Bulgaria

So we packed up camp and left Romania...the first time of the whole trip that we were actually all on the truck before we were due to leave...think everyone was looking forward to leaving Romania behind! It was then time to hit the road for Bulgaria...Greg and Rachel had told us that it would be a long drive day but in actual fact we were at our campsite by one so had the day to relax. The campsite is in a place called Veliko Tarnovo...which is in the middle of nowhere which I have to say I quite enjoyed...it’s nice to be somewhere for a couple days and not have to worry about where to go, we get to just relax....and most of us headed to the spa on our second day.

We got a lovely Sunday roast when we arrived at the campsite and the local choir came to sing us some traditional music while we ate it. It was a choir from the local pensioners club...and one granny on the end was giving it socks bopping away...great entertainment! Once dinner was over we then sat around having a few drinks and we had a very exciting event happen....Joe got down on one knee and proposed to Kevin. He had picked the ring when were in Budapest and bought Kev a lovely cocktail called a Bulgarian Rose and popped the ring in it. Nick and Nicky, the owners of the campsite, popped a bottle of champagne and we had a great celebration!

Next day we all had a lazy start but got up to a lovely full English breakfast...even though I walked into the cafe and asked for the full Irish!! We had all organised activities for the day, with some doing horse riding or a hike or bike riding...however once we all established that it had spilled rain for the whole night and that there was a few sore heads in the camp the only activity that went ahead was a trip to the spa! Not sure the hotel was happy to see us as we all piled out of taxis with big mucky boots on us and stomped all over their lovely marble floors! We headed first to the pool and Jacuzzi and then went to the sauna and steam room. And then it was time for my hot stone massage...which I was really excited about...until Rosie came down to me after hers and informed me that it was a guy who was doing it...and furthermore, unlike we thought we didn’t have to wear our bikinis....we were supplied with a lovely pair of paper underwear!!! This information took a small bit of enjoyment out of the prospect of getting my massage but after awhile I figured there was nothing I could do about it!! And so off I hopped to the massage room, got myself suited and booted...or not as the case may be and got myself ready for the massage. It was really nice and relaxing, I did have a couple of moments where I had to stop myself from laughing like when he started massaging my feet and I had to stop myself from reflexively kicking him away! He also massaged my neck at one stage and whatever the heck he did it felt like he was trying to pull my head off my body! So suppressed giggles all round! All in all I enjoyed the massage...and as everyone told me it’ll prepare me for the Turkish Baths!!

It was also at the spa that I managed to get my first proper injury of the trip! I am covered in bruises but they don’t count as proper injuries...I will say though that camping bruises are a million times more frustrating than drunken bruises! Drunken bruises are annoying simply because you can’t remember how you got them but at least you have the excuse that you were “slightly” inebriated (Sorry Gran!) so you just get over it. Camping bruises are along the same lines in that you have no idea how you got them but you don’t have any excuse as to why you don’t remember. I mean at the moment I have 12 bruises on my left leg...I know how I got one of them....5 on my right leg...don’t know where any of them came from and a couple on my arms that are also a complete mystery!! However this rant is not what I mean by my first proper injury. While we were at the spa we went to the Jacuzzi and then to the sauna rooms after...and this is the scene of the injury. I was in the  Finnish Sauna lying down and relaxing...and did got a wee bit of a burn. I didn’t notice it until I was getting ready for my massage that I had a blister on my back. Of course then the Bulgarian dude did his thing and that was the end of the blister. But a couple days later in Istanbul my back was sore and when I checked it I had a rather unsightly burn mark on my back...it looked like someone had stubbed out a cigar on my back! It’s not pretty looking and right now it is all bandaged up with burn dressing after Andrew had a look and fixed me...well hopefully...won’t give him any praise just yet!! So there it is my first injury of the trip!

Once we got back from the spa we just relaxed around the campsite, had dinner and got a bit of an early night as we were up early the next day to hit the next country...Turkey! We were up and ready to leave at half 7 and headed for the Bulgarian border first. We had to wait about an hour at the border to get through and then we were two hours or so at the Turkish side. We were worried we would be a lot longer though as last year it had taken 5 hours to get through but luckily they remembered Greg and Rachel...knew we were going to Australia and remembered the amount of crap that is held in the lockers so decided not to put us through a search!

So that was Bulgaria in a nutshell! It was really nice to be somewhere for a couple of days and not to spend one of those days trying to fit all the main sights of a city in in one day...even though we did have our first really rainy experience! We all had rather muddy tents at the end of the couple of days after dragging mud in on our boots but a few baby wipes and it was good as knew!! The campsite was amazing...Nick and Nicky did so much for us and really know what campers are looking for at a campsite...like a decent shower! It felt like a shower at home...proper pressure...hot water that didn’t run out....or go scalding hot or freezing cold if someone else turned a shower on!! I’m telling you a trip like this makes you appreciate the really little things in life!!!