MAKING BACON

…

and now…

due to some pretty strong demands …

from some very pretty bikers…

You can now follow the antics of

some Bikers in Bulgaria here BIKERS ride BULGARIA!

enjoy…

and of course you could always ride in here CUSTOM BIKES LOW RIDERS YAMAHA MAXIM

During the first week of  May there is a holiday in Bulgaria.  Starting on the 1st May and continuing through until after the 6th which marks, funnily enough the day of St. George for the Christians here and Bulgaria’s National Army day for everyone.

The local town of Kirkovo…which to give and idea to those who know, it’s about the same size as Criccieth…was the venue for the days festivities.  The fairground rides and trade stands were doing a roaring trade, although I didn’t really fancy any of the rides, health and safety is not paramount here!  A footie game was also underway and drew a big crowd.

A traditional Bulgarian band and singer were entertaining the whole town as families and friends sat around chatting.  A much calmer and friendly version of Ffair Criccieth!!!

That evening there was a meal at the local Motel and very nice it was too…I was introduced to the local brew of Rakia…there are no photos of this event as I was too wrecked to aim a camera!!

The next evening it was round to Pepe’s for home cooked lamb and bits and a special Bulgar wheat salad and fish for me.  It does seem that all I do here is eat out…but taking photos of a regular night in with egg and chips isn’t quite so interesting!

Although it may seem that I spend all my time out here having days and meals out…sometimes it is very necessary and all part of the plan!

Today was a to be a day of sorting land ownership documents which meant using the skills of a local business man who ”if he doesn’t know, no one will” is the best description!

The morning started as usual with coffee at the local Motel before heading into Kirkovo to the Land and Housing Offices for the area in question.  We were soon told that these papers could only be obtained by travelling upto Kardjali, an hour away.  So off we headed…

Kardjali is the bigest town and capital of the region and is a definate mixture of ancient and modern.  The town sits on the banks of the Arda river and has 2 huge reservoirs, one to the east and one to the west.  A massive construction job is soon to be completed of a  damming of the river to produce a huge lake within the centre of the town.

By the time we had driven to Kardjali it was office lunchtime and so drove through and up over the hills until the beautiful resevoir revealed itself.  Down a narrow lane we came to an array of floating restaurants with attached fish cages, so again it looked like fresh fish was on the menu for lunch!  Again the food was good, fresh and plentiful and lunch for 3 of us plus 2 coffees, and 2 and half pints of the local beer came to 25 leva (£12.50!)

The drive back into Kardjali took us through the Gypsy suburbs overlooking the River Arda, soon to be town centre reservoir.

We spent the afternoon being sent from one office building to another and another to achieve nothing at the end of the day – but i’m afraid this can be a typical documente day in Bulgaria!…made less of a bind by a lovely lunch by the lakes!

A friend of Suzi’s was in the area mid week so we were invited to have a meal with them.  Choice of venue was Pepe’s house a few hundred yards from the farm.

Pepe and her husband and 2 daughters are Turkish Bulgarians and it is customary when entering a Turkish home, to take off your shoes at the door.  Quite often you are offered a pair of pretty hand knittted socks to wear in the house.  I was and duly accepted.

The main meal cooked by Pepe was a lamb Moussaka, which unfortunately I could not sample.  As a veggie, I am a bit of a novelty; but Pepe excelled and there was plenty on the table for me to tuck into.  A huge selection of other meats and sausages were cooked on an outdoor griddle (technically not a BBQ!) and some long yellow peppers for me!

A bottle of something I cannot even begin to describe (but I will!) was brought to the table, much to the disgust of Suzi and her friend.  The drink is called ‘Boza’ and was a brown, cloudy looking liquid and as the bottle top was undone the fermented drink shot out like a shaken bottle of Cola!  Apparently it is a fermented, yeasty, grain drink….looks awful, tastes yummy!!

The next day I was taken to lunch at a restaurant above Benkovski.  The mini complex started out as a breeding fish pond where you could pop along with your rod and catch your own lunch.  the enterprising owner thought he’d cook the fish for you while you carry on fishing.  Then decided to open up as a proper restaurant, fish netted for you to order…can’t get fresher than that!!  Last year 4 chalets were built nearby and the whole Complex Yagnevo looks out on to the most beautiful views.

Three of us ate a huge Carp between us that we saw netted and and grilled on a big open air grill (again, not a BBQ!)  It was served with toast and a big salad with olives and a feta type cheese.  We all had a drink and the whole tasty and very pleasant Al Fresco meal cost a huge 21 leva (less than £11!!!)

I enquired about the chalet prices also – chalet for 2 (twin beds, fridge, TV, walk in shower) was 17 Euro per night!!!  Unbelievable!

If anyone is thinking of coming down this way for a little holiday and want to be countryside based I can highly recommend this place.  (Hire car is a must!  Although there are cheap buses between the towns, ’tis always good to go exploring!)

I am still fascinated with the fact that tortoises are wild here in Bulgaria…obviously they aren’t ‘wild’ in the sense of being party animals, but free to roam.  I will keep adding to my gallery of tortoises I met along the way, whether you’re interested or not!

(and for those of you who think I have completely taken leave of my senses…I am not moving the same tortoise around onto different surfaces!!!)

Now, if you’d seen your mates sat out in their garden as you were driving by – you’d park up and pop in for a brew wouldn’t you?  Well that’s just what we did and did not expect the outcome!   As we were sat ther chatting about the tabacco planting (a huge village cash crop here) we hear the thundering of hooves and a very loud clattering coming up the narrow lane – a young ploughing horse had become spooked and done a runner dragging its plough behind it at a great speed.  As it came round the corner the plough swung out and – crunch! pop!  The little green MGF got it!  The horse later stopped at the next settlement up the road nearly a mile away and suffered no injuries, and thankfully the kiddies that were out playing had gone indoors.  So the wooden leg of a spare wheel was fitted and it was off to the tyre shop in Kardjali.

It was a lazy start to Saturday with several tiny cups of strong coffee sat outside the local Motel.  The mission for the day was to photograph a plot for sale that had 3 buildings on it.  After driving around the village near Kirkovo we finally found the derelict properties at the back of the village up a dirt track.  All 3 building will need complete renovation – fun project if you have the time and cheap too!  Once the seller has signed documents to indicate he wishes to sell than Suzi will place it on her forum.

Once the deed was done it was time for a spin in the MGF.  Agreeably not the most sensible car for the majority of the Bulgarian roads, but on a day such as it was it was time to go topless!….or put the roof down!

After stopping briefly to take some snaps of a female stork nest building with 2 males competing for attention, we headed west through some magnificent evergreen forests and corckscrew bends.  Our direction was to Zlatograd where last August a road over to Komotini in Greece was supposed to have opened…..still waiting  but Bg have built their bit!

The sights by the roadside are just so interesting, I mean where in the UK would you see a walking haystacks, trucks parked in rivers, donkeys withcarts and bloody tortoises!

Zlatograd is mainly an industrial town with a scruffy approach but a pleasant surprise awaits as you get near the centre.  In 2001 the ‘old town’ was transformed into a living museum called The Ethnographic Aerial Complex; where tradidtional buildings were renovated back to their original state – and very beautiful they look too.  The local people who were living in the old town were promised relocation to ‘lovely’ modern accommodation…have a look at the images below and make your own mind up!

The journey back home took us back along the pituresque river valley and some amazing rocky out-crops near Benkovski.  Some of the shapes formed by centuries of weathering have produced some interesting shapes.

We took a detour over the hill from Benkovsi to a lovely hidden lake and damn at Maglene, the road was dodgy but worth the view when we got there!

Quick Cafe stop and home we head to the house on the hill!

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=bulgaria&ie=UTF8&ll=41.377324,25.246582&spn=0.122112,0.350189&z=12

As Suzi has been out here in Bulgaria a couple of years she has picked up a fair amount of the Bulgarian language as well as Turkish.  In the southern region where we are, there has been a large return of Turkish people  over the years and the language predomenantly spoken in the out lying villages is Turkish.  This can make learning words and phrases very interesting as I now have a mixed vocab of only a few words…some Bulgarian, some Turkish and a smattering of Greek as Suzi lived on Crete for 12 years!!!  Did you know that ‘mush’ is Bulgarian for man, and ‘Su’ is Turkish for water! haha!

One thing on my list of  ‘to do’s’ was to visit the Kirkovo dentist, Lilly.  Suzi was undergoing treatment so I went along and without having to stand accountable infront of an over officious receptionist, I was seen immediately in this clean and friendly surgery.  With Suzi to translate I was told I needed 2 xrays and these would be available by going to Momchilgrad, 24km away – so off we go!  A ultra modern dental technician’s surgery that saw you immediately and charged 10 leva (£5) per xray…and people say that Bulgaria is a backward country! Ha!  So the treatment is ongoing and I had my second painless appointment today – third one next week.

We have been on several outings to different towns and villages in the region and every one has its own charm and personality. (See next Post, day trip to Zlatograd)  The roads are pretty poor where tarmac is patched, patched and patched again…sometimes not at all, leaving huge potholes to be avoided at all costs!  Travelling in Suzi’s 4×4 presents no problems, but going for a spin in the ickle MGF can be an ‘interesting’ run out.  Where the roads are good it’s time for a burst of power…short lived by the slowing down for creatures crossing the road.  And today I saw with disbelief…a tortoise!!!!  What the hell?!  They roam free and wild here and everyone is happy to take time to drive around them.

The next day Suzi took me on a tour of the ‘estate’ and explained a few of her plans that we might get stuck into eventually. We then retreated to check our emails and report my safe arrival to whoever wanted to know!