally but otherwise we slept well. Blue sky greeted us in the morning and the temperature soon began to rise. We had decided to have a relaxing day but wanted to walk for a couple of hours before it go too hot. We walked out of the campsite and then doubled back through the field next to the campsite towards the river. Following a herd of itinerant cows, we soon came to the river and found much evidence of fires where the locals had their Sunday barbecues. Unfortunately, it was evident that many people didn't bother to take home their rubbish, simply dumping it wherever they had eaten. There were plastic bottles everywhere including the river and even hanging in trees. People have disposed of plastic bags and even those horrible plastic trays and cling film that supermarkets use for meat. I can't understand why people do it – if they go to the trouble of taking all the food and drink with them, why not carry back the much lighter rubbish?
Yesterday the campsite was busy, especially with tents and the chalets but when we returned from the walk, most had left. An Austrian couple arrived in a motorhome and we invited them over for a drink in the early evening. A very pleasant couple, Alois was a professor of geography and taught high school children whilst Ann worked in a doctors' surgery (I think). They have two very intelligent children, the younger one is a doctor and the older one had studied in England, America and Australia. They gave us some good advice on places to see in Slovakia, which was very handy as we haven't even started to plan that part of the Odyssey.
After they had left, we had some tea and had only just finished eating when the thunderstorm started. The rain continued all evening and into the night.
Photos: One of the cleaner sections of the river near Camping Darste; Goats graze on the grass next to some of the many new holiday homes being built near the campsite.

Sunday 13th July 2008 – Brasov, Romania

Just down the road from the campsite is a large shopping area that includes a Carrefour. We spent some time there stocking up on food and buying some of the excellent white wine (Jidvei Dry Muscat) that we had whilst we were at Camping S in Mamaia. This was also conveniently situated on the E1 road that would take us all of the way to our destination just south of Brasov.
The road was very busy, especially on the first part close to Bucharest but much of that part was dual carriageway so the driving was easy. On the way from Bucharest we had passed literally hundreds of roadside stalls. These varied in size from houses selling excess tomatoes in a small basket or bucket, to smallholders selling a large selection of fruit, vegetables and honey. There were so many of them that some of the withered old ladies must have sat with their meagre goods all day without selling anything.
Passing Ploiesti we entered an oilfield with many 'Nodding donkeys' pumping the oil. Romania was the first country in Europe to export oil and, although its reserves are not great, the field is still active.
After many miles on flat land, we eventually entered the Bucegi mountains, following the river Teleajen and railway line, both of which had been running alongside us for most of the journey. We must have been climbing very slowly as we were now over 1,000 metres but the peaks of the mountain range were very high and very steep. As soon as we entered this area, the architecture of the houses changed. There were many houses made entirely of wood of with large amounts of wood in their construction. We stopped to look at a campsite south of Sinaia but it was on a steep, terraced hill, looked very basic and there was no available shade, so we decided to stick to our original plan and press on to Braov.
The guidebook told us that Sinaia, a ski resort in Winter, was an interesting town but we decided not to visit it today. It would be an easy trip back by van or by rail. At this point the road descended quite sharply but we were soon following the railway again and different new river flowing in the opposite direction. The next town, Busteni, was also a Winter skiing resort with a very low cable car (over 5km, I think) taking skiers high up into the mountains. We didn't see the cable car but the resort was just like Weymouth on a sunny Summer weekend – heaving with tourists. Being a Sunday Romanians had flocked there and the many tourist shops in wooden shacks lining the road were doing a roaring trade. From this point on, for the many miles to the campsite, the river banks were full of families sunbathing, paddling in the river and barbecuing.
We found the campsite 'Camping Darste' about 8 km south of Brasov on the side of the E1 and next to the river that we had been following. The receptionist was quite a character, speaking in poor pigeon English at speed – obviously a much rehearsed briefing but it took a few seconds to work out what he was trying to say. Still, the site is impressive – good level pitches, excellent shower blocks and a large restaurant at the entrance, obviously used by locals as well as the campsite visitors. It was now early evening but still very warm and we sat in the shade watching many people walking past the campsite through a field that obviously lead to the river. Further entertainment was provided by flocks of goats and sheep and a herd of cows that were brought to the field to graze. Steep wooded hills rise up either side of narrow valley and a ski lift cuts through the trees just above the site. In the distance on a peak we thought that we could see a large church with a separate bell tower but, using the binoculars, we established that it was a domed-shaped outcrop of rock next to some large aerials. As we looked at the view, paragliders descended from a nearby hill and the moon rose over the hill. We had plenty to entertain us!
Photos: A preserved steam locomotive at Sinaia station; A tiny caravan on the Camping Darste site.

Saturday 12th July 2008 – Bucharest, Romania

We planned to visit the Mezeul Satului (village museum) and the Museum of the Romanian Peasant and caught the bus from the campsite, getting off at the Herastrau Park. The park is very large and surrounds one of the large lakes in the north of Bucharest. Being a Saturday, the park was very busy, with people sitting on the many seats on the edge of the lake, fishing or just strolling. We walked all the way through the park by the lake until we reached the western side where there were pretty formal gardens including a floral clock that reminded us of the one in Greenhill Gardens, Weymouth. It is here that the Village Museum is located and we had seen glimpses of it from the park and were beginning to think that it was closed as we couldn't see any sign of activity. Fortunately, it was open and we paid our entrance fee of 6 lei (£1.60) each and decided to invest in an audio guide for a further 10 lei. We were amazed at the size of the site and began to realise why we hadn't seen any activity – even though there were a lot of visitors they were soon very thinly spread over the huge area. We were given a map with the audio guide, without which we would have certainly missed some of the exhibits. Starting in 1936, typical buildings had been bought from all over Romania and reconstructed on the site. The audio guide told us about 85 buildings but there were even more than that in a lovely setting of trees and the lakeside. Every building had traditional furniture, fabrics and objects from the area in which the house was originally located. Some of the exhibits consisted of whole farms with barns, stores and pigsties. Decorated carts and farm implements were kept in the barns and traditional hayricks, constructed around a vertical pole (still a common sight in the countryside) were scattered around. One common feature in all of the buildings was wood, most of the buildings being entirely made of wood with just a few having a lower, stone-built storey. On the lakeside were all manner of mills – windmills large and small, watermills of many different types powering grinding for flour and oil, fulling, wine presses etc.
Four and a half hours later, we left the museum! It was after 14:30 and we were hungry (there was nowhere to eat in the Village Museum) so we decided to give up the idea of visiting the second museum and headed back across the park to a collection of restaurants that we had seen on our way. They were very smart and expensive by Romanian standards - one main course without vegetables cost more than our total bill for lunch yesterday! However the food was excellent and well received.
I had asked some bus inspectors at a bus stop near the museum about buying bus tickets before we caught a bus as you can't buy them on the buses. They went into a huddle and decided that we would have to walk a considerable distance before we could buy one. We had therefore decided to take our chances by trying to find somewhere near where we had got off the bus this morning as this was close to the restaurants. This turned out to be a mistake. We must have walked for over two miles in the very hot sun, passing only one closed ticket office. We gave up and caught a bus to the airport where we knew that we could buy tickets. This was not as easy as it sounded but after asking three people, we were finally directed to the correct place and were soon on our way back to the campsite.
Photos: Herastrau Park; A complete farmstead in the village museum; This 19th century mud hut is sunk into the ground to protect it and its occupants from the high winds, very hot Summers and very cold Winters. This design was used right up to the middle of the 20th century; This tiny 19th century house has a single room surrounded on two sides by a balcony. To the left is a summer shelter used by shepherds, lumberjacks and farmers gathering hay. The design is thought to have remained unchanged since prehistoric times.

Friday 11th July 2008 – Bucharest, Romania

We took the 301 bus from outside the campsite that delivered us to Piata Romana in the centre of Bucharest. Our guidebook had a suggested itinerary and we followed it after a long walk down the tree-lined boulevard that has three different names before it meets Piata Unirii. On the way there is some impressive, mainly relatively modern, architecture. Being a recent addition to the EU, it was not surprising to see a huge amount of reconstruction and renovation taking place and this particularly applied to the old town area. We were heading off the route to see Ceausescu's 'House of the People', so decided to stop for lunch at a small café. Jane had an omelette and chips, I had a chicken dish on mixed vegetables and, together with a beer and a coke, the bill came to 24 lei, less than £7.
Ceausescu demolished most of the historical southern part of the city in order to build huge government buildings. The whole area is covered by high buildings bearing government department plaques. The massive 'Department of Statistics' building was sobering – Ceausescu's regime had a huge number of informers and he had files on a vast number of the population. Was it in this building that all of those files were kept? His 'House of the People' dominates the area. It is the second largest building in the world (after the Pentagon in the USA) and was not quite complete when he was overthrown. The statistics about the building are quite staggering – 360,000 sq m, 1,000 rooms, halls up to 2,600m in length, took 20,000 workers and 400 architects six years to build. Of course, it cost an absolute fortune to build and this, together with his other megalomaniacal schemes were financed partly by exporting food whilst his own people starved – one of the main reasons for the uprising against him. The building, now used as the Romanian Parliament Building is enormous and impressive in an austere way. We hoped to go on a tour of the building but there was a one and three quarter hour wait and we decided that we didn't have that much time. We walked back into the old town passed one of the monasteries that are in the centre of the city and continued on our walking tour. Resisting the temptation to go into the 'Caru cu Bere', a beautiful building and famous beer cellar and restaurant, we found the very pretty Stavropoleos Church dating from 1724, the only remaining part of a monastery. Here we met a couple from Milton Keynes who, like us, were clutching a couple of pages torn out of their guide book. We were able to confirm exactly where they were on their map. They were spending two months exploring Europe, they started with an Easyjet flight to Istanbul and have booked another Easyjet flight back from Warsaw. The rest of the trip was unplanned, so they had the flexibility to go wherever they wanted in between. They had stayed in everything from hostels to B&Bs to a top hotel in Bucharest (€270 per night!). Although his wife was much younger, he was 72 – I hope that I am as adventurous at that age.
We strolled through the Cismigiu Gardens before moving on to see the areas associated with the overthrow of Ceausescu. Many of the buildings around the Piata Revolutiei (including the Cretulescu Church, the Royal Palace, the National Art Museum and the University Library) were badly damaged during the 1989 revolution. The Central Committee of the Communist Party building faces onto the square and it was here on 21st December that Ceausescu arranged a mass rally to show the people's support for him. Demonstrators booed him off the balcony when he was making a speech. He appeared on the balcony on the following day but had to retreat back into the building when he was booed again and objects were thrown at him. He and his wife were evacuated by helicopter but were later arrested and were executed on Christmas Day.
We walked the few hundred metres to the Ateneul Roman, a beautiful neoclassical theatre and then back to the Piata Romana to catch the bus back to the campsite.
Photos: Just occasionally I get reminders of a previous life – Holcim was the company that bought Foster Yeoman, my previous employer; Ceausescu's 'House of the People' – even with a wide-angle lens, it was difficult to fit it all in the frame!; The planning permission only specified that they must keep the historic front of the old building, it didn't specify the height or style of the rest of the building!; The Ateneul Roman – note the living grand piano and pianist in the front.

Thursday 10th July 2008 – To Bucharest, Romania

We want to head towards the western part of Romania but due to a lack of campsites, we have opted to stay in Bucharest on the way. However, we also wanted to see the archaeological site of Istria so we went north for about 30km to the Danube delta. It was here in the 7th century BC that Greeks first settled in what is now Romania. With the delta growing at a rate of about 4m per year and changing shape due to the movement of silt deposits, the area must have looked quite different at that time. Tumuli littered the low hills around the delta and we approached the site on a long road through wetlands with many interesting birds in the reeds or wading in the shallow water.
Istria is on a promontory and in Greek and Roman times it was in an open bay, easily accessible by ship and was a very important trading city from the 7th century BC to the 7th century AD. Like most cities that have been occupied for many centuries, later occupants built over the buildings of their predecessors and often reused the stone. Most that is visible on the site is therefore late Roman and early Mediaeval but a Greek Sacred Area has been uncovered and, where possible, archaeologists check below the top layers in order to understand the layout of the earlier phases. Whilst we were there, many archaeologists were involved in digs and whole families had been employed to clear the undergrowth from many parts of the site. It was interesting to see the newly dug areas with evidence of the different phases with walls and other features criss-crossing each other. The area is also a nature reserve and we observed the varied bird life including a number of hoopoes. The museum was also interesting with many inscribed Greek and Roman stones and fragmentary pottery from pre-Greek settlements through to Mediaeval.
As in Bulgaria, the area above the wetlands was covered in sunflowers but we saw a new phenomenon here – mobile beehives. Wherever there were sunflowers, there would be a lorry converted to hold a series of beehives stacked anything from 2 to 5 high on both sides of the lorry bed. Sometimes, a small back section was used as living quarters and in others they had a separate living van similar to those used by traction engine crews. We were surprised when we saw the first few of them but by the end of the day we must have passed over 50 of them, many selling their honey at small stands on the roadside.
Other than the mobile beehives, the journey to Bucharest was long, flat and not very interesting. We would have arrived at the campsite by 17:00 if we hadn't hit a major traffic jam on the Bucharest ring road just a few kilometres before we were due to turn off. This delayed us by half an hour but I am sure that the new road will be very good when they have finished it!
Camping Casa Alba is very pleasantly situated in a wood, just inside the ring road and only a few kilometres from the centre. Every 10 minutes there is a bus into the centre from the road just outside the campsite. Ideal for a visit to the city. Although we are parked on asphalt, we have electricity and there is a very good shower block so we should have a good stay.
Photos: New excavations at Istria; Rent-A-Bee at work in the fields of sunflowers.

Wednesday 9th July 2008 – Mamaia-Sat, Constanta, Romania

Late yesterday evening we heard the rumbles and saw the flashes of an electrical storm in the distance. This morning, just before dawn, it was our turn and we were woken by very loud thunder and flashes of lightening. Soon it was overhead, the van shaking with every clap, buffeted by the sudden wind and the rain started to come down in torrents. We were fine in Henrietta but we did feel sorry for the majority of the other campers who were in tents, often with those flimsy plastic gazebos designed to provide shelter from the sun and not designed to withstand a storm. In the morning we found our neighbour attempting to repair his gazebo that had been blown down but the tents seemed to have generally survived even if they were a little soggy. There was however a long queue at Reception of people checking out.
The sun was shining brightly and it was already getting hot, so we rolled out the awning and staked it well in case we had more sudden wind. Breakfast was then taken under the awning before we tackled the chores. We had hoped for a site with a washing machine but we were not in luck. This meant that Jane had to tackle the considerable pile of washing by hand. With washing strewn over lines from the wing mirror to both awning poles and then on to the small tree, it was early afternoon when the dark clouds gathered. They came from behind us and over to one side and we thought that they were going to miss us. Our neighbour, having completed his repairs that had taken him all morning, had just put his awning back up again. The storm clouds reached the sea and seemed to take a sharp right turn and track along parallel to the beach. The wind increased, becoming quite violent and drops of rain started to fall. The neighbour exchanged looks and gestures with us and started to dismantle his gazebo whilst we took the washing in and retracted the awning. It soon passed with very little rain and no more damage.
Photos: The beach at Camping S.

Tuesday 8th July 2008 – Mamaia-Sat, Constanta, Romania

The lady at the Madara campsite didn't speak any English but she was very friendly and always smiling – she even gave us a chocolate each when I paid the bill last night. She came out the morning to wave us off and we retraced our route passed the cliffs to the motorway.
On the way to the coast we were distracted by the site of Pobiti Kamuni, signposted from the motorway and shown as an 'other curiosity' on our map. It was only 4km off the road and it turned out to be a very worthwhile diversion. Pobiti Kamuni is an area of limestone columns. They were formed over 50 million years ago when a layer of limestone overlaid a beach. Over the years, water percolated through the limestone, washed away the sand below it and then the columns formed in the same way that stalactites and stalagmites form in caves. Eventually, the limestone layer and the sand were eroded leaving the columns in place. Walking over sand between these columns it is possible to see that some are hollow and others, where the surface has become detached, show an interior composed of stalactites. Of course, many of the formations have names such as 'The Devil' (because it had many different faces), The Family (because they wore dark glasses carried guns and drove black cars – only kidding) and the Magic Circle. We were told the history by the custodian and he also informed us that it was an area of high positive energy. If we walked through the columns in bare feet, it would dissipate our negative energy and we would be energised. The latter is certainly true, as the sand was so hot that we would have been dancing, trying to keep our feet off the sand. We declined the offer of a souvenirs that contained sand from the magic circle or “Bulgaria's gold, the most valuable in the world” - actually rose extract from the area near Shipka. It takes thousands of kilos of rose petals to produce a litre of the rose extract – they should have left the petals on the roses as far as I am concerned!
Varna is a large city on the Black Sea coast and is very popular Bulgarian holidaymakers. Recently it has also become a popular, cheap package destination for Western European tourists. It didn't hold much attraction for us, especially given the difficulty of finding campsites, so were moving on to Romania.
Just outside Varna, we came to a sign to the monastery of Aldzha. It being lunchtime, we were looking for somewhere to stop so we drove the 1km off our road to the site. After lunch we went into the site of the cave monastery and its associated catacombs. The catacombs could only be viewed through metal bars and weren't very interesting but the monastery was well presented. The rooms of the monastery consisted of artificial caves dug into the cliff on different levels, originally connected by stairs constructed in the cliff. A metal staircase had been built on the outside of the cliff allowing access to all of the rooms. Simply labelled with pictures showing the purpose of each room (monk's cell, refectory, church, crypt etc.), it was easy to understand how the monks lived.
Even more than yesterday, this was the day of the sunflowers. Huge fields of the flowers were evident on the whole of our journey, especially between Varna and the border with Romania. This area was dominated by very large farms, obviously highly mechanised, a great contrast to the poorer areas of the country where only human and animal labour was in evidence.
We had been told by Bulgarians and fellow travellers that we would go back in time as soon as we crossed the border into Romania. Not so! On the Bulgarian side of the border it was very sparsely occupied but as soon as we crossed into Romania we were into bustling villages, towns and ports. The settlements had intriguing names – we drove through '2nd May', passed Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Neptun and then drove through '23rd August'! The towns named after the planets were all Black Sea resorts.
We drove through the busy city of Constanta and out on to the sand spit of Mamaia. This toll road lead to Mamaia-Sat and our chosen campsite of Popas Hanul Piratilor. We chose this site because it had 2,000 touring pitches, so we were sure that there would be one available. There wasn't – the site had closed! However just a hundred metres away was the much simpler-named Camping S, it was open and had space – we drove in. There is no such thing as 'pitches', you just park where you like. It took us a little time to find a suitable place but we soon settled in. There was very little shade anywhere but the temperature is much more pleasant here and there is a breeze off the sea, so shade is not so important. What a contrast to Bulgarian campsites – excellent modern shower blocks, shops and restaurant and a very good, fine-sand beach. Incidentally, the Black Sea is nor black, it is most definitely blue!
Given that we had driven 240km and stopped twice, it was quite late and we couldn't face cooking, so we had a meal at the campsite restaurant. Simple meals, not typical Romanian cuisine (we hope) but filling and good value for money.
Photos: An overview of the stone columns of Pobti Kamuni; The Pobti Kamuni 'Fertility Stone' described to us as “Bulgarian Viagra”; The Aldzha Monastery.

Monday 7th July 2008 – Madara, Bulgaria

We finally left Drianovo! Although the campsite is basic, it is better than most in Bulgaria and I would recommend this as a stopping point for anyone who is motorhoming through the country. The area is beautiful and with the monastery, Etara, walking and the rail line available for trips north and south, there is much to do.
Our journey was approximately 180km and was very easy driving on what was, for Bulgaria, excellent roads with far fewer potholes per kilometre than normal. After passing Veliko Turnovo and heading west, we soon came on to a plain and most of the rest of the journey was on flat, fast roads with relatively little traffic. We past huge fields of sunflowers, standing like soldiers with their heads uniformly pointing to the sun. The other main crop was cereals, much of which had been harvested or was being so by combine harvesters. The poverty of the agricultural areas was evident by the many horse and cart that we saw, one was acting as a minibus with six passengers sat behind the driver in the multi-purpose cart. Another flat-bedded cart carried small bales of hay stacked many high with the driver perched on the top, some 2.5m above the horse with long reins between. Getting on and off the bales must have been quite a challenge and he must have been very confident of the horse in order to control it from that height whilst travelling on a major road. He also had a young horse tethered alongside, getting it used to the cart and the traffic.
We arrived above the village of Madara at the the foot of huge sandstone cliffs that have been sculpted into fascinating shapes by the elements. This was where our campsite was located and we were glad to see signs to it, hopefully indicating that it was still in business. We urgently needed supplies, so decided to go down into the village first. Bulgarian roads have been very sensibly built, skirting towns and villages and rarely going through them. In our 3 hour drive, we didn't pass a single shop, only cafés and restaurants and only a few of those. Fortunately we quickly found a 'supermarket' in Madara and, although it was really just a normal shop, it had everything that we needed.
The campsite (Camping Madara) is described in our 19 year old guidebook as “one of Bulgaria's better camping grounds” and, although this doesn't mean a lot given the woeful condition of most of them, we had high hopes. They were dashed when we arrived after driving up the rough track. The condition of the site had obviously degenerated over the intervening years and it was obvious that there hadn't been any further investment. We had great difficulty finding anywhere that was level and not in the blazing sun but eventually settled for a pitch on the hard-standing in front of the main building and, by using the ramps, we levelled the van. By now it was 13:30 and we had some lunch of Greek taramasalata.
After lunch, I investigated the campsite facilities. We had our own private bathroom (because we were the only guests!), which consisted of a foot toilet and a second foot toilet that had been converted into a shower room with a shower with no head – just a pipe. We decided to use our own facilities! It was obvious that the campsite used to be quite good, there had been a restaurant and there was still a bar with a large area, shaded by trees, with seats and tables. However, given that we were the only guests in early July and we only paid 20 leva (less than £10), it is clear that they earned very little money from the site and would have had nothing to invest in the facilities. I wonder how long the campsite will be able to continue to operate – as the chalets condition deteriorates, there will come a time when investment is imperative and will the money be available? The concept of camping as we know it, with tents, caravans and motorhomes, hardly exists in Bulgaria. Although they do use the chalets (or bungalows), these are basic and very cheap and they can't be very profitable. We have already heard that many campsites on the Black Sea coast have been closed – bought by Russians to be turned into luxury apartments or hotels. It is difficult to see a future for the sites – if they were of a higher standard, more Western European campers would come to Bulgaria and the sites would be profitable but there is no money available to improve the standards. A Catch 22.
We came to see the famous Madara Rider, the 8th century carving on the sandstone cliffs and we set off on the short walk back to the road where it is located. We discovered that there was much more there than we expected. Two caves in the cliff and an area around the spring near its base, were settled in the 4th millennium BC. The Thracians, occupying the area from the the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD, considered the cliffs to be sacred and built a fortress and settlement protected by a large wall, on top of the cliff. The worn but still impressive horseman looks ancient but is actually from the early 8th century, built in the time of Khar Terval and expresses the power of the Bulgarian state and its victories over Byzantium. However, treaties were soon signed with Byzantium and these are witnessed by Greek inscriptions carved into the cliff around the horseman, detailing the agreements over a period of over one hundred years. The people were only converted to Christianity in the 8th century and, I assume, that this is associated with the Byzantine treaties. There is also the site of a pagan temple and a sacred area that was quite fascinating. The Thracians worshipped rocks (something that we had also seen on the Greek island of Samothrace) and the sacred area had an example of a large rock surrounded by a wall. Another part of the area had a stone platform with a series of stone holes (basins?) cut into it. A board in the sacred area claimed that it was “A zone with high concentrations of energy fields” and that “According to legend – walking barefoot on the grass at dawn charges with energy”. I can't say that I noticed it when I was there and I didn't have any desire to return at dawn. I had left Jane at the pagan temple, below the sacred area, whilst I climbed the path up the cliff. I had only intend to go part way up in order to see the view but found the energy to climb to the top, so perhaps I had been energised by the sacred area! The view was fantastic, stretching a huge distance over the flat land below. Although the Thracians settled there because of the sacred rocks, the commanding view and vertical cliffs were very good from a defensive standpoint.
There were three cafés / restaurants on the road near the horseman and we decided to eat there after showering back at the van. We chose the most substantive of the establishments (they were all very small) and were pleased to see that a number of locals were eating there. The food was simple but very good, all cooked by the owner who was a one-man band, waiting on the tables and cooking. This meant that we had to wait for a while for the food but it was worth waiting for and also gave me the opportunity to sample some more Bulgarian beers and Jane the opportunity to try some more Mastika (Ouzo equivalent). As this was our last night in Bulgaria, we felt that we should also try some of their Rakiya – a powerful plum brandy. Having had Greek Raki and a number of other foreign fire-waters, we decided to have one between us. Needless to say that had a number of brands and we chose based on the owners advice. It was very pleasant and, despite being powerful, it didn't hit the back of the throat like many such spirits. All the same, I suspect that it wouldn't taste the same if we took some back to England, so we won't.
Photos: The Madara Rider; One of the caves at Madara – holes had been cut all over the cliff face as some part of their ritual; The cliffs showing a small part of the view from them – the well hidden path winds its way up the cliff at this point; The cliffs in the late evening as view from the road to the campsite. The holes are the remains of a rock-cut church.

Sunday 6th July 2008 – Drianovo, Bulgaria

We walked to Drianovo International Railway Station and waited on the bare platform next to the shell of the station building that was covered in graffiti. The train arrived just a couple of minutes late and we, literally climbed on board (no raised platform and the coaches are high). We paid the conductor and received a lovely handwritten ticket and then arrived at Drianovo station! It turned out that our station is actually called Bacho Kiro (the same as the caves, both named after one of the 1876 uprising heroes) and Drianovo is a large town with a large railway station. The journey to Veliko Turnovo was a slow, stately affair through picturesque countryside, winding past large rounded hills shaped like giant tumuli covered in forest. We were introduced to the city by a large industrial area with many derelict and semi-derelict factories and then the wide Yantra river appeared as we pulled into the station. Once in the city we headed for the Old Town and the famous Hadji Nicoli Inn, which we discovered was closed for renovation. Our guide booked had raved about this “not to be missed” Mediaeval town but I have to say that we found it disappointing compared with the old town of Plovdiv. The castle hill however, with its enormous castle wall was impressive.
We visited the Bulgarian National Revival Museum full of pictures of fighters, their guns, clothing, personal effects and letters. There were some very brief English translations, for which we were very grateful, but it was still very difficult to understand any of the story of the struggle against the Turks. The archaeological museum next door was disappointing, with a relatively small collection, poorly displayed and with very little, if any, indication of provenance or dates of the finds.
We had an incredibly cheap and very good lunch in the old town and, following directions from our helpful, English-speaking waitress, we found the Internet Café. Once again they didn't have wireless, didn't allow USB keys and didn't allow people to plug their laptops into the network. However, the sympathetic although rather grumpy assistant produced an Ethernet cable from behind the bar and I stood for an hour at the bar using the laptop. I was able to post all of the blog whilst Jane was using one of their computers to deal with the emails but the download speed was very poor and I was only able to get a very few podcasts from the BBC. Still, it only cost less than £1 for both of us (a total of more than two hours use), so I can't complain.
We walked over a bridge high over the valley to the Asenovtsi Park in a loop of the river. There was a huge metal sculpture to people who battled against the Turks from the 12th century – I really need to read some more about Bulgarian history. The view of the town from this park was lovely, with old houses clinging to the edge of the gorge over the river.
We walked down from the park to the railway station and caught the train. One other person, a Bulgarian middle-aged backpacker, got off at Bacho Kiro. He stood looking totally confused – understandably as he was in the middle of nowhere with no obvious way off the station. I managed to establish that he was going to the monastery and we lead him down the overgrown ramp, through the woods to the campsite and pointed him in the direction of the monastery.
Photos: The Strinava campsite in its lovely setting; The train arrives at Bacho Kiro station; A rather cuddly prehistoric cult figure in the Veliko Turnovo museum; Veliko Turnovo from Asenovtsi Park.

Saturday 5th July 2008

We had intended to extend our stay by one more day to visit Veliko Turnovo but we had learned some interesting news last night. Today there is a Folk Song Festival at the monastery with over 30 groups taking part. This explained the groups of women and the singing and dancing last night. We decided to extend our stay for two nights so that we could see the Festival and go to Veliko Turnovo tomorrow.
The singing started at 10:00 and went on to 14:00 with each group performing three songs. Most of the groups wore beautiful traditional costumes and performed old traditional songs. The resemblance to Greek traditional folk song was very strong although it is difficult to find this in Greece. The Turkish influence was also clear although, I suspect, neither country would be keen to accept this. Most of the groups were accompanied by an accordionist, with the occasional guitar but quite a few sang unaccompanied. Almost all of the singers were in their 60's with no sign of children or young adults. This does not bode well for maintaining the traditions but I must say that we have seen more impromptu traditional singing and dancing in Bulgaria than we have ever seen in any other country. Long may it continue!
In front of the stage (another 1876 monument), the singers who were not performing and other members of the audience would often dance to the music. The dances, also very similar to those in Greece, were stately circle dances with intricate small steps and the dancers linking hands. Occasionally faster dances would be performed by individuals but this was rare. In Greece these are often performed by men and the same may apply in Bulgaria but we only ever saw one man dancing and only a very few singing – this was very much a women's event.
When the festival had finished, I sought out one of the organisers. She only spoke a little English but I was able to explain that we had thoroughly enjoyed the event and that it was good to see the Bulgarian folk music traditions being encouraged. Ten minutes later she appeared at our table in the restaurant with two mugs as a gift from the Municipality of Drianovo. A very kind thought.
Having had another very good Bulgarian meal, we decided to take a short walk up a valley from the monastery. This turned out to be a popular area for locals to fish, sunbathe and paddle in the river but a memorial plaque and posters for a 10 year old boy reminded everyone that bathing, and I suspect diving, can be dangerous.
Although the dancers had all left, the campsite was full again, this time with families who had come for the weekend.
Jane made a momentous discovery today – the Bulgarians have an equivalent to Ouzo. It is also an aniseed-based liqueur called Mastika and, like ouzo, it can be mixed with water. I suspect that it will be on our next shopping list!
Photos: These singers stayed at our campsite – I am not sure about the plastic flowers on either side of the head!; This group were very good and much appreciated by the audience, many of whom were also dancing; Singers dancing; This singer was also an actress and we can only assume that the song was about an incompetent cook!; The valley near the monastery – the river joined another and then flowed past the campsite.