From quiet Carpathians to bustling Bucharest and Bulgaria

It was a stunning ride from the tranquility of Sinaia to Bucharest, slightly later than planned due to train delays but arrived before lunchtime at gare du Nord, the main terminus. Watch your pockets as usual, and after a 5 minute stroll out the right exit, bedde down in hotel Elizeu for some water, food and getting settled. Meeting up againa fetr this break, we headed to town to see the Presidential Palace. This attractions is well worth the 20Lei entrance fee, if you can hack the stringent security checks and waiting time. The informative English speaking guide (they do other languages also) was very helpful in explaining in plain terms the fate of Nikolai the dictator in the recent past. There was the 5 tonne chandelier, billions of marble tiles, carved wooden doors, tall curtains that seldom get washed......and the incredible view across Bucharest's Champs Elyss (the equivalent of!) from the balcony. Of course not all 3000 rooms are shown but there are several staircases to climb in the whole process. After a tidy hour, we headed our seperate ways to explore with limited time the architecture and museums that the city had to offer. I got to the humble and unimpressive Botanicval gardens, the leafy western suburbs where every street was named after a famour doctor (most notable were Lister and Luis Pasteur!), the riverside area, Gradina Cismigiu, Piata Revolution and Piata 21 December 1989, noting the day that the president was killed publicly. A hodge potch of buildings, it has been a nice break from scenery and mountains, albeit gladly a short one.

Our conservative check out time of 12pm was wpnderful for tired souls, be it alcohol induced or travel lethargy, especially with the intense city heat (32C the day of arrival). Unfortunate for us, the train from Budapest needed to connect with ours due to leave at 12.18pm from Bucharest, as it was to continue to Istanbul overnight via Greece (got that??). Add a failed engine into the equation and it made for a hot 2 hr wait at the station, all the while expecting the train to lave any minute and unable to get off for anything apart from fags, which several in our group. We finally chugged off at 2.03pm and made it to Veliko Tarnovo just before 8.30pm. It was hot hot hot, and with windows in some carriages that do not open, or doors that do not stay closed when you are walking past the journey was stretching our patience and tolerance! The toilet was even BYO water (toilet paper and soap are virtually a given here). I feel a China de ja vous coming on...

Veliko Tarnova cuisine was a welcome braek froms todgy fatty Romania, and our first night in a new land had a great meal of trout parchment (baked in spices and paper), yoghurt and herb soup, turkish bread and salad of roasted peppers and other things. Summed up with dessert of yoghurt with honey and walnuts, this is my kind of country!!! At last, the famine can cease, and at about 20NZD for this......

Today was another scorcher and I made tracks into the hills around that hide some early evidence of humankind - Trapezitsa hill houses items from the past 5 millenia and is easily walkable from the town (about 1km towards and beyond the Tsarevets fortress, another great visit of at least an hour costing 6Lev, about 6NZD). I made it 3km uphill to a small village beginning with A (Arbansa??), full of closed hotels, a few pensions open advertising rooms, and like in Bucharest, loads of stray dogs. I picked up my own fido at the bridge in town, and she followed me all the way until I headed back to the fortress. Dog tired obviously! The town has been the site of several uprisings against the BYzantine empire, and hence the name of the fortress, which resulted in the final liberation of Bulgaria by a Russian named Joseph about 200 yrs ago I think. The street we stayed on was the oldest part, and rickety stone steps on a very stee hillside encase the Yantra river that runs through it. Gorgeous and worthwhile a visit.

Off to Sofia tomorrow, and beyond.

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