Sunday 29th June 2008

We were only driving to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city, today so a relaxed start was in order. We took the motorway to get out of Sofia but left it to join a more minor road (the 8) at the earliest opportunity. We stopped in the village of Vakarel for some supplies and, leaving the village, we were surprised to find the road, which had been reasonable by Bulgarian standards up to then, deteriorated to the point that I spent most of my time on the wrong side of the road or making violent turns to avoid very large potholes. For what was meant to be a fairly major road, it was appalling. There were no houses on the road during this time and only one car past us and we soon realised that the locals all used a short stretch of motorway to avoid this section. The road suddenly and dramatically improved when we came to another motorway junction.
However, sticking to the more minor roads definitely had its advantages, with sights such as the man washing his car in the river, paddy fields full of rice, avenues of Weeping Willows, fishermen standing in the middle of the shallow, fast-flowing rivers and snow on the mountains to the south. We drove through a town with a paper mill and rather than the common vegetable and fruit sellers, the roadside stalls here were selling mountains of toilet paper! We decided that we didn't have space in the van for a pack of 40 rolls! We saw a market in the village of Belovo and decided to take a look. There were the normal fruit and vegetable stalls and many selling shoes, clothes and hardware. In amongst them was a man playing an improvised musical instrument. It consisted of a tin can with a wooden neck attached and he played the strings with a bow and tuned it with a pair of pliers. Surprisingly, the traditional music that he played was very good and in tune. I received applause and thanks from his son when I gave a donation and he seemed to do this when anybody contributed.
We arrived in Plovdiv and stopped to try to work out where we were in relation to the campsite but the scant information that we had made this very difficult. An enterprising taxi driver stopped and indicated that, for a fee, he would take us to the campsite and we took him up on the offer. At first site the campsite looked much more professional than that at Sofia and there was a very pleasant bar at the entrance. At 11 leva (just over £5) per night it was very reasonable but still basic with electricity provided by an extension lead, although this was at least properly weatherproofed. Our old guidebook warns that Bulgarian campsites “can be run-down and unsavoury” and we are beginning to understand that “unsavoury” is code for “brothels”, as there is no doubt that this site also rents out its bungalows by the hour. Still this one is higher class, they have a cleaner who cleans the rooms between each client and that certainly didn't happen in Sofia. Still, they may be ripping off their unsavoury clients but the camping charges are very reasonable.
We sat out for the rest of the afternoon but moved in after dinner when I got tired of being bitten by mosquitoes – six large, painful bites was quite enough.
Photos: The musician in Belovo market – his son had just been told by two policemen to put out his cigarette – he did so after taking a long draw, reducing it to about 2mm in length; We have our own private water supply in the Plovdiv campsite!