Day 44 - Bulgaria

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Today we arrive at our 2nd last port, Nikopol. This port is on the Bulgarian side of the river, and Romania is on the other side. Another breakfast, another bus.

Today we have a full day trip to the country. We head off for Veliko Tarnova and Abranassi. It says 2 hours on the bus to get there. Found out why it takes so long once we got going. Roads are very very dodgy here. Our tour guide greets us in a very pommy accent. Turns out he has been living in Bulgaria for over 10 or 11 years and is married to a Bulgarian. Another tour guide who loves the microphone. Can't shut him up. Between him dribbling away, and the driver wandering all over the road to avoid potholes the size of the bus or another truck or car coming the other way with no room to pass, the trip goes on and on. Chris knows what to do to pass the time, sleep.

We get to the town (Veliko Tarnova) and stop at a hotel for morning tea, all provided. Toilets are a hit, then we get some pastries, biscuits and drinks before we head off to Abranassi to visit an Orthodox Church. Denis, our guide has told us that the church looks like a barn outside but is very interesting inside. The outside had to be done that way so the Turks would allow them to have a church. He was right, very old, plain outer walls, but once inside there are very ornate iconography on all the walls. We get a guided tour of the meaning of each of these paintings, then to finish they have a drawing on one wall of the sun with a ring around it of the zodiac, then a ring of the months, then drawings of the evolution of man, born, youth, teen, adulthood, old age then death all feeding down to hell. In testing depiction of life etc.

Out for a walk down to a souvenir shop where we get free drinks, rose water brandy, white and red wine along with Turkish delight. Into a museum then back on the bus to another hotel for lunch. We get great views of the fortress we can walk up to after lunch. We decide to do the walk. Again, hot but the walk turns out to be a bit easier then the one yesterday. We get a running commentary by Denis in between lots of huffing in our ears as he walks and talks. Views from the church at the top are agin great. The more interesting part is the drawings inside this church. They were done in 1985 and are very strange. Almost surreal.

Time to walk back down. Back to the hotel for a quick toilet break then on the bus back to the ship. Denis gives us a test to see if we have been listening to his data on the way up. The winner gets a fridge magnet. We answer all the bits, including converting serrillic word into English. Answers are in and no one has the 7 correct. We are in a bunch of 5 who got 6 right and win the magnet in a tie break. Woo hoo.

Back to the ship for our final happy hour and a toast from the skipper to say farewell. Turns out we nearly didn't make it to our port last night, the river was very low and the captain and first mate were on deck together to navigate the low waters. He even apologised to someone who tried to visit them in the wheelhouse that night. Evidently he kicked them out so they could concentrate. Interesting... We also moved to our new port, across the river in Romania. That is where we will disembark tomorrow morning.

Lots of laughs at dinner, again the staff thanked, email addresses swapped, then drinks on the deck. The crew had their own party on shore, bbq, set up, seats table, lots of drinks and nice to see them all in civvies enjoying themselves. Pity about the skeleton staff who stayed on board to serve us. They mad up for it later I believe. Said farewell to the roof crew, then went downstairs, another group still there so we couldn't be ruse, another drink. Finally to our room to start packing. Done and dusted then sleep. Tomorrow we leave the ship for good.

Hmm, this has felt really good, and everyone is feeling the pinch about having to leave.

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