Bulgaria and Romania, 11th – 13th August 2015
this has not been the case, with either sunlight or heat having me awake somewhere around 8/9am on most days. How this will change when winter surfaces and the days grow shorter remains to be seen!
Leaving Bulgaria
From Rusenski we were unsure of where to go next; we knew we were going to cross the border into Romania, but the majority of the motorhome websites and blogs we read make their next stop at the campsite in Bucharest. We knew it was likely we’d visit Bucharest during our stay, but hadn’t really made the time yet to find out anything about the city (the WiFi problems at Camping VT set our research back a bit) and didn’t fancy paying for another campsite so soon after we’d just spent two nights on one. The nearest main border crossing was Ruse, but we decided instead to keep heading east towards Silistra, with the intention of checking out the Black Sea.
As we drove past Ruse, a couple of cars gave the usual headlight flashing warning for police ahead. When we passed the police they flagged us over for a spot check, presumably as we were close to the border. The chap we spoke to didn’t speak any English, but after saying some things in Bulgarian he said “Documenti”, so Matt got the V5 registration document and insurance paperwork out. He looked them over and made a card gesture whilst saying documenti again, so Matt handed over his driving license. The policemen turned it over in his hands several times, possibly not really understanding it and trying to look like he was doing something productive with it. When he walked down the side of the van he seemed intrigued by it, pointing at the back window and making a sleeping mime (to which Matt said yes), and then pointing at the bike rack cover with a motorbike gesture (to which Matt replied with a cycling gesture with his feet). Motorhomes really aren’t that common out here, so perhaps he picked us for a spot check because of the novelty of the vehicle (as well as the foreign registration plates).
Onwards to Romania
After spending our last 37 Lev at a fuel station in Silistra, we pulled up at the border. There was a long queue of cars that didn’t appear to be moving anywhere; we were worried that something was going on that meant we’d be stuck around for a while, but then another queue opened up for EU cars, so we swapped lanes and got through with no problems. Directly beyond the border checkpoint was a blue portakabin selling Rovinietas, the Romanian vignette. Unlike the Bulgarian road tax system the Romanian system is electronic, so the vehicle’s V5 is needed to take details from (or at least it was in our case) to buy the vignette. We were charged at the <3.5T goods vehicle rate, which was €6 for 1 week.
Immediately after crossing into Romania, we were struck by how green everything looked. Most likely this was a result from the land’s proximity to the river Danube keeping the land healthy, but there were lots of green trees and fields of fruit plants which were possibly grapevines, judging by a few stalls we passed selling grapes. As we moved further from the river the land quickly descended back into sunflower field territory, with lots of yellow fields full of the dying flowers.
The roads were a little better than Bulgaria, with tarmac that was just a little bumpy in places other than a stretch through a village that was cobbled, but there were horse-and-carts everywhere. We passed our first not long after crossing the border, and kept seeing them on a regular basis from there, in much higher abundance that we had in Bulgaria, presumably due to the arable land that surrounded us. The villages were very rural and antiquated, with lots of children out playing in the road and numerous old ladies sitting on benches at the front of their properties chatting at the roadside. A few people gave our vehicle the usual curious looks, but a few others smiled at us as we passed, including a couple of policemen and an old chap with a toddler in a pushchair who gave us big waves.We parked for the night in Adamclisi (via Camping Car Infos, GPS: 44.10043, 27.95664) in the parking area for the monument Tropaeum Traiani, which is a monument to commemorate the victory of the Roman Emperor Trajan in the battle of Adamclisi, 101-102. The original monument has long since deteriorated, but a reconstruction monument was built at the site in 1977. It was a very calm overnight spot, with the only real noise problems being a barking match in the morning amongst a stray dog who slept near the van and a couple of other strays who had wandered into the area.
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The Black Sea
We’d heard that the Black Sea was a bit overdeveloped, but decided to give it a go anyway so at least we’d know what it was like for future reference. We drove to the main city of Constantin, where we stopped at a big shopping centre in pursuit of a cashpoint. The centre was very clean inside and had a bit of that generic shopping centre feel that I associate with Meadowhall or High Cross or any other UK shopping centre, but thankfully it had a cash point, so we got stocked up with enough to hopefully last us through until Hungary.
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| The crowded beach at Vama Veche |
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| An interesting design on one of the nearby campers |
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| The park next door to the campsite - the local area here seems to be very clean and well maintained |
Tomorrow, we tackle Bucharest itself.
- Jo
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