{"id":133,"date":"2011-08-29T12:47:56","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T09:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/?p=133"},"modified":"2016-10-31T14:03:52","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T12:03:52","slug":"road-trip-through-croatia-and-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/29\/road-trip-through-croatia-and-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip through Croatia and Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 2011<\/p>\n

By the time we\u2019d reached Varna, I was fed-up. We were in our fourth week of traveling through Croatia and Bulgaria, and I was tired of everything associated with a long road trip in countries with unfamiliar languages. It was hot, and my knees were in pain. Adding to my irritation, our hotel was in a seedy part of town. After misreading the listing outside the Opera House and waiting in line at the box office, we learned that we\u2019d missed the performance of \u201cRigoletto\u201d by a month. The final irritant was coming across an event sponsored by women-targeted cigarette, razor, and magazine companies \u2013 short foot races of models wearing tight clothes and high, high heels.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Eric quickly agreed to simply sit on a park bench with me and watch the passersby. We\u2019d found our way to Varna\u2019s famous Sea Gardens, and spent the next hour watching folks walking home from the beach and vendors packing up their wares. It was sad how so many old women were trying to sell hand-made lace tablecloths. My attention was focused on a young man with inflatable beach toys for sale; his method of packing them up for the day was time-consuming and precise. Even if I\u2019d felt ready to move on, I couldn\u2019t until I saw how he was going to accomplish it all. Eventually he left, looking like an enormous walking beach toy himself with the stringed-together inflated items covering his arms and back.<\/p>\n

\"Varna
Calling It a Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reason for taking this trip in July and August, a time of year we don\u2019t like to travel, was to attend a two-week literary conference in Lovran, Croatia. We had a terrific time, meeting interesting people from many countries and immersing ourselves in presentations and conversations about contemporary literature and theatre. On top of all the intellectual stimulation, we discovered a beautiful part of Croatia. Actually, we were knocked out throughout Croatia by the beauty of the landscape as we drove through dramatic mountains, forests, and expanses of farm land.<\/p>\n

Lovran is part of the Opatija Riviera, on the eastern coast of the Istrian peninsula. This area was a fashionable seaside resort during the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that ended with World War I. As we walked along the Lungomare, a 12 km promenade in a wooded area on the Gulf of Kvarner, we felt apart from the 21st<\/sup> century as we gazed at the fin-de-si\u00e8cle<\/em> villas and gardens facing the water. On various excursions, we explored nearby islands and ancient towns. Two warnings about this area:\u00a0 The beaches are made of concrete (doesn\u2019t seem to bother the vacationers), and the weather while we were in Lovran was often rainy (but the weather was always beautiful for our excursions).<\/p>\n

\"Sunbathing
Sunbathing on the Lungomare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a tip from one of our new friends, when the conference ended, we headed to Croatia\u2019s Plitvice Lakes National Park. We\u2019ve never experienced anything quite like it \u2013 virgin forests, waterfalls of all sorts, rushing streams, clear lakes of green and blue. Much of the time, we walked along wooden paths, often over water. For the five hours of our hike, we were in another world. I can see why it\u2019s been named a World Heritage site. If we were serious hikers, we could have spent days exploring the area. Instead, after our full day at Plitvice, we started back east, driving to Ilok, near Croatia\u2019s border with Serbia.<\/p>\n

\"Plitvice
Plitvice Lakes National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There, we stayed in the lovely Dunav Hotel on the Dunav River (we know it as the Danube) and ate a delicious meal of fresh water fish with some very good local wine. The only strange thing \u2013 the Dunav felt like a ghost hotel; there were hardly any staff or guests. Even so we had a luxurious, restful time. This hotel was such a contrast to House Prica, a simple pension near Plitvice where we had stayed the two nights before. Those accommodations were clean and pleasant, but very basic \u2013 and we shared our room both nights with a three-inch-long, bright green grasshopper walking around our ceiling.<\/p>\n

\"Evening
The Danube at Ilok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a long day\u2019s drive through Serbia into Bulgaria, and a frustrating hour tangled up in the capital city of Sofia, searching for the right road out of town to get to Veliko Tarnovo, we made it to our destination before dark. We\u2019d chosen the mountain town of Tarnovo at the strong recommendation of two friends, one an Australian, the other a Turk. There, we registered at the Tsarevets Hotel, named after the nearby hilltop castle.\u00a0 Our timing that first night was accidentally perfect: As we sat at an outdoor caf\u00e9 sipping a good local beer, we were at just the right spot to take in an impressive sound and light show at the castle above us.<\/p>\n

Cramped, and with a stench rising from its bathroom drain, our first-night room at the Tsarevets Hotel was less than perfect. After we complained the next day, the staff moved our luggage to a much nicer and larger room on the third floor. When we decided to stay a third night, we were moved again, to the \u201capartment,\u201d a palatial room with a king-size bed and twin leather sofas. Having that room for our final night was a joy. After attending a stellar production of the opera, \u201cLakme,\u201d inside the ruins of the Tsarevets castle, we stayed up late sipping whiskey and talking until 2 a.m. We can see why our friends recommended Veliko Tarnovo: we enjoyed the architecture of the old town, as well as the work of local artisans. We also enjoyed seeing paintings by Bulgarian artists new to us at the local art museum. Boris Denev was a particular favorite.<\/p>\n

\"V.
Veliko Tarnovo off Gurko Street<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a previous summer, we had traveled along Turkey\u2019s Black Sea coast and wanted to see Bulgaria\u2019s on this trip. We were struck by the beauty of Bulgaria\u2019s coast, as well as its mountain landscape. After a drive of a few hours, we arrived at the sea-side city of Varna, Bulgaria\u2019s third-largest. I\u2019ve already given you a taste of our stay there.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Varna has a lot to offer, but by this time I was travel-weary. After a night\u2019s sleep, we took a drive first to the Stone Forest (only 10 miles from Varna, but more difficult to find than we\u2019d expected). Although we\u2019ve seen strange landscapes \u2013 in Southern Utah and Cappadocia, for example \u2013 we\u2019d never seen anything quite like this area. These oddly shaped, tree-like stones scattered across in a barren landscape are 50 million years old. Geologists have concocted various theories of their formation, but all agree they are unique on the planet.<\/p>\n

Our next stop near Balchik, further up the coast, was a striking contrast. The Botanical Gardens and Palace of Queen Marie are splendidly artificial, a self-contained world of landscaped grounds and lovely buildings with spectacular views overlooking the Black Sea. King Ferdinand of Romania built this royal retreat in the 1920s for his consort, Marie, one of Queen Victoria\u2019s granddaughters. If we\u2019d known about this before we happened upon it, I would have loved to have stayed in the area and spent at least two days roaming around. But such is the way it works on our improvised journeys.<\/p>\n

At this point, we were winding down and pining for home and Istanbul. We had certainly seen some remarkable sites, including the lovely, old peninsula town of Nesebar whose 13th<\/sup> and 14th<\/sup> century churches are unlike any we\u2019d seen before. It was there by the Black Sea that we enjoyed an alfresco seafood lunch with local wine overlooking the ruins of a medieval basilica. And it was there, also, that we had one of the worst dinners of the entire trip. So it goes.<\/p>\n

\"Nesebar
Nesebar\u2019s Main Street<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On our way to Sozopol, another peninsula town, for our final night on the road, we stopped in the city of Burgas, once again at our Australian friend\u2019s suggestion. He had urged us to visit the Art Gallery there, located in a former synagogue. From our guidebook, I knew the address, and I had a map, but maps are only useful if the city\u2019s streets are properly signed. I navigated us to the general area, but finding the gallery took asking directions of three different people and finally simply walking around.\u00a0 Fortunately, we were happy with what we found, an exhibit with the theme of artists and their studios. It featured paintings and photographs of many Bulgarian artists.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t say much about Sozopol, or the nearby Relax Hotel, except to say it\u2019s where we spent my birthday. Eric did a fine job of finding a lovely, lunch-time restaurant designed as a series of balconies cantilevered over the Black Sea\u2019s rocky shore. Off the tourist track, in the old part of town, the Art Hotel and its restaurant would have been a great place to have spent our final night of the journey. Instead, that evening we had our second worst meal in the vicinity of the Relax, whose own empty restaurant was too depressing to even consider.<\/p>\n

I have to say a few words about the large outdoor garden where we did eat. It wouldn\u2019t have been too bad if only the traditional Bulgarian music hadn\u2019t been so ear-splittingly loud. We\u2019d stumbled into a hot spot for Bulgarian tourist families. There was a stage show of folk dancing replete with the miming of fights and courtships. The tourists joined in the dancing with the littlest kids happily jumping up and down to the music. The show finally concluded with one of the performers, carrying an icon, leading everyone except us to a distant corner where the singing and dancing continued.\u00a0 Our heads hurt from the blasting music, and the terrible food repelled our palates.\u00a0 It was time to head home.<\/p>\n

We drove through a number of poor villages, all in need of serious street repair, and then along a poor, narrow road through a forest. We reentered Turkey at a little-used border crossing, friendlier and more efficient than the one where we had begun our trip. That first time, both the Turkish and Bulgarian border guards were troubled by Eric\u2019s thick passport. He\u2019s had extra pages added twice, and neither of these guards could understand such a thing, so it was slow going. Crossing the border, we were struck immediately by how much richer Turkey is than Bulgaria. Instead of the narrow pot-holed road we had left behind, we were now on a smooth six-lane highway. The drive home went quickly and easily. Even Istanbul\u2019s traffic didn\u2019t seem as bad as usual.\u00a0 It\u2019s great to be home!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 2011 By the time we\u2019d reached Varna, I was fed-up. We were in our fourth week of traveling through Croatia and Bulgaria, and I was tired of everything associated with a long road trip in countries with unfamiliar languages. It was hot, and my knees were in pain. Adding to my irritation, our hotel … Continue reading Road Trip through Croatia and Bulgaria<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Opatijas-City-Symbol-Opatija.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.goingplaces43.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}