We went by car to Bulgaria, not for the sake of the beach, but for the sake of knowledge
How we went to Bulgaria by car.
Cries and songs of the Ukrainian soul. Recordings were made right along the journey, in real time, in hot pursuit. I made notes to help all our Slavic brothers who would think of going to Bulgaria by car. If this is not the case, I apologize in advance. She wrote from the heart, without cuts, as it is. Let's start...
* We drove almost all of Ukraine. We are already on our way to Bolgrad. The village of Dolinovka before and after - terrible impassability: pits, only pits! We drive no more than 30 km/h. My husband is tired of swearing...We're going to Bolgrad. Where is m. . fuck him, dear? Pits in the wheel! The road looks like after the bombing.
We passed some other village or town...This is a road to hell! ! ! Only this song sounds in my brain, except for the mats of my husband.
Trenches and potholes all the way! The village of Zadunaevka...The locals don't even drive on these roads, but drive, if possible, on a dirt road, or across a field.
Nera (the dog) withstood us better, she was staunchly silent all the way. What Europe?
We move out from the central highway - and pipets begins.
Why listen to the navigator? (he's looking for both in short! ). He will not tell you where the road is, but where is one direction. And it was necessary to go through Tatarbunary!! ! !
* Hotel in Bolgrad 250 UAH double room. There are 3 hotels in Bolgrad. Ours had a green luminous sign "Hotel" (simple))) It is better to book in advance, because there are few rooms, only Russians spent the night in a car under the hotel.
* All borders passed normally without queues, but the Moldovan-Romanian border took 4.5 hours - I think it has already been cursed many times and those customs officers will burn in hell. Why? They extort money for the absence of anything, find fault and stand, extort, brazenly grinning, leading into a corner, which is why everyone is standing for so long, and not because of some kind of particularly thorough examination of things.
They asked Belarusians for 50 € for not having a yellow vest, and from Russians who have a residence permit in Greece and live there for 9 years, having a house there and a car with Greek numbers - they were asked 100 € for not having a visa (this is not legal , because with a residence permit a visa is no longer needed).
There should be a yellow vest in the trunk, and in winter also chains for the wheels, they check the first aid kit, a fire extinguisher ...I advise you to have all this. A dog was traveling with us with all the certificates, vaccinations and a Bulgarian passport. We were told that they would not let us in, because there was no veterinarian, and they offered to wait 4 hours or go to another pass. Freaks! We "hooked" and let us through after a long squabble.
* The Romanian venetka (it's like a toll) was bought at the Petrom gas station and only they have venetki, although our Bulgarian friend says that they are at every gas station, but they do not want to sell to Bulgarians and Russians. It was a big problem to find an exchange in Sun in Galati, but one good Romanian suggested it.
Romanians are frostbitten in shops and gas stations, but ordinary people on the street can help with a smile if they know English, because they hardly know Russian.
I then concluded that our navigator is Romanian)) and the woman who prompts in the navigator is also Romanian (the navigator is not “garmin”).
* In Romania and Bulgaria there are many windmills in the fields, and at night they burn with red lights. Beautiful!
Bulgaria: ceramic tiles are everywhere on private houses. In Bulgaria: to the left - "nalyavo", to the right - "nadyasno", straight - "to the right". Do not confuse, otherwise you can get lost. Gasoline 95 costs 2.44 leva - 13 UAH. Be sure to buy a Bulgarian wreath! Traffic cops generally don’t stop for no reason, and you can, of course, save money and not buy it, but if you suddenly get caught by traffic cops, then the fine for not having a wreath is very high. In Romania and Bulgaria, traffic cops are warned, but not thanked for the warning.
In general, there are few traffic cops (and thank God), but there are cameras in Bulgaria - such boxes on a 2-meter pole, they record speeding and send photos directly to the traffic police website. The letter of happiness will come later)). But there are also very few cameras, and there are more (fake) warnings about them.
* 1 lev = about 5.5 UAH.
* Plovdiv is a small, ancient city, there are many ancient buildings in the center, another amphitheater is being dug up, and the one that has long been excavated is now being restored and, unfortunately, fenced off. Prices in Plovdiv MOLs are very cheap, especially since discounts started at the end of August.
Asenovgrad - the city of wedding dresses and Asen's fortress. There is a shop with these dresses at every step. All Bulgaria comes here for them.
* About Santorini 3* (Sveti Vlas). The room is small, there is a condo, refrigerators, TV with Russian channels. 1 towel per person.
The double bed is two beds pushed together, the mattresses are hard at the edges, when you try to lie down in the middle - the beds instantly quickly move apart : (. breakfast from 8:30-10:00, lunch 12:30-14:30, dinner 18:00-23:00.
If you pay separately for breakfast, then it costs 2.5 € per person. For breakfast in the morning there is a choice of 2: either a sandwich or an omelette (the next day, bacon or sausages with vegetables and cheese). That is, there is always a sandwich, and something else, but different from day to day. The waitress-bartender works, she brings food and drinks, which are also included in the paid breakfast (Teresa from the Czech Republic was on our check-in, she was very nice, we spoke to her in English). Soup at lunch costs 2 leva. In the hotel, I did not see that they cleaned the pool, the water is cloudy both in our country and in the neighboring hotel: -0. Although, the hotel told me that they saw the pool being cleaned regularly (apparently early in the morning? ? ? ).
* Go to the beach 5 minutes - it's true)). The beach and water are clean, the beach is sandy. The water is warm, 23 degrees, you don't want to go out : ). Rent for the day of a sun lounger - 7 leva (38.5 UAH), an umbrella - 3 leva (16.5 UAH). Toilet - 1 lev on the beach, and in a fish restaurant, above the beach - 0.5 lev. As an example of prices: peaches cost 3-3.5 levs (19 UAH) near the beach and the hotel, 2.5 levs a little closer to the city center, and on the highway you can buy them for 1-1.5 levs per kg (5.5-7.5 UAH), also and with other fruits. In a store in St. Vlas - "Milka" ice cream cone 1.8 levs, bread 1-1.3 levs, cheese 12-17 levs per kg (66-93.5 UAH), local chocolate 1.4 levs, and shekodad "Milka" 1.8 levs (10 UAH ). In supermarkets on the highway, or in quiet shops for their own, local - prices are lower. The cheapest ice cream balls I have seen are in Plovdiv and Burgas: 1.29 lev per 100 gr. In small resort towns, it already costs 1.59 leva per 100 gr. There are no sweets by weight: either in a box, or bars and waffles, or chocolate bars.
In principle, the prices are not much lower than our Ukrainian ones for cheese and sausage, but their quality is better. On the highway they sell buffalo "mlyako" inexpensively, it looks like homemade kefir, I liked it.
Once we dined in a fish restaurant above the beach: 3 leva is a portion of fish soup, took two, and 4 leva is a large plate of fried anchovy (delicious! ). In total, we dined for 10 leva (55 UAH).
In Burgas: 1.5 leva is a big hot dog or a small pizza, another lev for ayran 0.5 l. and water 0.5 l.
* In Plovdiv you can buy everything much cheaper. For example, a well-tailored, high-quality, fashionable leather jacket can be bought for 250-300 lev. In Varna, my husband barely found (who is to blame for not buying in Plovdiv? ) such a jacket for 300 lev (more precisely, he barely bargained : )) Bulgarian branded cosmetics "Refan" in Varna already costs more (for example, roll-on perfumes without alcohol: Plovdiv - 3 leva (regular Mall), Varna (Grand Mall) - 5 lev.
Bottom line: I strongly advise you to visit the old Nessebar - the city is very beautiful, old, but very "studded" with street vendors - these are stalls and shops right in ancient buildings ....In short, the view is noticeably spoiled. Where is UNESCO looking? I highly recommend visiting Plovdiv! A trip to Shipka and to Asen's fortress, and to the monastery further behind Asen's fortress - I also advise very much! It would be nice to see Burgas, a port and tourist city, and Varna. In Sveti Vlas, of course, there is nothing special to see - a pretty, cozy resort complex.
* Parking in Bulgaria is all paid, hourly, everything! If you park under a prohibition sign - do not hesitate: the wheels can block, a tow truck will arrive. Do not park on the sidewalk either. Everything is harsh. Locals, if they park in the wrong place, turn on the emergency gang, but ....not for long. My advice is to park or in the yard (but not in front of garages!
), or along small, non-central streets, where there is no sign "stopping and parking is prohibited" - this is how the locals do it.
* I strongly advise you to try as many dishes of Bulgarian cuisine as possible. Everything is delicious! Prices in restaurants are not more expensive than in Ukraine, and in some places even cheaper. The portions are large, you can not calculate the strength - I say with all seriousness - order carefully)). Everywhere they cook tasty, high quality, conscientiously, God bless them, all Bulgarians are healthy!
* Back home. Romania: on the way - the city of Constanta - boring, in the Soviet monotonous-concrete gray-beige-pinkish color. The quality of roads in Romania is good, while in Bulgaria it is better. In Galati, right in the city, you can still meet a cart with a horse on the road. And in Moldova, carts pulled by a donkey, or two donkeys, are often found along the route.
Ahead of the Romanian-Moldovan border. At the Romanian customs stood in line for 2 hours. And then on the bridge over the river. Prut turn.
The permit to the Moldovan customs passes 4 cars. Maybe because it's the night? We've been standing for 40 minutes. We missed it, we are standing at the Moldavian customs - Gurgulesti. Environmental fee 20 UAH : )) otherwise we will pass through Moldova, we will suddenly spoil the ecology for them)). In the opposite direction, the same nonsense: a long line, people are let through a little bit through the checkpoint. They let me into Moldova quickly, the check and so on took 10 minutes. An important fact: we are not going through Reni, but through Vulcanesti - because the road is much better there. 22:50 we are in Moldova. 23:30 - we are on the border of Moldova-Ukraine. We are standing, waiting for whatever, as usual on our and neighboring borders (I won’t say anything bad about the Russian-Ukrainian border, except sometimes queues). 23:45 - we are free and we are already going to our customs officers. Our queue is short, but again everything is not fast: 00:25 and we are allowed into the Ridna Gandurashchyna!
