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Published: June 22nd 2006
Actually, any slower than the pace I am currently going and I would come to an absolute standstill. Oh, that's right, I have been standing still...
I arrived in Burgas last Friday, a little worse for wear, with the cold not getting better and a cough that seemed to be threatening to develop into something nastier. I may be over dramatising here but it was getting kind of annoying coughing all the time and the fever was kind of irritating as well so it was with absolute delight that I met up with Huw, a guy a friend from home had put me in touch with, and be offered a place to sleep and rest. What bliss, what joy to speak English, not to have to entertain (or try to be entertaining) and just be.
Huw lives in Burgas, with his partner Craig, and together they run a property development company. Bulgaria is now "hot property" for the Brits with much of Bulgaria now up for sale. If anyone is interested in buying an apartment, or a villa you can check out their site on www.solo-properties.com ...
As you can imagine, it is pretty difficult to remain motivated to move when you really don't have the energy to. Saturday I spent most of the day resting having spent the morning going to Metro, which is kind of the Bulgarian equivalent of a Bunnings/Aldi/Megamart joint venture, and which exhausted my very low stores of energy. The outcome of that little exercise meant that I am now the proud owner of a new pair of jeans which have come to replace my much-loved but very holey cargo pants - it just wouldn't do to walk around with half my butt showing. Not being able to part with the cargo pants outright though I intend to fashion them into a handbag - hmmmm should be interesting.
Sunday we all set off to Sunny Beach, Bulgaria's answer to the Gold Coast. It is like one giant, Bulgarian themepark with hotels galore, more beach umbrellas than you can poke a stick at and overrun with tourists looking for a cheap, beach holiday. I'm glad I went to see it first hand or I would not have believed it otherwise.
Monday to Thursday (today) I went down south to Sozopol settling in quite well thankyou in a camping ground 3km north of Sozopol. Huw and Craig kindly let me leave my baggage and bike behind so off I went unencumbered by all my gear. It was bliss and I have to admit it was quite surprising the speed with which I embraced the lazing by the beach / occassionally going into the calm water to cool down / grabbing somthing to eat from the campground cafe lifestyle. There was no hesitation where my laziness was concerned and am now feeling totally relaxed.
I didn't meet or speak to anyone at the camping ground save for two men. One of whom heard me coughing and suggested I come home with him and he would fix me up a brew that would get rid of my cough in a jiffy. No thankyou. The otherr, who insisted on buying me a drink (I would have none of it) and offered me his house to sleep in. I don' t think so. Needless to say, neither were gorgeous. I seem to be a magnet for the 50+, gold-toothed brigade. Why???
Now that this is my last night I can reflect a little on what I have seen on my travels (and generalisations I feel I can make):
Bulgarians are never in a hurry for anything unless it is on the road. Then it's all hell breaking loose. Indicators seem to be a waste of time as are obeying road rules. Big, black, tinted-window BMW's seem to be the car of choice. Otherwise, there are quite a few silver Mercedes about too. Huw told me that on one particular weekend 47 people were killed on the roads. This out of a population of 8.5 million. Feel kind of privileged that I survived 4 weekends in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian women like to dress like hookers and vice versa. Bulgarian men like to dress like something out of a music video complete with thick silver (for those who cannot afford gold) chains about their necks (so they know when to stop shaving) and a girl generally hanging off their arm. The women mince and the men swagger. Apparently you can spot a tourist just by the way they walk. I like to think we walk with purpose.
The reason Bulgarians are generally slim is because they exist on a diet of cigarettes and coffee.
Bulgarian roads are a patchwork of tar. You can probably gauge the age of a road by the number of patches. It also sometimes resembles pastry that has been rolled out leaving the edges thicker than the middle. This makes for difficult cycling. That, and the fact that sometimes cycling on this edge seems to be better than trying to make ones way through the potholes - which means that at times I am not the only person chasing the thin white line, all of a sudden I am where everyone wants to be!
I'm told that Bulgarians don't like to be the bearers of bad news so they will tell you what you want to hear instead of what actually is. For me this hasn't been too apparent but I can imagine that if you're trying to set up a business here in Bulgaria you'd want to be able to understand the language otherwise the business could end up very interesting indeed.
A sign I saw in Sofia had a request to leave all guns outside. I'd be requesting that too if I worked in a bank. I wonder if the sign works...
I'm over Bulgarian food. It involves a lot of tripe and other innards (ugh); salad (yes you can have too much salad); meat (yes, have to admit I have partaken in a few chevap but under duress - honest); eggs every which way (and yes, you can have too much egg. Don't think I can stomach one more omlette although I can always go a creme caramel...); pancakes (make mine with chocolate). I'm sure there is a whole lot more to Bulgarian food but this is all I could kind of work out on the menu with that damn cyrillic script further confusing things further. Not really Bulgaria's fault that I can't read or make myself understood but the options are kind of limited if you ask "bez mesa" (without meat)...
Anyway, off tonight on the bus Istanbul bound. Am very much looking forward to a change of scenery. Jury is still out regarding what I am going to do whilst in Turkey ie cycle along the Black Sea or cycle down south and see some of the sights of Turkey before returning to Istanbul and catching the ferry to Trabzon and then on to Georgia. But, the plan is first to arrive safely, with minimal fuss at the border, in Istanbul, second to find somewhere nice to stay, third see the sights of Istanbul and finally, work out what I'm going to do. All I know is that after all this time off the bike it will be mighty hard getting back on the bike...
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Nikki
non-member comment
Hi there
Hi Bernii, Just wanted to say hi...dont know if you got my email just before you left as I sent it from my mobile. I really enjoyed our coffee, was just sorry that it ended so self absorbed. Have been reading about your travels...haha. Makes me think I can't wait to be back in your shoes. Take care, I'll write when I have a little more time. Nikki :)