To Boldly Drive... ...in Bulgaria. Jeremy Seal accelerates into a brave new world of fly-drive holidays. Sunday Times, 18/2/2007
The sign in the car park bids me ‘Lucky Drive’ as I leave Rila Monastery. I’m only a few hours into my Bulgarian fly-drive break, but I’ve already seen enough of the country’s roads to take the message seriously.
The self-drive holiday is popping up in increasingly unlikely places, especially across Eastern Europe, and for obvious reasons. With my own car, I’ve been able to enjoy this UNESCO World Heritage Site – the church frescoes and relic treasury, timbered monastic quarters and mountain setting of Bulgaria’s foremost spiritual centre add up to an exquisite ensemble – rather than endure it as part of some Soviet-style guided tour. I’m hostage to nobody’s itinerary but my own, which means I’ve had time to puzzle over the meaning of God with a bearded monk, wander a few of the forest trails around the monastery and even enjoy a couple of the 10p-a-time mekitsi (doughnuts) from the bakery outside the east gate.
And now I’m pushing on through the southwest’s Pirin Mountains, thinking that Bulgaria’s little known Orthodox and formerly Ottoman culture, its gorges, flower-filled meadows and snow-capped May peaks might just make it a mecca for independent tourers – except for the sign outside the monastery. As I wind my way back down the mountain road, through beech woods, past chimneys topped by nesting storks and pyramids of honey jars on lay-by stalls, I am reminded of the Foreign Office’s travel advice for Bulgaria (www.fco.gov.uk); roads in poor condition, unmarked road works and low driving standards, as you might expect in these parts, but the FO also warns against aggressive drivers who may be armed, criminals impersonating traffic policemen to flag down vehicles on major routes and endemic car theft.
I’ve had driving problems of my own since leaving Sofia this first morning - leaving Sofia being the main one. The road map Hertz has provided me with is missing all but the major routes and has no inset of the capital to help me plot my way out of its extensive grid of boulevards. Very few people speak English, the road signage is appalling, and mostly in Cyrillic if it’s there at all. I’ve no choice but to master this unfamiliar script, and in record time, starting with that handful of life-saving characters which are the same as in our Roman one.
Which is why, back on the main road south, I’ve barely time to admire the rapids-white river and the beautiful Struma Valley as I scan the road for six-character place signs ending TE; they should lead me to Rupite, a famed pilgrimage site set in the shallow bowl of a collapsed volcano. I arrive among tended country gardens where matrons cheerfully poach themselves to a salmon pink in mineral baths. Families picnic among the rising steam of the thermal ponds, while aged couples fill plastic containers with the health-giving water and reed warblers racket among the bulrushes. I’ve come to the home and grave of Baba Vanga; revered healer, one-time oracle to the Politburo and, judging by the frescoes adorning her shrine, new-age bag lady. A small crowd stares through the window of BV’s ramshackle cottage as if her possessions within, moth-eaten cushions, a cane carpet beater and a paperweight, each anciently identified by a faded yellow label, were mystically endowed. Is it just me who notices the bottle of Ballantines discreetly tucked down the side of her sofa?
A confetti of acacia blossom cloaks the narrowing country road which leads to Melnik. I park beneath high sandy bluffs in a drowsy riverside square which might be Provencal but for the protected architecture – Bulgarian Revival – of the nineteenth century merchants’ houses. Many of these handsome timber and stone mansions, with buttressed upper floors which overhang the cobbled alleyways and kitchen gardens of this bucolic valley haven, have been restored as charming mehanas (café-restaurants) and family hotels such as the Boliarka. The staff at the Boliarka typically speak no English, but this small hotel has neat if hardly spacious bedrooms, fully functioning ensuite bathrooms and a winningly convivial bar area hung with trophy deer heads. There’s no enduring the usual gimcrack pretensions – ghastly food served on stained damask, chandeliers but no lightbulbs, dribble showers – which too often pass for accommodation in the more hard-core former Soviet countries.
A class of art students, canvases on their knees, have dispersed to take up position before the village’s many captivating views and crumbling façades. Ruined churches further up the valley testify to the place’s prosperous past until its abandonment in the upheavals of the nineteenth century. A path leads through a wind-sculpted landscape of tottering sandstone formations – menhirs, minarets, steeples and pyramids - to another monastery at nearby Rozhen. Swallows are swooping by the time I get back to Melnik. I settle myself in the courtyard of a mehana where the wine, the village’s very own earthy red, is served in a cracked jug straight from the barrel. Lamb kebabs – minced and delicately spiced - are spitting on an outdoor brazier to remind me of the predominant notes of neighbouring Greece and Turkey in the cuisine. They’re there in the explosively fresh parsley and tomato salads and in the yoghurt, cucumber and garlic dip the Greeks call tsatsiki and the Turks cacik; but the Bulgarian snejanka trumps them both with its welcome sprinkling of crushed walnuts. Tell me you could eat and drink this well for under £4 a head anywhere else in Europe, and I’d like to know where.
In the course of my visit I take in towns named after Macedonian revolutionaries such as Gotse Delchev and the spa resort of Sandanski. I pass horse-drawn carts while black BMWs with tinted windows – signature of the feared bortsi, Bulgaria’s gangster untouchables - pass me. Meadows and orchards give way to industrial works – at Radomir and Pernik – which make Port Talbot look like a soft-play zone. I fail to reach some places on my itinerary; the sheer depth of the pot-holes on the mountain approach to the park north of Belitsa, where brown bears rescued from miserable existences dancing for tourists are cared for, eventually forces me to turn back.
And then my stay’s at an end. I’m sufficiently au fait by now to sneak in one last attraction – the magnificent medieval frescoes at Boyana Church, another World Heritage Site – before making for the airport. But Bulgaria has a final trick up its self-drive sleeve. The ring-road has no signposts to the airport, though it has a great many road-side prostitutes who have watched too many Renault ads. Bulgaria’s feeling like a lobster pot I may never escape from when I happen upon a police check – a real one – where a helpful officer finally sends me on my way to the airport. A lucky drive, then, but a memorably enjoyable one as well.
Jeremy Seal was a guest of Regent Holidays (0870 499 0911; www.regent-holidays.co.uk) who arrange tailor-made fly-drive holidays to Bulgaria. A 9-day package costs from £560 pp based on two sharing, including B&B accommodation in 3 or 4-star hotels, flights and car hire.
DO IT YOURSELF.
Bulgarians speak little English and have limited experience of independent tourists, so it makes sense to use Regent Holidays, the only UK operator offering self-drive holidays to the country. Alternatively, go it alone and book car hire through Hertz (08708 448844; www.hertz.co.uk; from £185 per week); Europcar (0870 607 5000; www.europcar.co.uk; £160 per week) or Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.com) For hotel and guesthouse accommodation, visit www.bulgarian-hotels.com or www.discover-bulgaria.com. UK passport holders do not need a visa to visit Bulgaria.
Rough Guide to Bulgaria (£13.99)
GUIDED TOURS
Andante Travels (01722 713800; www.andantetravels.co.uk) is running a 10-day cultural tour with a guide lecturer, departing 12th September 2007, from £1600 full-board.
Exodus (0870 240 5550; www.exodus.co.uk) have 15-day tours combining walking and cultural visits, with departures from July to September at £785 full-board.
The Traveller (020 7436 9343; www.the-traveller.co.uk) includes Bulgaria in its 17-day Balkan Trilogy tour which includes a specialist lecturer, departing July 22nd. £2295 half-board.
WILDLIFE
Wildlife Worldwide (0845 1306982; www.wildlifeworldwide.com) offers five-day breaks to watch brown bears in the Central Balkan National Park, as well as other wildlife including boar, deer and excellent bird populations. £895 half-board.
Naturetrek (01962 733051; www.naturetrek.co.uk) has a nine-day birding tour of the Rhodope Mountains and Black Sea coast, departing September 17th at £1095 full-board.
HIKING
Walks Worldwide (01524 242000; www.walksworldwide.com) have 12-day walks in the Rhodope Mountains, staying in houses and hotels, with departures in July and September, at £940 including most meals.
KE Adventure Travel (017687 73966; www.keadventure.com) run an 8-day full-board trek in the Rila and Pirin Mountains, with departures from July to September. Full-board price not including flights £395.
BEACHES
Balkan Holidays (0845 130 1114; www.balkanholidays.co.uk) feature a wide range of Bulgaria’s Black Sea beach destinations, from purpose-built strip resorts like Golden Sands near Varna to sophisticated, arty ports such as Nessebur and Sozopol, with flights from many UK regional airports to Varna and Bourgas.
www.bulgariabeach.com
British Airways Holidays (0870 243 3406; www.ba.com) offer three night-breaks at the 4-star Helios Spa and Resort, Varna, from £300 B&B during August.
The self-drive holiday is popping up in increasingly unlikely places, especially across Eastern Europe, and for obvious reasons. With my own car, I’ve been able to enjoy this UNESCO World Heritage Site – the church frescoes and relic treasury, timbered monastic quarters and mountain setting of Bulgaria’s foremost spiritual centre add up to an exquisite ensemble – rather than endure it as part of some Soviet-style guided tour. I’m hostage to nobody’s itinerary but my own, which means I’ve had time to puzzle over the meaning of God with a bearded monk, wander a few of the forest trails around the monastery and even enjoy a couple of the 10p-a-time mekitsi (doughnuts) from the bakery outside the east gate.
And now I’m pushing on through the southwest’s Pirin Mountains, thinking that Bulgaria’s little known Orthodox and formerly Ottoman culture, its gorges, flower-filled meadows and snow-capped May peaks might just make it a mecca for independent tourers – except for the sign outside the monastery. As I wind my way back down the mountain road, through beech woods, past chimneys topped by nesting storks and pyramids of honey jars on lay-by stalls, I am reminded of the Foreign Office’s travel advice for Bulgaria (www.fco.gov.uk); roads in poor condition, unmarked road works and low driving standards, as you might expect in these parts, but the FO also warns against aggressive drivers who may be armed, criminals impersonating traffic policemen to flag down vehicles on major routes and endemic car theft.
I’ve had driving problems of my own since leaving Sofia this first morning - leaving Sofia being the main one. The road map Hertz has provided me with is missing all but the major routes and has no inset of the capital to help me plot my way out of its extensive grid of boulevards. Very few people speak English, the road signage is appalling, and mostly in Cyrillic if it’s there at all. I’ve no choice but to master this unfamiliar script, and in record time, starting with that handful of life-saving characters which are the same as in our Roman one.
Which is why, back on the main road south, I’ve barely time to admire the rapids-white river and the beautiful Struma Valley as I scan the road for six-character place signs ending TE; they should lead me to Rupite, a famed pilgrimage site set in the shallow bowl of a collapsed volcano. I arrive among tended country gardens where matrons cheerfully poach themselves to a salmon pink in mineral baths. Families picnic among the rising steam of the thermal ponds, while aged couples fill plastic containers with the health-giving water and reed warblers racket among the bulrushes. I’ve come to the home and grave of Baba Vanga; revered healer, one-time oracle to the Politburo and, judging by the frescoes adorning her shrine, new-age bag lady. A small crowd stares through the window of BV’s ramshackle cottage as if her possessions within, moth-eaten cushions, a cane carpet beater and a paperweight, each anciently identified by a faded yellow label, were mystically endowed. Is it just me who notices the bottle of Ballantines discreetly tucked down the side of her sofa?
A confetti of acacia blossom cloaks the narrowing country road which leads to Melnik. I park beneath high sandy bluffs in a drowsy riverside square which might be Provencal but for the protected architecture – Bulgarian Revival – of the nineteenth century merchants’ houses. Many of these handsome timber and stone mansions, with buttressed upper floors which overhang the cobbled alleyways and kitchen gardens of this bucolic valley haven, have been restored as charming mehanas (café-restaurants) and family hotels such as the Boliarka. The staff at the Boliarka typically speak no English, but this small hotel has neat if hardly spacious bedrooms, fully functioning ensuite bathrooms and a winningly convivial bar area hung with trophy deer heads. There’s no enduring the usual gimcrack pretensions – ghastly food served on stained damask, chandeliers but no lightbulbs, dribble showers – which too often pass for accommodation in the more hard-core former Soviet countries.
A class of art students, canvases on their knees, have dispersed to take up position before the village’s many captivating views and crumbling façades. Ruined churches further up the valley testify to the place’s prosperous past until its abandonment in the upheavals of the nineteenth century. A path leads through a wind-sculpted landscape of tottering sandstone formations – menhirs, minarets, steeples and pyramids - to another monastery at nearby Rozhen. Swallows are swooping by the time I get back to Melnik. I settle myself in the courtyard of a mehana where the wine, the village’s very own earthy red, is served in a cracked jug straight from the barrel. Lamb kebabs – minced and delicately spiced - are spitting on an outdoor brazier to remind me of the predominant notes of neighbouring Greece and Turkey in the cuisine. They’re there in the explosively fresh parsley and tomato salads and in the yoghurt, cucumber and garlic dip the Greeks call tsatsiki and the Turks cacik; but the Bulgarian snejanka trumps them both with its welcome sprinkling of crushed walnuts. Tell me you could eat and drink this well for under £4 a head anywhere else in Europe, and I’d like to know where.
In the course of my visit I take in towns named after Macedonian revolutionaries such as Gotse Delchev and the spa resort of Sandanski. I pass horse-drawn carts while black BMWs with tinted windows – signature of the feared bortsi, Bulgaria’s gangster untouchables - pass me. Meadows and orchards give way to industrial works – at Radomir and Pernik – which make Port Talbot look like a soft-play zone. I fail to reach some places on my itinerary; the sheer depth of the pot-holes on the mountain approach to the park north of Belitsa, where brown bears rescued from miserable existences dancing for tourists are cared for, eventually forces me to turn back.
And then my stay’s at an end. I’m sufficiently au fait by now to sneak in one last attraction – the magnificent medieval frescoes at Boyana Church, another World Heritage Site – before making for the airport. But Bulgaria has a final trick up its self-drive sleeve. The ring-road has no signposts to the airport, though it has a great many road-side prostitutes who have watched too many Renault ads. Bulgaria’s feeling like a lobster pot I may never escape from when I happen upon a police check – a real one – where a helpful officer finally sends me on my way to the airport. A lucky drive, then, but a memorably enjoyable one as well.
Jeremy Seal was a guest of Regent Holidays (0870 499 0911; www.regent-holidays.co.uk) who arrange tailor-made fly-drive holidays to Bulgaria. A 9-day package costs from £560 pp based on two sharing, including B&B accommodation in 3 or 4-star hotels, flights and car hire.
DO IT YOURSELF.
Bulgarians speak little English and have limited experience of independent tourists, so it makes sense to use Regent Holidays, the only UK operator offering self-drive holidays to the country. Alternatively, go it alone and book car hire through Hertz (08708 448844; www.hertz.co.uk; from £185 per week); Europcar (0870 607 5000; www.europcar.co.uk; £160 per week) or Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.com) For hotel and guesthouse accommodation, visit www.bulgarian-hotels.com or www.discover-bulgaria.com. UK passport holders do not need a visa to visit Bulgaria.
Rough Guide to Bulgaria (£13.99)
GUIDED TOURS
Andante Travels (01722 713800; www.andantetravels.co.uk) is running a 10-day cultural tour with a guide lecturer, departing 12th September 2007, from £1600 full-board.
Exodus (0870 240 5550; www.exodus.co.uk) have 15-day tours combining walking and cultural visits, with departures from July to September at £785 full-board.
The Traveller (020 7436 9343; www.the-traveller.co.uk) includes Bulgaria in its 17-day Balkan Trilogy tour which includes a specialist lecturer, departing July 22nd. £2295 half-board.
WILDLIFE
Wildlife Worldwide (0845 1306982; www.wildlifeworldwide.com) offers five-day breaks to watch brown bears in the Central Balkan National Park, as well as other wildlife including boar, deer and excellent bird populations. £895 half-board.
Naturetrek (01962 733051; www.naturetrek.co.uk) has a nine-day birding tour of the Rhodope Mountains and Black Sea coast, departing September 17th at £1095 full-board.
HIKING
Walks Worldwide (01524 242000; www.walksworldwide.com) have 12-day walks in the Rhodope Mountains, staying in houses and hotels, with departures in July and September, at £940 including most meals.
KE Adventure Travel (017687 73966; www.keadventure.com) run an 8-day full-board trek in the Rila and Pirin Mountains, with departures from July to September. Full-board price not including flights £395.
BEACHES
Balkan Holidays (0845 130 1114; www.balkanholidays.co.uk) feature a wide range of Bulgaria’s Black Sea beach destinations, from purpose-built strip resorts like Golden Sands near Varna to sophisticated, arty ports such as Nessebur and Sozopol, with flights from many UK regional airports to Varna and Bourgas.
www.bulgariabeach.com
British Airways Holidays (0870 243 3406; www.ba.com) offer three night-breaks at the 4-star Helios Spa and Resort, Varna, from £300 B&B during August.
