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Published: April 21st 2006
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Black Sea
Adriana checks out the seaside After having anticipated this trip for a couple of months (and being in dire need of a holiday), we departed Ankara with much enthusiasm (but a few yawns) at 6:00 AM. Our planned destination for the day was the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, meaning that we had to cover in excess of 750 km and make one border crossing.
Getting out of Ankara at that time of morning was a breeze, and the weather was clear and pleasant until we passed Bolu (about midway between Ankara and Istanbul). The sky became progressively greyer as we neared Istanbul, and by the time we reached the Asian side of the city it was pouring rain.
Istanbul traffic is pretty unpredictable, but we had been expecting it to be moving pretty well at 11:00 AM... wrong! We sat in a traffic jam for the better part of an hour, just inching forward a few meters at a time. Once we got on the bridge across the Bosphorus and crossed to the European side (there is even a sign which says, in English, "Welcome to Europe"), we still had to contend with heavy traffic until we were out of the city.
We
Car at Black Sea
From Anatolia to Bulgaria - a long day had decided to cross the Turkish - Bulgarian border at Derekoy, which is 20 or so kilometers north of Kirklarevi. We filled up on Turkish gasoline (no tax-free gas for us in Bulgaria!) and climbed the winding road to a very isolated (and sparsely manned) border post. The bureaucracy demanded by the Turks was really quite amazing - we first had to show our passports and residence permits to a guy at a gate, who opened it for us without any explanation of what we had to do next. We did the logical thing, and drove to the next barrier (500m or so down the way, past a collection of buildings). The guy at that gate flipped through our passports for several minutes, before concluding that we had been too stupid to know that we had to stop at one of these buildings and get our exit stamps. We drove back, got the stamps, and then found that we had to do some paperwork for the car (which has Turkish plates). In the end, armed with our fresh stamps and a paper attesting to the legitimacy of the temporary export of our car, we were permitted to leave Turkey.
Bulgarian formalities were much simpler. We were stamped in, drove the car through a shallow trough (which supposedly disinfects it, though there no longer appears to be a fee for this), and bought a sticker for the windshield which entitled us to drive on Bulgaria's roads for a month.
The next 60 or so kilometers, from the border to the Black Sea coast, was on one of Bulgaria's most neglected roads. Apparently, none of the revenue from the sale of stickers has trickled down to this region, which is mostly a national park. Very scenic, however - the road wound through forests and mountains (but it was still raining). Even with a very robust vehicle, we were limited to speeds of around 40 km/h. Even then, we noticed some funny noises as we neared the coast and found that the entire rear section of our exhaust system was loose and banging against the frame. It seemed to be holding up for the time being, so we decided to do something about it the next day.
Living as we do in landlocked Anatolia, the sight of the sea always gets us excited - so we stopped as soon as we could and walked on the beach. However, the sound of gunshots nearby (a group of Bulgarian males celebrating something, or simply target shooting) put us off a bit and we were soon on our way.
We made our way into Bourgas, which, as it turns out, is a delightful little city. We found a hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet guide, which turned out to be only 50 leva (about 22 Euro) per night. Clean and bright, with a parking spot right outside, it was perfect for us.
Bourgas is invaded by tourists during the summer months, but in April this is not an issue. The weather had improved enough for us to go for a stroll on one of the two pedestrian streets and to find a place for dinner. We ended up at a great little Bulgarian restaurant, where a dinner for two (with wine) was only 15 Euro. Eating dinner was about all we could summon the energy for, and so we were in bed early.
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