12 April 2025 – Bulgaria = My 50^th Country

Miles driven today = 110

Total Miles to date = 3,434

I reached a landmark today.  Bulgaria is the 50^th Country I have set foot in during my time on this big ol’ World.  There are a few caveats behind that, mind.  I count the UK as four separate countries, of course, but I haven’t included anywhere where I have merely transited through airports like Dubai and South Africa and I certainly don’t include The Maldives where unfortunately the closest we got was sitting on the runway at Male airport while a handful of passengers joined our flight home from Sri Lanka.  I also don’t include Hungary even though I did accidentally spend 5 minutes within its borders, but that’s a story I will save for when we do get there legitimately in a couple of weeks’ time.

We made our way up the coast from Ierrissos this morning.  In the picture here is Stratoni with the Athos Peninsula stretching out beyond and Mount Athos just visible through the mist to the left.  We zigged and zagged our way past the Ancient City Walls of Stageria near Olympiada, making Lisa feel a little queezy until we hit the much straighter tolled motorway north of Stavros.

Shortly after that we bade farewell to the Mediterranean and swung inland, making our way north to Serres on wide and predominantly well surfaced trunk roads.  We stopped for a quick lunch before making our way up the Struma River valley on the motorway for the final approach to the Bulgarian border.

Bulgaria is now part of the Schengen area so there were no checks at the border but we did need to sort out a "vignette" to allow us to drive on Bulgarian roads.  It’s a straightforward process for vehicles under 3.5 tonnes.  You just buy an e-vignette online and your number plate is automatically recognised as being legal.  However my understanding was that being over that weight we would have to get hold of some sort of toll box which you stick in your windscreen.  So we pulled in at the “BG Toll” booth where an official looking guy took me through the buying process for an ordinary <3.5 tonne vignette and assured us we would be absolutely fine with that.  A 1 month pass cost 27 Lev which equates to a little over £12.  We also spotted an ATM so we are flush with Bulgarian notes as we understand a lot of the campsites here don’t accept cards.

We stopped for the night just a mile north of the border at the Sunny Paradise Campsite.  It’s run by a lovely couple called Ivo and Ana and their dog Princess in what is effectively their back garden.  I get the impression that we may be their first guests of the year as the place really isn’t ready yet but there is a hot shower and they only charged us a reduced rate of €15 for the night.

The campsite is in the small village of Chuchuligovo, which is hugely ironic as there is an infrequently used train track close by.

We did a lap of the village which probably took all of 15 minutes.  We have sheep for neighbours and can hear their clanking bells on the other side of the fence when they come close enough.

These guys were just wandering around on the roadside, together with assorted other poultry.

Most of the buildings seem to be made of very roughly fired bricks.  Many had roofs collapsing and we played a guessing game as to which ones were currently occupied.

A number had their gardens filled with small vineyards.

You might have to enlarge the photo but here is a stork casually walking down the road.

Lots of the telegraph poles are crowned with their nests and we spotted a couple of adults returning with what looked like beaks full of frogs for their youngsters.  The ones in Ivo and Ana’s swimming pool had better watch their backs.

Also note that the storks’ nest is in turn adorned by the nests of smaller birds.  Weavers perhaps?

We start our exploration of Bulgaria properly tomorrow but for now, in alphabetical order, here’s those 50 countries, with Romania (51) and Hungary (52) to follow shortly if all goes to plan…

Andorra

Austria

Belgium

Belize

Bermuda

Bulgaria

Cambodia

Canada

China

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

England

Finland

France

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Guatemala

Holland

Hong Kong

India

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Laos

Luxembourg

Mexico

Morocco

Myanmar

New Zealand

Northern Ireland

Philippines

Portugal

San Marino

Scotland

Slovakia

South Korea

Spain

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

USA

Vatican City

Vietnam

Wales

Zimbabwe

13 April 2025 - Melnik