Viva North

After a little over a month in Sofia I finally ventured out of town. A couple of buddies and I rented a car and went up to Belogradchik in the northwest of Bulgaria for an overnight. The road trip got off to a great start when the guy at the car rental place pulled our car out in the road, told us to get in quick because a taxi was coming, and then said “But first, a joke.” And proceeded to tell us a joke about taxi drivers. He was awesome. Then on our way out of town we saw a terrifying roadside display of a waving Santa mannequin and what I can only assume was Santa’s mistress (because it sure wasn’t Mrs. Claus). We then drove a couple of hours, part of it through the mountains, which were fortunately clear, and wound up in Belogradchik around lunchtime. Before we pulled into town we got out of the car briefly and walked around on some of the amazing rocks that surround the area and took some pictures. We then drove up to the Belogradchik fortress but before heading in went back down into the center of town to get something to eat. The place we ate at had a bunch of food in hot pans behind the glass and we just pointed at what we wanted as the woman behind the counter didn’t speak any English. My buddies both got this hot dog sausage thing that neither of them were able to bring themselves to finish so a stray dog got a treat. I got some fish, a chicken skewer, a potato and cheese ball and some French fries. The only thing I regretted were the fries as they were cold but the rest was quite tasty.

After eating we headed up to the fortress, which was really cool. The original fortress was built when the area was part of the Roman Empire and has been expanded several times over the centuries by both Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The three of us were in the fortress exploring, taking pictures and climbing out on the rocks for over two and a half hours and we had the place completely to ourselves until the last ten minutes that we were there. Traveling in the offseason is incredible. If you can handle a little bit of cold weather I highly recommend it. The pros of small to no crowds and cheaper accommodations, along with cheaper admission to many attractions far outweigh any perceived cons. After we had finished checking out the fortress we headed back into town and found a room to rent for the night. We then went in search of dinner. On our way we found a car on the side of the road that was up on blocks and completely stripped so that all that was left was the metal frame and a couple loose wires. We were very confused as to when we had passed into the bad neighborhood of a big city.

It was only five o’clock when we arrived at one of the only restaurants that we could find. We went up to the door and saw that the place wasn’t supposed to open until seven but before we got back into the car a woman came and opened the door and ushered us in. That’s how dead this town is in the winter/late fall. If they see anyone willing to come in and spend money they will go out of their way to oblige. The fluency of English in Bulgaria once you get outside of the city drops off dramatically and we had an interesting time ordering our food. We were trying to each pick a couple things and eat family style but that didn’t really get across, so while we got all of the items we had ordered the quantities were a little off. The one thing that was clearly understood was when I ordered a vodka and she asked me if I wanted a small one or a big one by putting her fingers close together then far apart. I emphatically indicated I wanted a big one and was brought a glass with 2.5 to 3 shots worth of vodka. Excellent. The food was all really good and I was feeling great when we left after a second glass of vodka.

After leaving the restaurant we stopped off to get beers for them and a bottle of vodka with a couple Cherry Cokes for me. I also got an impulse buy of some orange tic tacs and when I got back to the place we were staying I thought I had been swindled because I opened the tic tacs and they were white. They tasted like orange tic tacs though. Apparently they put the dye in the container rather than in the candy over here. A bit odd at first but I guess I would prefer my chemicals in the packaging. We decided to play the drinking game Horse Racing, but rather than play it for drinks, play for small amounts of money and just drink however much we felt like drinking while we played.

After we had been playing for a little while we decided we wanted to go see if the observatory was open. We had read that it was kind of hit or miss if they were open, but despite the fact that it was a pretty overcast night we thought we would go try to check it out anyway. Even if we couldn’t see anything it would be cool just to check out the telescope and hang with the astronomers. So we went to the corner store and picked up two two-liters of beer to offer to the scientists, thinking they probably weren’t really working if they were there since there wasn’t much to see and they might want to party with us. The gate was locked when we arrived though so we walked up to the outpost for the fortress that was next to the observatory. The spot was pretty awesome and we could hear some music playing from up there and it sounded like it was coming from the observatory, but when we got back to the observatory we couldn’t find it.  So we decided to go and try to find the music figuring that the people playing it were obviously down to party unlike the astronomers.

We searched for a while but couldn’t find anything. We did go down this dark dirt road and rolled up on a car with four guys in it who I can only imagine were smoking pot, and did a U-turn right next to them and then returned to the head of the road and sat there for a couple minutes before moving on. I can only imagine what they were thinking but I have a feeling we probably freaked them out. We finally returned to our room and drank some more and played some more cards. One of my buddies went and lied down and passed out while my other buddy and I continued to play cards. We finally climbed into bed and about two minutes after we said goodnight the early tap out started talking in his sleep, either speaking another language or more likely speaking gibberish. The two of us started cracking up and then the sleeper talker chuckled and turned to us and said “I know. Right?” Then he got up and walked to the bathroom, walking in and out of the door a couple times. He appeared to be looking for the light switch and eventually after some directions he found it. He used the facilities and then went and climbed back into bed. I had trouble sleeping and about an hour later he got up again and wandered around for a while before finally going into the bathroom and I’m assuming sitting, because he did not use the light this time but there was no mess in the morning. After exiting the bathroom he went and lay down on the couch for about an hour before getting up and wandering around again and then returning to his bed. I think the most impressive part was that there was a very low ceiling over the bed and he managed to never crack his head on it. The next morning he had absolutely no recollection of any of this. I thanked him for providing some great entertainment for my insomniac self.

We packed up our things and headed back to our favorite restaurant where they unlocked the doors when we arrived. Once again we had some struggle with the ordering process, but got what were trying to order just not in the correct quantity. Like the night before it was quite tasty. We then said a fond farewell to Belogradchik and drove over to the nearby Magura Cave. We passed through a couple of ghost towns on our way. The odd part was that while several of the houses did look abandoned there were others that looked like they were lived in yet we saw no people. We arrived at the cave and paid our admission then entered. I’m not sure if it was the time of year or the fact that it was a weekday or a combination of the two but we were not able to visit the section of the cave with the prehistoric cave drawings. Even without that though the cave was amazing, and so much bigger than I had thought it was. Every time that I left one cavern I expected to come upon the stairs to exit the cave but instead would just find another large cavern with vast differences from the previous one. Just like at the Belogradchik fortress we had the place to ourselves. Seriously, travel in the offseason.