One Hundred and Eighty Ukranians and a Plate of Fruit

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The campsite got interesting, Nick and Nicky our camp hosts had let us know that a large group would be arriving…….



Woolly says – I thought it might be thirty or so people but NO it actually meant 180 Ukrainians who started arriving at 3pm and continued arriving until the early hours. We woke up to a forest of tents, they were everywhere. Jo tried to get into one of the three shower cubicles but it wasn’t going to happen. We packed up as planned and headed for some breakfast. We gave that idea up, it was pandemonium. Grabbing a couple of bottles of juice we hit the road.



We would have waited an hour or so to be fed and we went with the view of ‘get something on the way’ and programmed James for the route to Biser. Up through the mountains we went, it was total forestation, trees lined the roads and we had only an occasional view of what looked like impressive landscapes, but with nowhere to stop for pictures we followed the swings and turns of the hair pin bends. Mile after mile sped by with only a stop for fuel.



Woolly says – Jo asked if we could pay for the fuel with a card and the lady in the service station rattled away in Bulgarian, she asked again and still got no understandable response. She started waving her card and smiling and nodding and finally the women shouted ‘YES’. Jo arrived back to Ollie looking a bit worse for wear but at least we no longer had fumes to run on. The lovely trees continued, I tried counting them but soon grew sleepy.



With Woolly snoozing we longed for a real look at the view but couldn’t see anything much between the branches and trunks. As we started to descend we got our first real view, of industry at its worst. We were so disappointed. On we trundled through towns full of apartment blocks covered in graffiti with play areas covered in rubbish, not what we wanted but the only route that we could take.



Woolly says – We spotted a camping sign before Biser, Garden camping and as we could see a cool blue swimming pool it seemed just the ticket and at 20 Lev (approximately £8.90 GBP) a good deal. There was only a small area of grass to pitch on by the pool but it looked shady and easy to peg. With everything up and ready I changed into my sombrero and got ready for an afternoon on a sun lounger. Hardly had I taken my first ray of sunshine before we were packed up and off again, really what is wrong with these people!



This was the lesson in ask and look first before setting up, I went to the toilet and always feel I can cope with a few things but squat toilets isn’t one, especially dirty ones. Ian checked out the gents and came back with the same information, we wandered over to the bar and checked the closing time, one maybe two in the morning, “who knows?” they told us. It’s amazing how fast you can repack a tent and everything in it when you want to.



Woolly says – I was confused and having been thrust back into Ollie I sat there feeling a little stunned. Off we went at high speed and I hadn’t a clue where we were going let alone where I was sleeping that night. On we drove and although the roads had greatly improved the views hadn’t. We came to a HUGE queue of lorries parked on one side of the road and still we kept going. Kilometre after kilometre we drove past parked trucks with only a quick stop to fuel up, would this journey never end and would they ever tell me WHAT was happening. Jo started getting the passports and Ollie’s papers out, what was going on?



We had thought to find another campsite on our list of five in Bulgaria but having pitched once and upped sticks twice we went for our next option – Turkey. We hit the border at 2.45pm and showed passports to the Bulgarian officials before driving through no man’s land to show our passports and Ollie’s paperwork again at the Turkish side. “Turkish Visa, then come back” said the guy on passports and waved us on. We knew we needed a Green Card for Ollie as our UK insurance runs out at the border so having asked at the next booth, customs, we were told to go to Bay 3, and were waved through again. ‘This is going well’ we thought as we parked up at Bay 3. When we tracked down the right place for the Green Card we were told ‘Three hundred and twenty Lira please, cash no cards’ (this covers six months insurance and is approximately £130 GBP) said the nice man, ‘hmm only got one hundred and twenty three with us we murmured, and where do we get a Turkish visa?’ ‘ATM is in building B1 and visa at booth 92’. Off we went back through all the customs and clearance areas to find B1, and found booth 92 on the way. Arriving at B1 we found no ATM so had to trudge another 400 metres to the duty free shop, ah ha, an ATM! Money acquired we made our way back to the nice man who duly gave us our piece of WHITE paper and told us to go to the window outside.



Woolly says – I thought they had abandoned me, Ian returned to Ollie and opened windows which was a hopeful sign while Jo went and stood by a window. Maybe she had been naughty because she had to stand there for quite a while before coming back to us waving paperwork, passports and a WHITE piece of paper, I thought it was supposed to be GREEN! Then even better news with the heat now reaching a heady 36, we had been chosen to be checked which meant sitting in a rather large shed and getting out every single thing we had in Ollie, why were they doing this to me? I have a fur coat and the thought of getting my skateboard, bandanas, pool table and all my other belongings out wasn’t what I wanted to be doing when I could have been in a nice cool pool.



Once Woolly had been told to button it, we drove into the hanger and waited, the customs man asked us what alcohol we had and Ian managed to say ‘two bottles of wine’ before he left us, returning with a sticker which went on my passport we were told to take it to his friend!!!!! We sat there for a few minutes unsure what to do…..



Woolly says - what friend, do we know him too? Is he going to our friend as well? Where is this friend? Ian hadn’t even got round to the cider or the sourz so we moved cautiously forward and very slowly out of the big shed and since no one came running out after us we headed to the next document collector. So this was his friend!! Easy, we flashed Jo’s passport with its code on and we were waved on. Hello Turkey.



I think we were all a bit numb for the first few miles but once realising that we were in Turkey which looked rather lovely for a border crossing town we shot off down the road with the sea in mind. We decided that we would head for Kesan and find a cheap hotel for the night and as the tarmac flew past under Ollie’s wheels we soaked up the views and laughed at the mad driving.



Woolly says - That’s when the panic hit, Ian fits right in with these crazy drivers and out does them at every turn. I’ll be a nervous wreck!!!



With fields of undulating sunflowers with an odd Shepard moving his flock for the night the hour or so’s journey seemed to take no time at all. Watching drivers coming towards us on our side of the road and making U turns across the central reservation caused us much amusement.



Woolly says – I saw the sea and started to get very excited as we began our search for a bed for the night. A sign for Kobu Motel came up and off we went down a small dirt track, bouncing away we were getting closer and closer to the sea. Ollie pulled up outside what can only be described as the new Crossroads Motel (Midlands TV series of yesteryear), we checked the room, very basic and looked to the view, awesome and paid up our 50 Lira (approximately £21.20 GBP) including breakfast. I was starving so we settled onto the terrace and ordered our food, fish for Jo and meat for me and Ian. It took a while to come but was worth the wait and we tucked in greedily as the sun sank into the sea. Although Jo was quite full she had a hankering for fruit and ordered a small plate. Small wasn’t quite how I would have described it when the order arrived, water melon, plums and peaches graced the plate all juicy and succulent, so we tucked in. The only problem came in the shape of the bill 125 Lira!!!!!! (Approximately £53.00 GBP) for two mains, a plate of fruit and a couple of beers. Ian spoke to the lady in charge, I could hear mumblings of Turkish prices going on before he came back looking fairly satisfied and having paid 100 Lira (approximately £42.00 GBP) not brilliant but quite a bit better. Full and sleepy we tried to settle down for the night.



The room was definitely basic and though it had a TV it didn’t work neither did the air con, a good night to come we thought when a little man came by and said he needed to spray the room, out we came again and sat waiting for the spray to work before we could finally collapse for the night.

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Comments

[littlewing]

Great blog title
Very enjoyable thanks!

[traveltalesofawoollymammoth]

Thank You
We didn't know whether to laugh or cry at points on that day, but it all came right in the end

[traveltalesofawoollymammoth]

Thank You
We didn't know whether to laugh or cry at points on that day, but it all came right in the end