Monday 15 September 2025: Vidin and Belogradchik Rocks – Roger

We woke in the morning to find ourselves moored up alongside the town of Vidin in Bulgaria. Bulgaria has a population about 6.5 million, of which around 30,000 live in this town. It was around nine when we boarded the buses and drove through the town and into the country. It was a beautiful clear day with bright blue skies.

This poor town really has the signature look of the communist days. In 1991 it had a population of about 65,000, there were big factories here and the other sorts of things that were prominent in the Soviet state, where everybody had a job but nobody really worked. There are still many of the derelict factories that would have been here back in the Soviet days. It has been an EU country for sometime and I noticed last time I was here that there is a lot of infrastructure being invested around the country, including a four lane road that was running along the side of the road we were on, yet to be completed. Our guide, who was probably in her mid-to-late 40’s did not have a kind thing to say about the communist regime. She said they basically stole everything from us and left very little. They even took over all the small businesses and despite state funded education and healthcare they lived very poorly.

It was about an hour later when we arrived at some rocks on the top of a hill next to a town, which hundreds of years ago had been kind of turned into a fort. They believe this was originally built during the Roman era as there were a couple of wells there, and under the Roman regime there had to be a well every 31 miles. Belogradchik, the town of a few thousand situated under the fort had lots of buildings in disrepair with plaster falling off them and attempts made to re-cement the ridge capping on the tile roofs, I presume to prevent leaking.

The guide gave us a rundown on the fort and the souvenir shops around it and said ‘don’t go to the pub because we don’t like the man that runs it; he’s not nice to us’, not that we had time to do that anyway. We took a stroll through the fort and up a number of steps and in some cases ladders. From the top of the rocks we had a great view of the surrounding areas. Looking across the tree covered slopes we could see in the distance large cropping areas. Wheat, along with petroleum oils, and copper are some of the main exports from Bulgaria.

Arriving back at Vidin, the guide had the bus driver take us on a tour of the town, pointing out the post office, the shopping centre, the cathedral and the town square with lots of pride, before dropping us back at the boat.

After lunch Sylvia and Susie went off to a cooking class, hosted by a local family in their home, to learn how to make banitsa, a Bulgarian specialty. By all accounts it was a fairly interesting experience.

Gregg and I went for a stroll around the town. We past the post office and poked our heads into the shopping mall, which looked like something you would have seen in New Zealand in the 80’s. We wandered across to the cathedral, which at the moment is under repair. It certainly needs it as obviously the roof has been leaking inside. Being an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral it was quite dark and gloomy inside compared with some of the other ones we’ve seen over the last couple weeks, and based on the number of chairs is not very well patronised. They had made a real effort in the centre of town to tidy it up with new paving but the buildings in most cases still need repair. There was a large Soviet style statue in the square, and a six-platform railway station near the centre.

After we got back to the boat I went back to the post office to send some postcards. I had pulled some local currency out of a cash machine earlier as I’d been informed that the post office only took local money, no credit cards or anything like that. Arriving at the counter with a nice Mexican lady called Mercedes, who was also on the boat, I pushed my phone across with the translation for overseas stamps, The man looked at the stamp pile, grumbled, yelled out to somebody and disappeared. Soon he came around into the front part of the post office and grabbed us and led us out of the building to the shop next door, where the lady shook her head and said she didn’t take credit cards. Well I think that’s what she said so I pulled some cash out of my wallet and flashed some locals. With Google Translate again we got both mine and Mercede’s postcards off to their destinations. I’ll bet you we get home before they do.

Sylvia returned from the cooking class just after 1700 having been told she shakes well!! I presume something to do with the cooking.

At 1800 we pulled away from the jetty onto the river, where there were a number of barges moving about. The river levels are very low and we have been advised that we will not make it all the way to our scheduled destination of Ruse tomorrow, but no matter, arrangements have been made…

 

Tuesday 16 September 2025: Veliko Tarnovo and Arbanasi – Sylvia

We woke this morning moored by the small town of Nikopol, still in Bulgaria. With the water levels in the Danube being too low for us to make it all the way to Russe, we stopped here instead. Today has been a good reminder for me (as if I needed one) about how much I really dislike large coach tours. At 8:30 we were aboard our coach and headed off on a ~2-hour drive to Arbanasi. The land around is mostly flat, with gentle rolling hills in a few places. It is well cultivated. The road in places is pretty rough and in most of the villages we pass through many of the houses look to be in need of repair.

After a couple of hours we arrived at a large castle-type building, built only about 12-years ago, where we were ushered into a hall, along with several other bus loads for some tea, coffee, water and snacks, as well as the obligatory toilet stop.

Thirty minutes later we were back on the road and headed to our first main stop, the Nativity of Christ church in Arbanasi, built in the 16th century. From outside it looks just like another farm building. Under Ottoman rule the churches were largely hidden this way. But inside, it seems every inch of wall space is covered in detailed frescoes. The church was active for ~500 years but was closes for refurbishment and has been operating as a museum since 1976. They hold one annual service at Christmas.It was extremely crowded inside the church with a different bus group crammed into each of the three spaces, moving on as the next group finished. There was the entry or reception area and then two separate rooms for men and women to worship in.

After waiting around outside for the group to complete their shopping at the nearby embroidery and icon stalls, with much encouragement from our guide, we eventually wandered a bit further down the street to a large home, dating from the 17th century and originally belonging to a wealthy merchant family. We hung back and avoided the crowds, almost able to be alone in each room to have a bit of a look around. The Turkish influence is quite palpable.

More waiting around for shoppers followed. Bulgaria is apparently very famous for its rose oil and the small shop underneath the house, according to the guide, a great place to purchase it.  My patience was wearing dangerously thin. We bumped into Susie and Gregg, who were on a different bus but also had their teeth gritted together. The horde was then ushered into a small room to sample the local liquor. I walked up and down the road a bit to try and stretch my legs. It was pretty warm out, which didn’t help.

Lunch was in the restaurant next door. They managed to serve about 6 bus loads a four course meal very efficiently: local salad of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, feta cheese and dill, which was quite delicious, vegetable soup, a chicken casserole, and some lovely thick Bulgarian yoghurt with honey for dessert. Drinks were also included. This was probably the highlight of the day. We had some interesting conversation with our four table-mates, three women from the US and one from Australia. Towards the end of lunch some locals, in full traditional dress arrived and entertained us with their singing and dancing. To our surprise, one of their instruments was very much like bagpipes.

Outside there was a very long line for the toilets, so we wandered around the yard, replete with chickens, peacocks, rabbits and the like, even finding a hammock to lie down in for a bit.

Back on the bus again, we headed for the nearby city of Veliko Tarnovo, which was the capital of Bulgaria from the 12th to 14th century. We stopped to take photos of the old fort area, Tsaravets, which defended the place. Today the city hosts numerous large homes, perched precariously on the hillside overlooking the river. Then, it was into town for a bit of free time. For many this meant more shopping, but after a quick wander, we opted instead for a delicious ice cream at the local cafe. Definitely the second highlight of the day.

Tour over, it was back on the buses for another two hours or so back to port. At least the guide didn’t keep up a steady patter on the way back.

Apologies if I sound a bit negative. I am incredibly grateful for the experiences and for the opportunity to visit this part of the world. Many, I’m sure enjoyed the experience but I much prefer to travel more independently and this was not an option for us today.

Back on board we made the ‘long’ sail across the river to Romania. The whole process would have taken less than 15-minutes. Given we can’t go any further down river, we will now dock here tonight and then take buses to Bucharest tomorrow.

 

Wednesday 17 September 2025: Bucharest – Roger

We were on the bus to Bucharest at 0745. The guide on the bus prattled on and bloody on. telling us lots of useless information about her life and about the different populations in the country. It became obvious as we headed northeast that this is the part of the country where the money is made. The cropping fields go on for mile after mile.  The towns, although still showing the Soviet effect in places, looked a lot better off than in Bulgaria. At one farm machinery dealer there were large Claas tractors for sale. It is very different from the north part of the country that I drove through a couple of years ago, where there were a lot of 1950’s Massey Ferguson tractors, along with donkeys towing carts. Apparently some of the large cropping farms are still owned by the state, others by Italian and European companies.

Heavy rain set in as we headed through many small towns. The guide continued to prattle on. Originally from Sweden, she fell in love with a guy in Hungary, then somehow ended up in  Romania. She also gave us a background on Count Dracula’s story. Apparently he delighted on driving stakes through the hearts of his dead enemies. Surprise, surprise the vampire bit is a bit of a myth.

Arriving in Bucharest, we bailed from the bus when it stopped outside the heaviest building in the world, the Romanian Parliament building. Rain persisted as we stood with Gregg and Susie sharing our ponchos while waiting for an uber. The uber took us to the former home of the last president under Soviet rule. The Ceausescu’s were executed by the Romanian people after the revolution of 1989, I think without a trial. We entered the palace of some 4000 sq meters with plastic covers fitted to our shoes. I had been through here in 2022 but still enjoyed the tour. Coming from an uneducated background the Ceausescu’s made their way to the top in the communist system. While the people lived in poverty in this so called equal society, they lived in absolute luxury, along with their two sons and daughter, who all had apartments in this place. The palace was extended in the 70’s adding a gold embossed bathroom for Mrs Ceausescu along with a huge wardrobe and dressing room, which many foxes and minks gave their lives up to be housed in. A large lobby, including a grand piano and a large marble stairway led us up to the living quarters. We made our way through the apartments, then a mahogany stairway led us down to an indoor garden with pools and fountains. then through the saunas and massage rooms to the 20m indoor pool, ornately decorated and with a wave machine to swim against. Outside, in the now reduced gardens,  peacocks with feathers trimmed strutted their stuff.

As we waited for an uber outside the Kuwaiti embassy a guy parked his car to drop something off across the road. The security guard raced out, called him back to his car and told him sternly to move on. Our uber pulled up in the same spot so we got in fast to head back into the city for our tour of the parliament building.

Arriving early we checked in at the tour place then headed for a brew at a cafe nearby. Across the road were a couple of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen. We concluded that an architectural expert must have put these forward back in the Soviet days just taking the piss but they got accepted.

At around 1440 we headed with the guide woman up the road to parliament. Construction was started in the late 80’s before the revolution. After a large earthquake demolished large parts of this area, Ceausescu decided he wanted to build a building bigger than the North Koreans had. He moved thousands of people out of the area to make way for what would become the world’s heaviest building, along with surrounding appartments to house government officials. Built to withstand on 8+ earthquake, the concept came from a 28 year old woman architect. The plans were completed with the input of some 1200 other architects, but the building, started in 1984, was only about 60% finished by the time of the revolution in December 1989. The new government decided to finish it. With the input of over 1000 workers it was finally completed in 2004. Apparently Micheal Jackson was one of the first visitors; he stood on the front steps of parliament and said “hello to the people of Budapest”. The tour guide says to this day she still gets calls from visitors to Budapest looking for this building.

With some 1200 rooms, the smallest ~300sqm and the largest over 2200sqm, it is simply ostentatious. Several thousand tons of marble were used in cladding and huge columns. There are also marble maps of the building in the floor between each column, and a large marble diagram in the centre of the building on each of the floors. Apparently it houses the largest parliament chamber in the world, with a massive 5-tonne chandelier. With eight floors above the ground and six below it has a floor area of 365,000 sqm. The pentagon is the only bigger public building on earth. We only saw a very small portion of it, the guide telling us it would take 18-hours just to walk quickly through every room in the building. It is simply impossible to describe the vast passageways. I hope the photos will help. One area of amusement was the media area, where they have little container like boxes for the media to work in. I am sure they are very circumspect in what they write.

Tour over, we headed back to the souvenir shop where Gregg had left his pack. We strolled back to the hotel, passing a cellphone aerial on the roof of a building with the cables running out of the window of the apartment below. At the back of the parliament building we passed the largest Orthodox church in the world, part of which is still under construction as it was nearly 3 years ago when I was here last.

We checked into the Grand Marriott hotel with its large shopping hall and grand staircase, which goes all the way up past the 5th floor, which we were on.