Bulgaria and into Romania

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On Monday, 4th September I woke not feeling the best. We decided to skip the morning tour as we had an optional one booked for the afternoon. We had arrived in Vidin, one of the oldest riverside towns in Bulgaria. I opted for a late breakfast and a rest. Fletcher went for a walk into the town and saw the town square with a war memorial as well as an interesting mall. Next to the ship was a memorial to those who died during the Communist era.
After lunch I was much better so we joined the excursion to the Baba Vida Fortress and Dos Alamos winery.We first were driven through the town to the Fortress. This was built in medieval times and used to have a moat surrounding it, the remains of which are still visible. The last king of Bulgaria resided here before the invasion by the Ottoman Empire. It had nine Ttowers and a chapel. We were guided through the narrow entrance and into the main courtyard
From there we had some time to look around and over the walls we could see the river. This was ideal for defensive purposes. Another impressive building.
After our visit there we drove out to the countryside to visit the winery. Here we were greeted by the winemaker and his wife who first took us to his vat room. He explained how they made wine and stored it here. Then we returned to an impressive tasting room where we had a plate each of bread, cheese and olives. He went through each of the wines giving us a generous taste of each. The last, a red, he drew straight from the barrel and we each got a pipette full. We have found that all the local wines we have tasted on this trip have been excellent. It was a very pleasant afternoon..
Back at the ship we arrived in time to catch the end of a local children's folkloric group in their colourful costumes. That night after dinner was a presentation on the legend of Dracula.
At 8am on Tuesday we arrived in the town of Ruse. Here we met our guide, Denis, surprisingly an English expat who proved to be a fantastic mine of information. This was an all day tour as we were driven to the city of Veliko Tarnovo which was once the capital of Bulgaria.

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