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| Tony uploading directions |
We arrived in Plovdiv at about 16.00 hrs on Monday 30th May, another large city (approx 335,000 population) with plenty of life. We had booked a nice hotel in a good location and on arrival were upgraded to a suite – It must have been the way I smiled!
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| Jazz in the Amphitheatre |
We spent an interesting two days exploring the area and were even treated to a free Jazz session by four touring American jazz musicians who were performing at the Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv over two nights, which we happened to visit on the first evening.
There’s lots of history in and around Plovdiv, so we decided to do a bit of local touring on the bike the following day. The weather was glorious with temperatures in the mid to high twenties, a great day to tour. We took in Arapovo Monastery, in Muldava, the middle of nowhere, we went way up into the mountains to visit some caves in Chudnite Mostove and then on the way back to Plovdiv we discovered another Monastery (Bachovo Monastery), which we also decided to call into.
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| Two of the cast in The Rocky Horror show! |
Next morning our plan was to continue heading east to the Black Sea, to the coastal city of Burgas about 170 miles away. We took our leave at about 13.00hrs after I spent the morning cleaning the muck and dirt off the bike from the previous day, and Ann had her HAIR cut!! OOpps, yes it slipped my mind, when we were in the mountains it fair hissed it down, we got drenched and the bike filthy – at times going up the mountain was like doin a bit of off roading.
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| It was hard pedalling this bike |
We arrived at about 17.00 and found ourselves some accommodation at an Ibis style hotel. After a bike tour around the city resort and a look at the Back sea, we decided that one night in Burgas was going to be enough, probably more of a city than a resort and we would move on the next day around the coast to a resort town called Nesebar, which had been recommended to us by the manageress of the Hotel we had stayed at in Plovdiv. Next morning we packed the bike and set off in scorching temperatures to travel thirty five miles around the coast to Nesebar. We had also booked our accommodation over t’internet so just put in the address and took off.
The hotel was an excellent choice right on the beach and it had a lovely swimming pool as well. The room was king size and overlooked the pool and the beach, it was so well laid out we actually took a picture (how sad are we). Unfortunately the weather did not play ball, at times it was dull and cloudy and we even had a couple of storms with some heavy rain. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the experience, it was thoroughly relaxing and we actually stayed four nights at the Hotel; We even swam in the Black Sea !!
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| Us & a Cruise liner in the Black Sea |
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| Outside the Orthodox Cathederal in Varna |
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| Watching 'Uncle Pete' Fishing |
We walked down through the beautiful ‘Sea gardens’ to the beach area and spent several hours people watching including fisherman watching and finished the day with a delicious fish supper.
After a good nights kip, next morning Tuesday 7th June, we loaded up our kit, booked accomodation in Constanta, 97 miles further up the coast (in the country of Romania), and once again set off in a north easterly direction, in boiling temperatures, fully kitted and melting inside our suits. We were excited at the prospect of another border crossing and this time a little less anxious. We hoped we might even be allowed to take a picture or two of the guards....
At this point it’s worth saying how much we enjoyed the whole Bulgarian experience, it wasn’t originally on our agenda, but through advice and circumstances, we altered our route to take in both Bulgaria and Romania and have absolutely no regret about that decision. It’s been a delight and a joy, and certainly not what we anticipated or expected.
We made the border in good time and were met by fully uniformed guards enjoying the sunshine, with their shoes off and a fag on. They were friendly enough and after inspecting our credentials beckoned us through, but not before we asked them if we could take a photo – sadly that was outside the regulations and we were told so in no uncertain terms, in other words ‘get the Chuff outa here’ we quickly obliged.
Yes, we’ve crossed another frontier, onwards and upwards. We’ve completed almost 6000 miles on our adventure; Can you believe it? Even now we still have to pinch ourselves in case it’s all a dream!!
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| The new marina, our hotel in the background |
We arrived in Constanta at around 16.30 hrs, found our hotel and quickly unloaded our kit. We were allowed to park our bike in the hotels private compound. It seems where ever we go the fascination of our bike, opens doors that would not ordinarily open, for which we are naturally very grateful. Constanta, was founded as a city almost 2600 years ago, it is the oldest attested city in Romania, and is also the third largest city in Romania with 400,000 inhabitants.
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| Wow, proper Mr & Mrs Softee's |
One of our priorities having crossed into another country was to obtain some local currency the ‘Lei’ (approximately 4.2 Lei to the euro). In Bulgaria the currency was the ‘Lev’ (approx 1.95 Lev to the euro). It’s also very difficult to guess just how much cash you might need, as they don’t always take credit cards in restaurants and cafe/bars. We got some currency and set off to explore the old city and Port area. The Port of Constanţa has an area of 39 km2 (15.16 sq mi) and a length of about 30 km (19 mi). It is the largest port on the Black Sea, and the third largest port in Europe. In truth we were not inspired by Constanta, we felt the area was perhaps a little neglected. Having said that, they are investing quite heavily in an almost completed marina. I suspect Constanta, like so many other places, has suffered the effects of a severe recession, and will, I’m sure, recover in the near future and once again attract lots of tourists.
The following morning we had a good breakfast at the hotel and loaded the bike up ready to leave for our next big destination, the city of Bucharest. We left Constanta round 13.00hrs to travel 140 miles due west (I can’t tell you why it was so late), on what appeared to be an arrow straight, dual carriageway, in record temperatures for us, a new high of 34 DEGREESssssss. The journey was fine except for a chuffin bee, at some point flying up my sleeve (what are the chances of that happening) and the bastard stung me on the arm. Well, we had to stop and I’m hopping around like a madman trying to shed my jacket, whilst Ann looked on thinking that I’d finally cracked. After major surgery by Nurse Cronin attending to my war wounds and me attending to the bee’s head, we carried on without further ado, with only an occasional reminder to Ann, what a brave boy I was!!!!!!!
Oh, I did forget to mention a small detour along the way due to road works or something like that. OMG.. the detour only took us past a Nuclear Reactor Power Station. This Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda is the only nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses pressurized heavy water technology (CANDU, invented by the Canadians), and apparently uses heavy water produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin as its neutron moderator and water from the Danube-Black Sea Canal for cooling.
The power plant was designed in Canada by Atomic Energy of canada Ltd, in the 1980s, during the Communist era. The initial plan was to build five units. Units 1 and 2 are currently fully operational. Three more partially completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the close of the Nicolae Ceausescu regime. Units 3 and 4 are in their planning stages, with expected completion dates of 2014 and 2015 respectively
I thought this might impress some of you back home, but it was quite surreal.
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| Our appartment block - or is it The National Savings Bank? |
We arrived into Bucharest city boiling hot in very heavy traffic; Although we’d booked our accommodation (an apartment) over t’internet, it took some time to locate it and we were getting hotter by the minute. When we did eventually locate it, right in the centre of the city, we weren’t overly impressed by the exterior appearance, however, the old adage ‘never judge a book by its’ cover’ was never so appropriate. When we arrived up on the sixth floor (fortunately there were two lifts), and opened the door, we found a lovely one bedroomed apartment with a lounge area and a kichen, the company had even left some tea and coffee for our consumption.
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| The George Enescu Museum |
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| The Roman Athenaeum |
We spent four days (Wed 8th to Sat 11th June) discovering the delights of this Beautiful city and its 2.6 million inhabitants. With so many treasures on offer, it was impossible to see them all in four days, but we gave it a good go. We even gave ourselves a culture treat and attended an orchestral concert at the Athenaeum Concert Hall. With its high dome and Doric columns, the Athenaeum resembles an ancient temple; The lobby has a beautifully painted ceiling decorated in gold leaf. A magnificent building renowned worldwide for its outstanding acoustics, it is Bucharest's most prestigious concert hall and home of the Romanian George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, who played Beethoven and Mozart, under a guest conductor, on the night we attended.
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| Inside The Roman Athenaeum |
On Saturday we went to see the colossal Parliament Palace (formerly known as the People's Palace), it is the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build it over 11 years. When construction started in 1984, the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu intended it to be the headquarters of his government, he never saw the building completed, both he and his wife were convicted and condemned to death during the revolution that took place in Romania in 1989. This incredible palace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 328-ft-long lobby and four underground levels, including an enormous nuclear bunker. Today, it houses Romania's Parliament and serves as an international conference centre.
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| The incredible 'Peoples Palace' |
Some Interesting Facts:
-It is the world's second-largest office building in surface (after the Pentagon) and the third largest in volume (after Cape Canaveral in the U.S. and the Great Pyramid in Egypt)
- The crystal chandelier in the Human Rights Hall (Sala Drepturilor Omului) weighs 2.5 tons
- Some of the chandeliers have as many as 7,000 light bulbs. Boy were we glad we went to visit this outstanding building. We’d been told it was impossible to get in to see the Palace as all tours were fully booked for three days in advance, it wasn’t quite the case!
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| A view from the Palace balcony. |
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| No, Tell the Prime Minister we're busy |
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| On the Palace Roof - An Awesome View |
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| The Room was enormous - the largest floor space in the Palace |
Bucharest even has its own Arc De Triomphe built in 1935....(but I don't have a picture) I could go on and on but I’ll resist the temptation. However, I must tell you that on the Friday evening after the concert, we went for a meal at a local restaurant and got talking to a guy (Daniel Rogojan) who arrived into the restaurant just after us, dressed in lightweight bike armour (he’d just been out on his bike). We got talking to him (his English was excellent) and invited him to join us on our table so that when we left, he could pay our dinner bill (only joking Daniel). We spent the rest of the evening talking bikes (his passion) and bored him senseless talking about our travel adventures (our passion). He is currently in his last year training to be a dentist and already runs his own dental technical lab where he makes bridges, false teeth and whatever else dental technicians make. By the end of the evening Dan agreed to meet us early on Sunday morning to join us on the next leg of our adventure. We were leaving Bucharest for our next destination Brasov about 110 miles due north. He promised to show us some of the more interesting historical sites en route, taking in a monastery, a Royal castle (Peles castle) and a fortress in Rasinov. What a prospect, I couldn’t wait till Sunday, it would be really great to have another bike and rider as company.
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| Peles Royal Castle |
Sunday 12th was an awesome day, we met Dan as arranged and headed out to Brassov. The weather didn’t start great but once out of Bucharest, it brightened up and the sun shone all day. Dan was true to his word and took us up over the mountains and to the tourist ‘hot spots’.
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| Dan, with his great camera, but NO BATTERIES |
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| Don't look now, but I think there's a spy. Its the one in the white yashmac and sunglasse |
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| 'Cheeky Chappy' Dans idea to make some extra Lei's. Next ......... |
Bucharest was an absolute revelation, an experience we won’t forget and, just like Sofia in Bulgaria, it’s a destination we would not hesitate to return to at some point in the future. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in this marvellous city. In our view, Romania has the natural resources, the characteristics and the determination to be a hugely successful economy. The foundations are in place, - the people just have to recognise it, believe it and have patience. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.
So that’s it for now. Sorry for the long delay since the last blog but we’ve been on the road virtually every day and not always had the opportunity to update the blog. Shortly we’ll be heading over the border once again, this time into Serbia and the city of Beograd (Belgrade)!!!!
But, before we go, we must congratulate my nephew, Mathew Mack who succeeded in becoming the outright winner of the UK World Skills in Computing Technology (networking Administration) and will be representing the UK in the world finals to be held down in London in October. Part of his prize for winning the UK final is a luncheon appointment at Buckingham Palace hosted by HRH The Grand ole Duke of York – well done Matt!!
Luv to everyone back home,
The easy Riders xxx
Just testing!
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