Serbia

Travelling out the southwestern corner of Bulgaria we slipped into the second new country for us this trip, Serbia. We liked it right from the start, people were welcoming, the border patrol spoke pretty good English and I had a few things on my to see list.

The first thing we wanted to see was Lake Vasinsko. A shallow lake where there were supposably floating reed islands. It turned out the islands are only there in the spring when the water is at it's highest, but who knew that the Serbs liked to camp and being that the weather was hot and the camping was free around the lake everyone in the area was there camping for the weekend (of course we had to show up on a Friday). Busy, busy, busy! Lucky for us we met Stan and his wife Slobo at the water fountain, and they invited us back to their camp for coffee and we ended up staying the weekend. A very nice couple who were very interested in Canada as they have a daughter that lives in Halifax. For Ken this was a really interesting stop as he had some major conversations with Stan about life in old and new Serbia. We are learning so much about the old Yugoslavia and life after the breakup unfortunately caused by religion and politics. When we talked to most people that we met they said said that life was better before the breakup.

After a friendly good bye with Stan and Slobo, we headed west and got settled into a little family run hotel (with a pool, because it was still REALLY hot) in Bajina Bašta. Wouldn't you know it, we get a hotel with a pool and the next day we woke to rain, and lots of it. We tried to leave at one point, when the clouds broke, but turned back before we left the city limits (it took us a while to leave because we took a wrong turn somewhere along the line-yes, even with our new gps). BB had a nice walking street, and we found a Rakije  plant to tour, all in all, not a bad place to dodge raindrops for a day or two. 

Rain gone, and back to a now steamy heat, we were in search of Uvac Canyon and the waters snaking through it. We started our search driving the small roads, again, winding through the many villages and farms in the countryside and somehow found our way to the right viewpoint on the right ridge in the middle of who knows where. We were not disappointed with with our destination, a beautiful view just like TripAdvisor said it would be. After a day and a half looking for the viewpoint we stayed just over 30 minutes or so and it was off to the next adventure. After six days in Serbia it was time for another new country...we where off to Bosnia.

Lovely thistles, just a little different than like the ones we get at home in Canada, like a lot of the native wild plant life.

Stan and Slobo, cheers with her homemade krauter Rakije. Made from local herbs that are good for you, so it is kind of like drinking health food.

This look like vineyards but they are actually raspberry fields, Serbia is one of the top raspberry producers in the EU.

And just to prove it, here are a couple of pickers bringing in a bit wagon load.

Barrels of Rakije. Like wine some Rakije is aged in oak barrels and some in vats of copper and steel, we tried some of both.

One of the partners came in specially to give us our own private tour, after I wandered into the plant to see what was going on. Some of these bottles where 50 plus years old.

The food staples in Serbia, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions and, at this time of year, watermelon. Add cheese and you have an awesome shopska salad.

Looking down on a reservoir as we wound our way up the mountainside to Napk Tapa N.P.

Perucac Drina reservoir at the head of Uvac Canyon.  

Just more lovely countryside containing MANY small roads, (some paved, some not) great for riding on a bike.

Yes, even more lovely views.

Uvac Canyon, well worth the ride, but then again most anywhere is worth the ride for us!

A different angle. The colour of the water was amazing, I can't imagine what it would look like on a sunny day. We had to dodge rain storms, but the temperatures where still in the high 30's.

Some roads where dirt...

And some roads where not!

I just thought it was a nice way to end the posting.

Bulgaria, again

Leaving Romania we once again faced the mighty Danube River, this time to the south, as it forms a section of the border between Romania and Bulgaria. We chose to take a ferry  across the river, along with 6 or 7 semi trucks. We found the way they loaded the ferry quite interesting. With the ferry moored sideways along the wharf a truck would drive on so that it was facing side to side, the ferry would then let go the mooring lines, float downstream far enough that the next truck would have room to drive on and thus continuing until the ferry was full. It was a very hot day and we were lucky enough to be invited by the captain of the ferry to join him in the air conditioned cabin of the vessel, he showed us all the old and new instruments which were used for navigating through the many sandbars on the river. Unfortunately, the first semi off the ferry was not able to make the assent up the wharf on the Bulgarian side and we had to wait for 45 minutes or so until they rounded up a tractor to pull it up the steep, metal bank.

This was our third time in Bulgaria, and needless to say we enjoy the country and its people with the exception of its drivers who turn into madmen behind the wheel. Our first stop was Motokamp Bulgaria in Idilevo, a small village in the centre of Bulgaria. It was through Evo and Polly at Motokamp that we purchased our green card moto insurance for the EU. Our room there was nice, the riding around the area was fantastic and the fellow travellers along with Evo and Polly, and the locals (a lot of Brits have purchased property there) were welcoming. It came as no surprise when the days flew by and our intended three day stay turned into seven, lots of time to do several rides into the surrounding mountains.

After pulling ourselves away from Motokamp we took a couple of days and headed to Melnik where their claim to fame was (and still is) the picturesque white cliffs surrounding the town and the many family wine cellars built into the earth.  We were not disappointed, the town was quaint, the landscape beautiful and well worth the time taken to do a hike or two, not to mention the locals and their wines were enjoyable.  

As much as we enjoy Bulgaria after 11 days it was time to move on...next stop Sebia, another new country for us.

We are the little guys on the ferry from Romania to Svishtov, Bulgaria.

Ken tries to make his way off the ferry before the semis have a chance to get going but he doesn't make...unfortunately.

Our room at Motokamp Bulgaria was originally built over 200 years ago in the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Ken is working on putting on his new tire that Ivo got for him. Motokamp has work space, tools, storage for your bike if you want to leave it and return at a later date, and they are than willing to give you a hand with anything mechanical.

The Shipka Monument on the.... no other than... The Shipka Pass.

Buzludja, the house and monument of the Bulgarian communist party. Built between 1974 and 1981.

Looks a bit like a spaceship on the top of a mountain.

Graffiti on Buzludja, today fallen into disrepair, notice the spoof on Coke.

Gerry (also from Motocamp), Ken and I took a circle tour over the Shipka Pass and the Troyan Pass. Loads of twisties.

Eva took me into the nearby city of Sevlievo, by Ural sidecar, to do a little shopping.

A sample of some of the old architecture in Idilevo, wood is soakEd then woven into walls. A dying art form.

Floating fish farms on Smoljan Lake (we think that is the name of the reservoir), foliage is actually growing on it.

Smoljan Reservoir, more view from above.

A naturally carbonated spring found near the village of Mihalkoco now is home to bottling plant, but as in the rest of Bulgaria they also have a tap free fro the using.

Just in case you are interested...it kind of tasted like drinking water with baking soda in it.

Where the heck are we? It is an every day challenge.

Another example of the wooden siding in the old homes.

Not really, the bridges are better than this, but this one was once used in the Roman times.

Used to cut the grass in the fields, then the hay is raked and piled by hand.

What a treat to find a hotel in Melnik that had this great pool and didn't mind us camping in their back yard. A welcome dip after a 36 degree ride.

Looking over some of the roof tops of Melnik to the white cliffs on the other side.

A wine cave in Melnik, Thomas and his family made good wine and we enjoyed talking to him about Bulgaria today and days gone by.

Overlooking the rooftop of the Rozhen monastery near Melnik.

More cliffs close to Rozhen a few km from Melnik.

Here they also sold colourful gourds.

Stands line the roadside selling jams, honey, liqueurs and wines of the region. Notice the guy in the background that I caught taking a sip from his first (maybe) beer of the day...9:30 am.

The last thing to be done before leaving Bulgaria, changing our scooter oil.

Melnik Canyons, Bulgaria

The view around Melnik, Bulgaria as seen from one of the short hikes in the area. 

Click on my link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOVH5a8tqQk

The Danube Delta

One corner in Romania that we have not seen is the Danube Delta. The Danube is the longest river in the EU and flows through 10 countries before draining into the Black Sea, Germany, Austria, Slovania, Hungrary, Croatia,Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldovia, and the Ukraine. Located approximately 300 km north east of Bucharest the Danube Delta is an easy days ride on the bike. 

Getting to the delta involved first getting out of Bucharest, which can be be a feat in itself.  Along the way we had to cross two arms of the Danube by ferry and at last found ourselves on a small dirt road that took us into Partizani, our final destination and the spot where we would take our tour of the delta (a very small part of the delta). We spent 3 days at Eurocamping a nice place to base ourselves as we waited to take our tour, a pool, table tennis, and a fantastic vantage point of the river, always busy with ships and life as the locals know it on the water...what more could you ask for. Breakfast was included in our room and we had fresh fish for dinner early night, catfish...and I can tell you the locals are very proud of their catfish, and small portions we got were tasty.

Life on the river in Partizani is like the life that time forgot. Fishermen are on the water everyday in their small rowboats and the fields behind the town are harvested by hand or with a horse and wagon. The odd little store or bar can be found only by looking hard along the road as many are located through a side door of a house.

The tour we took into the delta was on a pontoon boat with 7 other Romanian tourists. We spent four hours travelling down river to Maliuc, up into one of the small channels to a lake/marsh where many birds where nesting and then continued on up another channel that came out very near our room. The unique biosphere in the delta supports over 300 species of birds and 45 types of fish.

I would say our trip to the Danube Delta was a success and very informative.

The first of 2 ferries we took on our way to the Danube Delta, first ones on!

The second ferry was actually a barge which was guided across the channel by a old boat, (looked like something left behind from WW2).

Our cute little cabin at Eurocamping.

A typical house front in Partizani.

Fields out back the one street of Partizani that runs along side the river.

Lots of stocks had nests on the power lines in town. At times you would hear them squawking or clacking their beaks.

Like I said, I love the small houses, even if some are starting to get run down. In places mud and straw lay in piles where there was once a house years ago.

This old was put it rest a while ago. What make it was, we have no idea.

There were few cars parked out front of the homes, instead we saw boats, old and new.

The main dock in town, the place where people who lived across the river on farms and other small villages left their cars and paddled across.

The sunset over the Danube as a freighter makes its way upriver to be filled.

The Danube from its beginnings in Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest, Germany to Sulina, Romania.

The small roads joining villages are much easier traveled by bike than car. We took a short ride one afternoon but there are not many roads along the river.

White Pelicans and comerants in Lucin Furtuna.

The White Pelicans here are a little different than the ones we see in BC.

There were a lot of them.

White swans, gulls, and...

Egrets amongst the lily pads.

This little bird was not too happy to have us near her nest.

And millions of bright green frogs of all sizes.

An odd house made from an old container of some sort.

Now that is a load!

A fisherman sorts through his catch, dividing the different type of fish into crates.

Many of the fishing boats look the same, dark brown/black, wide with a tall bow.

The water in the bay was a little murky, but a lot of silt comes down the Danube and is deposited here.

At sunset, everything looks a little different, calmer and a little more picturesque.