Martin Jeffes in Bulgaria and the Balkans
A Collection of his Writings
Introduction by Barry and Margaret Williamson
Martin founded, built and managed the Sakar Hills campsite in SE Bulgaria, before recently handing it over to his son Matt and retiring to the south coast of England. Near to the campsite Bulgaria meets Greece and Turkey, making a rare European triple point, which for forty-five years was the southern end of the Iron Curtain. It remains a place where cultures, languages, religions, histories and much else meet; a place where a bicycle takes you through the three countries on a magnificent circular ride. We should know!
What follows are just a few of the many words Martin has written over the years, words that create their own landscapes, populated by people whose activities are captured with a wry humour. Here we are at the interface of Bulgarians, English ex-pats and a heterogenous bunch of worldwide campers and tourists. Complementing this rich mix is Martin’s fascination with Bulgaria’s origins, using his trusty Land Rover to trace the remnants of Thracian and Roman occupation.
The following collection of Martin’s writings over the years is one of seven.
The other six collections are:
Martin in England
Martin in Australia
Martin in his Land Rovers
Grapevines One and Two
Grapevine Three
Grapevine Four
As well as many Photographs
Martin founded, built and managed the Sakar Hills campsite in SE Bulgaria, before recently handing it over to his son Matt and retiring to the south coast of England. Near to the campsite Bulgaria meets Greece and Turkey, making a rare European triple point, which for forty-five years was the southern end of the Iron Curtain. It remains a place where cultures, languages, religions, histories and much else meet; a place where a bicycle takes you through the three countries on a magnificent circular ride. We should know!
What follows are just a few of the many words Martin has written over the years, words that create their own landscapes, populated by people whose activities are captured with a wry humour. Here we are at the interface of Bulgarians, English ex-pats and a heterogenous bunch of worldwide campers and tourists. Complementing this rich mix is Martin’s fascination with Bulgaria’s origins, using his trusty Land Rover to trace the remnants of Thracian and Roman occupation.
The following collection of Martin’s writings over the years is one of seven.
The other six collections are:
Martin in England
Martin in Australia
Martin in his Land Rovers
Grapevines One and Two
Grapevine Three
Grapevine Four
As well as many Photographs
Arriving in Bulgaria
First a few words about our part of Bulgaria. It’s somewhat backward! The minor roads are full of potholes, the only thing keeping the economy going is agriculture, propped up by EU grants, and few people over twenty-five years old speak English. But there is virtually no crime in our region, you have to go to the cities to find that. You can feel perfectly safe here, and the people are straightforward, honest and friendly, if somewhat work-shy.
No-one has a clue what tourism is all about; the only tourism there is is on the Black Sea in summer, and the ski resorts in winter, relying on being the cheapest options in the brochures. When we came here ten years ago there were no campsites, and when we registered the campsite with our local authority, they could not understand why people would want to drive from somewhere else to park in a field and sleep in their caravan, and, since they had no category in their system for campsite, they had to put us down as a hotel, and even gave us a plaque to screw on the wall which showed we were a two-star hotel.
Now there are a handful of decent campsites, mostly run by expats, but with one or two owned by Bulgarians. Most of them aim to bring people to them to spend part or all of their holiday at their campsite, whereas we, by virtue of our proximity to Greece and Turkey and the main roads thereto, see our market as being people who are transiting the country on the way to their holiday destination, or on their way back. A lot of our visitors stop twice with us, once on the way into Turkey, (the most popular destination), and once on the way back.
It is inevitable that the country will open up as a tourist destination in its own right one day, and that day cannot be too far away, as more and more people go to Azerbaijan, Albania, Macedonia and the other emerging places. Bulgaria has much to offer people who like quiet holidays away from the madding crowd, with its Rhodope Mountains, which boast many ancient settlements and tombs, as well as bird sanctuaries, peaceful rivers and beautiful scenery.
The Thracian citadel of Perperikon (do a Google search on it) and the old town in Plovdiv with its Roman amphitheatre are within easy reach of us. One day someone will develop activity holidays for people who want to paint, do pottery, canoe, walk or even join in the annual grape-picking and winemaking. It’s completely untapped at the moment.
The weather. Winters here can be a bit rough, with temperatures dropping to minus 15 Celsius or more at times, but they are short; usually only December to end of February. From mid-April to the end of September you can expect the weather to be good, with July and August temperatures up to 40 Celsius. Some years we get no rain from early May to mid-September. During the summer months, if it rains, it is likely to be thunderstorm rain, which usually means a deluge for half an hour or so and then more sunshine.
Sakar Hills Camping
Now the campsite. We opened the campsite in the spring of 2008, and have been open from April to October every year since. Why did we open it? My wife and I, having made the conscious decision to spend more of our time in Bulgaria than in the UK, felt we would need something to occupy ourselves, to stop us getting bored, so, as there were no campsites then, we decided that it would be a good idea to open one. We bought the property in Biser, which is a site of just over three and a half thousand square metres, in 2007 and created Sakar Hills Camping.
The site is on the edge of the village, which gives us a good degree of privacy and quiet, and to the rear of the property is a railway embankment, which carries a single-track overhead-electrified railway line, which is actually the line that runs form Plovdiv to Istanbul. On the field we have four service bollards, which each have four electric power sockets, a cold water tap and a light that operates from a light-sensitive switch. We have a wooden structure, roofed over to provide shade, with tables and benches for guests to use, to eat meals, use our Wifi, or just sit and have a drink and read a book.
The site is fenced to the rear and sides, and has a decorative wall to the front, with a pair of steel gates where the drive enters. To the left of the drive, as you enter, is the house, which is roughly 11.5 x 11.5 metres, and is a two-storey building. It is, currently, split into two self-contained flats. As you enter the building through the front door there is a small lobby, from which a short staircase of five or six steps gives access to the front door of the ground floor flat, and then, by another two longer flights of stairs, to the first floor flat. The ground floor flat has a small fitted kitchen, one bedroom with bathroom off, a lounge and a large room that we use to store stuff in, but which could be a dining room, which has a balcony outside, with steps down to the garden. The first floor flat is currently laid out as a fitted kitchen, with bathroom off, two bedrooms and a lounge, with balcony outside with views to the mountains. In the roof-space is a 200-litre electric boiler, which is linked to two solar panels facing south on the roof. This boiler supplies hot water to the house and the shower block during the summer months. In addition, both flats have an 80-litre electric boiler, so that, during the winter months, when the campsite is closed, and there is equally less demand for hot water, and less sunshine, each flat can be provided with hot water from a more economical source.
The shower/toilet block is immediately to the rear of the house. There are separate sections for male/female use and each has an entry area with washbasin and mirror, with light over, and, leading from this, two wet-room units, each with shower, loo and washbasin with light over. Hence we have four showers, four loos and six washbasins in total. Drainage of this building and the house is to a septic tank, at the moment, but this summer mains drainage was installed throughout the village, at some considerable upheaval to the roads and infrastructure, and so we plan to connect all our systems to the main drainage in the spring.
Behind the shower block there is a waste-water dump point for the emptying of caravan loo cassettes, with a water tap nearby, and on the other side of a dividing wall, hidden from view, we have a 3500-litre tank, as a back-up fresh water supply, for occasions when the mains supply fails to supply, which is not unknown in these parts. However, while installing the new mains drainage this year, a new freshwater supply system was laid through the village, so maybe, supply problems will be a thing of the past. This emergency supply is run by an on-demand pump, located in our storeroom, which operates when there is a drop of pressure in the system, such as a tap being turned on.
The Campers
This year was our second-best year, only being beaten by 2012, by a short margin. While the takings from the campsite are never going to make an impact on Wall Street, it could be viewed as a useful supplement to a UK state pension. In real terms, while loathe to quote actual figures, our takings this year amount to about the same as an average working Bulgarian’s annual wage, and, given the low cost of living here, is worth having. Most of our guests don’t book in advance, they just turn up, and by and large, we get a minimum of one or two each day, and some pre-booked groups of up to 20 campervans, usually Dutch. We already have 2 such bookings for next year.
We feature in several guidebooks, mainly German and Dutch, and are listed on some apps, such as TripAdvisor and Google maps. We are also part of a six-strong loose association of the best campsites in Bulgaria, which each promote the other sites.
House in Kolarovo
We had a busy few weeks winterising everything at Kolarovo, we've got a swimming pool there now, which further complicates the process, but, when we left at the end of 2016, I had drawn up a list of all the things that needed special attention, and as we didn't get back there until May of 2018, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our preparations against the ravages of winter had been good enough to prevent any damage at all. We were able to walk into the house switch on the various electrical appliances such as the water heater, computer, fridge, et al, and find they all worked, and no burst pipes. So we used the same list this time, following it exactly.
In Bulgaria
Weather here is a bit mixed at the moment. Although we are still getting a reasonable amount of hot sunny weather, we are also getting very strong winds in the late afternoons and evenings. The wildfire risk is very real at the moment. Over the four days around last weekend it was reported in our internet newspaper that there were 918 fires in 4 days. This must surely be a record for negligence and bad housekeeping.
Bulgaria in Retrospect
It was interesting to revisit the place and view it, not as someone who spends time there, but just as an observer. The Bulgarian people we knew in our old local town, our lawyer, our insurance broker and the like, seem to be prospering, which is encouraging, but it was noticeable that they are beginning to view Russia as more of a potential friend than they do the EU, which is of concern. Of the Brit expats we knew, they appear to be stuck in a time-warp, living and looking just as they had, when last we saw them.
It was certainly an interesting experience, in that I felt like an observer looking in on other people going about their lives, while not being a part of their lives. This must be how it is for you.
Of the Brits that we met that we had known a mere three or four years ago, there appeared to be little change, although the menfolk all looked as though they haven't brushed their hair or shaved for at least a month, while the women looked just the same as in my memory. Of the Bulgarians, some are doing well; our advocate (solicitor) and her husband have bought a holiday home in Greece, and Bobby and Kamen, more inspired by Bobby than Kamen, now have three or four holiday rental properties in villages around Harmanli, and her insurance brokerage goes from strength to strength.
Our local policeman, by contrast, has not recovered from the death of his parents, and seems to be suffering from some sort of depression. The former mayor is still just the former mayor, looking fit and well, and now living in the well-appointed house that her husband had had done up for her a few years ago. The town of Harmanli seemed, to my untrained eye, to be nearly empty, apart from a sizeable male immigrant population, to be seen wandering aimlessly about the town. Cafes almost empty at lunch time, and few people on the streets. Shirley would have me believe they've all gone to the Black Sea coast for the summer, but I don't buy that. The two big vineries in Kolarovo are now assets of a creditor bank that precipitated the failure of another bank a few years ago and have not produced any wine for two or three years.
Similarly, the vineyards around the village were not harvested last year, and are not receiving any maintenance and are not going to be picked again this year.
We visited our old house and met the new owners, who clearly are very fond of the place and are looking after it with love. All the trees we planted have now got irrigation systems helping them survive the summer and are looking well.
I expected the house to call out to us, wanting us back, I suppose, but there was no such feeling, and, when we left, after a pleasant half hour there, there was no lingering farewell.
More Reflections on Bulgaria
We can’t spend much time there now, and, if you're not there to keep nature at bay, it doesn't take long for what value there is in a place to start to diminish, and Bulgaria isn't the best-organised property market in the world. A bird in the hand, etc. I like to think that, in the seventeen years that we inflicted ourselves on the village, the worst that can be said is that we left it in no worse state than it was in when first we found it. It certainly changed considerably during our time there, and, truth to say, isn't still quite the semi-medieval oasis that we had found in 2005. But that is progress, aided by greed, and a large dollop of recklessly scattered EU cash.
Are we sorry to let it go? I don't think so, really. We were lucky enough to be in a certain place, at a certain time, and with a handful of other people, some lovely, some not quite so, and it became a special time and place. The place has changed, and most of those people have either moved on, or died, and it is unlikely that, despite our best efforts, we would have been able to recreate the same aura or mood, or whatever, if we continued to frequent the place.
And so the world turns, or might do, if our advocate and the buyer's advocate can get their a's into gear.
The Transit of Serbia
Among other things in a full life, Martin and Shirley built and manage Camping Sakar Hills in the far southeast of Bulgaria, adjacent to that country’s borders with Greece and Turkey. Returning from a visit to the UK, travelling in their Land Rover pulling a double-axle caravan, they decided to transit Serbia from Hungary. Usually, they have reached Bulgaria via Romania. This is their story:
Our journey back was mildly eventful, partly because of the cold weather we found, and partly due to minor car problems. Having got a mid-day ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, (thirty nine pounds through the Caravan Club), we spent the first night on the Dutch/German border, the second on the German/Austrian border, both in the caravan, and the third, oh bliss, in a hotel just outside Szeged. The next morning we found we had a flat tyre, so did a quick wheel change, and on our way by 9.30 am. This time we had decided to give Serbia a try, and so a few minutes later we did the border crossing, without any problem.
The problem came when we were halfway through Serbia, and found that the engine compartment of the trusty Land Rover had been liberally sprayed with the oil which should have been in the engine. Close examination revealed that the two bolts holding the lid on the oil pump had worked loose, allowing the oil to leave home. A Turkish lorry driver helped me get one bolt to hold the lid down, in a bitterly cold wind in a Serbian service area, and, having lost about an hour and a half of valuable time, we set off again, on a journey that now required us to stop at every rest area to check that the bolt was holding, and the new six litres of oil I had bought were staying in the right place. If ever there was a country that you don’t want to be crossing with no spare wheel and a potentially serious engine problem, it has to be Serbia.
Luckily, however, we reached the border with Bulgaria at about 8.30 pm and had no trouble at all crossing. We had paid about 20 euros on ‘péage’ tolls in Serbia, and were impressed how good the journey had been, except for a little bit of a detour around Belgrade, due to roadworks. Generally, I would say that the quality of the roads we used in Serbia was good. Ninety per cent of the journey was on dual carriageway, most of which was in good condition. Although the road surface had been patched in places, which was a trifle uncomfortable, there were no potholes. There are newly built filling stations about every ten miles, or so, some with motels, some with cafes. Also the road signs were good enough to not cause confusion, even on the detour section around Belgrade.
We only undertook this journey because our vehicle is now Bulgarian-registered, which makes it easy to get a Green Card. In fact, no-one even asked to see the Green Card, either entering or leaving the country. If you have to buy a Green Card at the border, as we did a few years ago, it will cost you around 120 euros, so it is probably not such an attractive idea. But it beats the hell out of going through Romania.
Touring in The Balkans
It's not so much wherefore art I, but wherefore is my mind wandering back to.
Our little tour took us through Macedonia, via Lake Ohrid and the Roman ruins at Heraclea, non-stop across Albania, including the madness that is Tirana, into Montenegro, which came as a delightful surprise. We stayed at Kotor for four days, then pushed on up the coast to Dubrovnik, with which we were all disappointed, due to the huge number of other tourists, and the old town having been turned into nothing but bars, cafes and restaurants, all of which, to our trained eye, looked expensive. So on to Split, Zadar, and, eventually Senj, where we turned inland and went to the Plitvice Lakes, which is one of our favourite spots. Stayed our last night away just inside Croatia, then, next day, Serbia and home by evening.
Totally amazed that all the countries visited, including Albania, appeared to have improved roads, housing stock, and, of course, in the case of Montenegro and Croatia, some truly beautiful places.
All in all a most enjoyable few days away, that has given all four of us a lot to think about, regarding where we want to live. (2200 miles in 13 days.)
In Turkey
We’re back now from our seven-day round trip of Turkey, which took us to, among other places, Gallipoli, Pergamon, and Cappadocia, as well as the ancient capital cities of the Hittites and the Phrygians. Turkey is a great country for the traveller; the roads are very good, the people friendly and the food a pleasant change to Bulgarian fare.
In Greece
Four years ago we met a retired Greek army major on the island of Samothraki. He was retired at the age of 45, with a monthly pension of 1500 euros paid by the state.
Unfortunately, the state decided they could not afford 1500 euros, so dropped his pension to 900 euros per month, about which he was less than impressed. Still seemed a reasonable sum to me, given that he might consider turning his hand to something else, to help make ends meet.
It seems to me that Greece has for many years lived beyond its means, retiring people from its large military at 45 years old being an example of this. Paying people an extra month's salary a year being another, and the network of new wide empty roads being yet another.
We are being told by CNN and SKY news that the terms under which Greece agreed to the bailout terms, and the interest they are paying, were significantly better and lower than those given to countries such as Italy and Spain.
I think the reason that SYRIZA has got into power is because before the election they were slightly ambiguous in their election manifesto, giving the impression to the voters that they would tell the Troika to stick their loans up their whatsits. This, I think, appealed immensely to the Greek voters, but, of course, the reality is that it would not be so easy to do, and, if done, they would need some sort of miracle to keep the country going without outside help.
In Bulgaria, as you know, no such employment of largesse from EU funds has been bestowed on the people or the infrastructure. Our roads are full of potholes, the water supply sort of works and things generally sort of continue in some sort of shambolic way. BUT the people here, although they whinge a bit about things having been better in communist times, are used to living within their means, and seem to accept it, or, as in the case of the brighter, young ones, to abandon ship for greener pastures.
In Greece everyone has had several years of living beyond their means on the back of the EU, and now that the party is over, they would like someone to get rid of their debts for them so that the good life can continue. If SYRIZA can keep everyone happy during the coming months, and keep all the balls in the air, and wheels on the wagon, then we should ask them to come and run the EU as well as Greece Their proposals that you have listed are going to cost a good deal of money, and the only way, it seems to me, for them to go forward is for them to get the economy really whizzing. Watch this space.
The following articles can be found on our websites:
The Jeffes Double Land Rover Journey to the UK
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1966/30/index.html
Muppetry on a Grand Scale
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/295/88/index.html
What is 'MagBaz'? Reflections from an Old and Valued Friend
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/2021/515/index.html
The Wilsons’ and the Jeffes’ Transit of Serbia
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1293/30.html
Memories of Bulgaria (139 photographs)
http://www.magbazpictures.com/memories-of-bulgaria.html
Land Rovers, Romans and Thracians (52 photographs)
http://www.magbazpictures.com/land-rovers-romans--thracians.html
First a few words about our part of Bulgaria. It’s somewhat backward! The minor roads are full of potholes, the only thing keeping the economy going is agriculture, propped up by EU grants, and few people over twenty-five years old speak English. But there is virtually no crime in our region, you have to go to the cities to find that. You can feel perfectly safe here, and the people are straightforward, honest and friendly, if somewhat work-shy.
No-one has a clue what tourism is all about; the only tourism there is is on the Black Sea in summer, and the ski resorts in winter, relying on being the cheapest options in the brochures. When we came here ten years ago there were no campsites, and when we registered the campsite with our local authority, they could not understand why people would want to drive from somewhere else to park in a field and sleep in their caravan, and, since they had no category in their system for campsite, they had to put us down as a hotel, and even gave us a plaque to screw on the wall which showed we were a two-star hotel.
Now there are a handful of decent campsites, mostly run by expats, but with one or two owned by Bulgarians. Most of them aim to bring people to them to spend part or all of their holiday at their campsite, whereas we, by virtue of our proximity to Greece and Turkey and the main roads thereto, see our market as being people who are transiting the country on the way to their holiday destination, or on their way back. A lot of our visitors stop twice with us, once on the way into Turkey, (the most popular destination), and once on the way back.
It is inevitable that the country will open up as a tourist destination in its own right one day, and that day cannot be too far away, as more and more people go to Azerbaijan, Albania, Macedonia and the other emerging places. Bulgaria has much to offer people who like quiet holidays away from the madding crowd, with its Rhodope Mountains, which boast many ancient settlements and tombs, as well as bird sanctuaries, peaceful rivers and beautiful scenery.
The Thracian citadel of Perperikon (do a Google search on it) and the old town in Plovdiv with its Roman amphitheatre are within easy reach of us. One day someone will develop activity holidays for people who want to paint, do pottery, canoe, walk or even join in the annual grape-picking and winemaking. It’s completely untapped at the moment.
The weather. Winters here can be a bit rough, with temperatures dropping to minus 15 Celsius or more at times, but they are short; usually only December to end of February. From mid-April to the end of September you can expect the weather to be good, with July and August temperatures up to 40 Celsius. Some years we get no rain from early May to mid-September. During the summer months, if it rains, it is likely to be thunderstorm rain, which usually means a deluge for half an hour or so and then more sunshine.
Sakar Hills Camping
Now the campsite. We opened the campsite in the spring of 2008, and have been open from April to October every year since. Why did we open it? My wife and I, having made the conscious decision to spend more of our time in Bulgaria than in the UK, felt we would need something to occupy ourselves, to stop us getting bored, so, as there were no campsites then, we decided that it would be a good idea to open one. We bought the property in Biser, which is a site of just over three and a half thousand square metres, in 2007 and created Sakar Hills Camping.
The site is on the edge of the village, which gives us a good degree of privacy and quiet, and to the rear of the property is a railway embankment, which carries a single-track overhead-electrified railway line, which is actually the line that runs form Plovdiv to Istanbul. On the field we have four service bollards, which each have four electric power sockets, a cold water tap and a light that operates from a light-sensitive switch. We have a wooden structure, roofed over to provide shade, with tables and benches for guests to use, to eat meals, use our Wifi, or just sit and have a drink and read a book.
The site is fenced to the rear and sides, and has a decorative wall to the front, with a pair of steel gates where the drive enters. To the left of the drive, as you enter, is the house, which is roughly 11.5 x 11.5 metres, and is a two-storey building. It is, currently, split into two self-contained flats. As you enter the building through the front door there is a small lobby, from which a short staircase of five or six steps gives access to the front door of the ground floor flat, and then, by another two longer flights of stairs, to the first floor flat. The ground floor flat has a small fitted kitchen, one bedroom with bathroom off, a lounge and a large room that we use to store stuff in, but which could be a dining room, which has a balcony outside, with steps down to the garden. The first floor flat is currently laid out as a fitted kitchen, with bathroom off, two bedrooms and a lounge, with balcony outside with views to the mountains. In the roof-space is a 200-litre electric boiler, which is linked to two solar panels facing south on the roof. This boiler supplies hot water to the house and the shower block during the summer months. In addition, both flats have an 80-litre electric boiler, so that, during the winter months, when the campsite is closed, and there is equally less demand for hot water, and less sunshine, each flat can be provided with hot water from a more economical source.
The shower/toilet block is immediately to the rear of the house. There are separate sections for male/female use and each has an entry area with washbasin and mirror, with light over, and, leading from this, two wet-room units, each with shower, loo and washbasin with light over. Hence we have four showers, four loos and six washbasins in total. Drainage of this building and the house is to a septic tank, at the moment, but this summer mains drainage was installed throughout the village, at some considerable upheaval to the roads and infrastructure, and so we plan to connect all our systems to the main drainage in the spring.
Behind the shower block there is a waste-water dump point for the emptying of caravan loo cassettes, with a water tap nearby, and on the other side of a dividing wall, hidden from view, we have a 3500-litre tank, as a back-up fresh water supply, for occasions when the mains supply fails to supply, which is not unknown in these parts. However, while installing the new mains drainage this year, a new freshwater supply system was laid through the village, so maybe, supply problems will be a thing of the past. This emergency supply is run by an on-demand pump, located in our storeroom, which operates when there is a drop of pressure in the system, such as a tap being turned on.
The Campers
This year was our second-best year, only being beaten by 2012, by a short margin. While the takings from the campsite are never going to make an impact on Wall Street, it could be viewed as a useful supplement to a UK state pension. In real terms, while loathe to quote actual figures, our takings this year amount to about the same as an average working Bulgarian’s annual wage, and, given the low cost of living here, is worth having. Most of our guests don’t book in advance, they just turn up, and by and large, we get a minimum of one or two each day, and some pre-booked groups of up to 20 campervans, usually Dutch. We already have 2 such bookings for next year.
We feature in several guidebooks, mainly German and Dutch, and are listed on some apps, such as TripAdvisor and Google maps. We are also part of a six-strong loose association of the best campsites in Bulgaria, which each promote the other sites.
House in Kolarovo
We had a busy few weeks winterising everything at Kolarovo, we've got a swimming pool there now, which further complicates the process, but, when we left at the end of 2016, I had drawn up a list of all the things that needed special attention, and as we didn't get back there until May of 2018, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our preparations against the ravages of winter had been good enough to prevent any damage at all. We were able to walk into the house switch on the various electrical appliances such as the water heater, computer, fridge, et al, and find they all worked, and no burst pipes. So we used the same list this time, following it exactly.
In Bulgaria
Weather here is a bit mixed at the moment. Although we are still getting a reasonable amount of hot sunny weather, we are also getting very strong winds in the late afternoons and evenings. The wildfire risk is very real at the moment. Over the four days around last weekend it was reported in our internet newspaper that there were 918 fires in 4 days. This must surely be a record for negligence and bad housekeeping.
Bulgaria in Retrospect
It was interesting to revisit the place and view it, not as someone who spends time there, but just as an observer. The Bulgarian people we knew in our old local town, our lawyer, our insurance broker and the like, seem to be prospering, which is encouraging, but it was noticeable that they are beginning to view Russia as more of a potential friend than they do the EU, which is of concern. Of the Brit expats we knew, they appear to be stuck in a time-warp, living and looking just as they had, when last we saw them.
It was certainly an interesting experience, in that I felt like an observer looking in on other people going about their lives, while not being a part of their lives. This must be how it is for you.
Of the Brits that we met that we had known a mere three or four years ago, there appeared to be little change, although the menfolk all looked as though they haven't brushed their hair or shaved for at least a month, while the women looked just the same as in my memory. Of the Bulgarians, some are doing well; our advocate (solicitor) and her husband have bought a holiday home in Greece, and Bobby and Kamen, more inspired by Bobby than Kamen, now have three or four holiday rental properties in villages around Harmanli, and her insurance brokerage goes from strength to strength.
Our local policeman, by contrast, has not recovered from the death of his parents, and seems to be suffering from some sort of depression. The former mayor is still just the former mayor, looking fit and well, and now living in the well-appointed house that her husband had had done up for her a few years ago. The town of Harmanli seemed, to my untrained eye, to be nearly empty, apart from a sizeable male immigrant population, to be seen wandering aimlessly about the town. Cafes almost empty at lunch time, and few people on the streets. Shirley would have me believe they've all gone to the Black Sea coast for the summer, but I don't buy that. The two big vineries in Kolarovo are now assets of a creditor bank that precipitated the failure of another bank a few years ago and have not produced any wine for two or three years.
Similarly, the vineyards around the village were not harvested last year, and are not receiving any maintenance and are not going to be picked again this year.
We visited our old house and met the new owners, who clearly are very fond of the place and are looking after it with love. All the trees we planted have now got irrigation systems helping them survive the summer and are looking well.
I expected the house to call out to us, wanting us back, I suppose, but there was no such feeling, and, when we left, after a pleasant half hour there, there was no lingering farewell.
More Reflections on Bulgaria
We can’t spend much time there now, and, if you're not there to keep nature at bay, it doesn't take long for what value there is in a place to start to diminish, and Bulgaria isn't the best-organised property market in the world. A bird in the hand, etc. I like to think that, in the seventeen years that we inflicted ourselves on the village, the worst that can be said is that we left it in no worse state than it was in when first we found it. It certainly changed considerably during our time there, and, truth to say, isn't still quite the semi-medieval oasis that we had found in 2005. But that is progress, aided by greed, and a large dollop of recklessly scattered EU cash.
Are we sorry to let it go? I don't think so, really. We were lucky enough to be in a certain place, at a certain time, and with a handful of other people, some lovely, some not quite so, and it became a special time and place. The place has changed, and most of those people have either moved on, or died, and it is unlikely that, despite our best efforts, we would have been able to recreate the same aura or mood, or whatever, if we continued to frequent the place.
And so the world turns, or might do, if our advocate and the buyer's advocate can get their a's into gear.
The Transit of Serbia
Among other things in a full life, Martin and Shirley built and manage Camping Sakar Hills in the far southeast of Bulgaria, adjacent to that country’s borders with Greece and Turkey. Returning from a visit to the UK, travelling in their Land Rover pulling a double-axle caravan, they decided to transit Serbia from Hungary. Usually, they have reached Bulgaria via Romania. This is their story:
Our journey back was mildly eventful, partly because of the cold weather we found, and partly due to minor car problems. Having got a mid-day ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, (thirty nine pounds through the Caravan Club), we spent the first night on the Dutch/German border, the second on the German/Austrian border, both in the caravan, and the third, oh bliss, in a hotel just outside Szeged. The next morning we found we had a flat tyre, so did a quick wheel change, and on our way by 9.30 am. This time we had decided to give Serbia a try, and so a few minutes later we did the border crossing, without any problem.
The problem came when we were halfway through Serbia, and found that the engine compartment of the trusty Land Rover had been liberally sprayed with the oil which should have been in the engine. Close examination revealed that the two bolts holding the lid on the oil pump had worked loose, allowing the oil to leave home. A Turkish lorry driver helped me get one bolt to hold the lid down, in a bitterly cold wind in a Serbian service area, and, having lost about an hour and a half of valuable time, we set off again, on a journey that now required us to stop at every rest area to check that the bolt was holding, and the new six litres of oil I had bought were staying in the right place. If ever there was a country that you don’t want to be crossing with no spare wheel and a potentially serious engine problem, it has to be Serbia.
Luckily, however, we reached the border with Bulgaria at about 8.30 pm and had no trouble at all crossing. We had paid about 20 euros on ‘péage’ tolls in Serbia, and were impressed how good the journey had been, except for a little bit of a detour around Belgrade, due to roadworks. Generally, I would say that the quality of the roads we used in Serbia was good. Ninety per cent of the journey was on dual carriageway, most of which was in good condition. Although the road surface had been patched in places, which was a trifle uncomfortable, there were no potholes. There are newly built filling stations about every ten miles, or so, some with motels, some with cafes. Also the road signs were good enough to not cause confusion, even on the detour section around Belgrade.
We only undertook this journey because our vehicle is now Bulgarian-registered, which makes it easy to get a Green Card. In fact, no-one even asked to see the Green Card, either entering or leaving the country. If you have to buy a Green Card at the border, as we did a few years ago, it will cost you around 120 euros, so it is probably not such an attractive idea. But it beats the hell out of going through Romania.
Touring in The Balkans
It's not so much wherefore art I, but wherefore is my mind wandering back to.
Our little tour took us through Macedonia, via Lake Ohrid and the Roman ruins at Heraclea, non-stop across Albania, including the madness that is Tirana, into Montenegro, which came as a delightful surprise. We stayed at Kotor for four days, then pushed on up the coast to Dubrovnik, with which we were all disappointed, due to the huge number of other tourists, and the old town having been turned into nothing but bars, cafes and restaurants, all of which, to our trained eye, looked expensive. So on to Split, Zadar, and, eventually Senj, where we turned inland and went to the Plitvice Lakes, which is one of our favourite spots. Stayed our last night away just inside Croatia, then, next day, Serbia and home by evening.
Totally amazed that all the countries visited, including Albania, appeared to have improved roads, housing stock, and, of course, in the case of Montenegro and Croatia, some truly beautiful places.
All in all a most enjoyable few days away, that has given all four of us a lot to think about, regarding where we want to live. (2200 miles in 13 days.)
In Turkey
We’re back now from our seven-day round trip of Turkey, which took us to, among other places, Gallipoli, Pergamon, and Cappadocia, as well as the ancient capital cities of the Hittites and the Phrygians. Turkey is a great country for the traveller; the roads are very good, the people friendly and the food a pleasant change to Bulgarian fare.
In Greece
Four years ago we met a retired Greek army major on the island of Samothraki. He was retired at the age of 45, with a monthly pension of 1500 euros paid by the state.
Unfortunately, the state decided they could not afford 1500 euros, so dropped his pension to 900 euros per month, about which he was less than impressed. Still seemed a reasonable sum to me, given that he might consider turning his hand to something else, to help make ends meet.
It seems to me that Greece has for many years lived beyond its means, retiring people from its large military at 45 years old being an example of this. Paying people an extra month's salary a year being another, and the network of new wide empty roads being yet another.
We are being told by CNN and SKY news that the terms under which Greece agreed to the bailout terms, and the interest they are paying, were significantly better and lower than those given to countries such as Italy and Spain.
I think the reason that SYRIZA has got into power is because before the election they were slightly ambiguous in their election manifesto, giving the impression to the voters that they would tell the Troika to stick their loans up their whatsits. This, I think, appealed immensely to the Greek voters, but, of course, the reality is that it would not be so easy to do, and, if done, they would need some sort of miracle to keep the country going without outside help.
In Bulgaria, as you know, no such employment of largesse from EU funds has been bestowed on the people or the infrastructure. Our roads are full of potholes, the water supply sort of works and things generally sort of continue in some sort of shambolic way. BUT the people here, although they whinge a bit about things having been better in communist times, are used to living within their means, and seem to accept it, or, as in the case of the brighter, young ones, to abandon ship for greener pastures.
In Greece everyone has had several years of living beyond their means on the back of the EU, and now that the party is over, they would like someone to get rid of their debts for them so that the good life can continue. If SYRIZA can keep everyone happy during the coming months, and keep all the balls in the air, and wheels on the wagon, then we should ask them to come and run the EU as well as Greece Their proposals that you have listed are going to cost a good deal of money, and the only way, it seems to me, for them to go forward is for them to get the economy really whizzing. Watch this space.
The following articles can be found on our websites:
The Jeffes Double Land Rover Journey to the UK
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1966/30/index.html
Muppetry on a Grand Scale
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/295/88/index.html
What is 'MagBaz'? Reflections from an Old and Valued Friend
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/2021/515/index.html
The Wilsons’ and the Jeffes’ Transit of Serbia
https://www.magbaztravels.com/content/view/1293/30.html
Memories of Bulgaria (139 photographs)
http://www.magbazpictures.com/memories-of-bulgaria.html
Land Rovers, Romans and Thracians (52 photographs)
http://www.magbazpictures.com/land-rovers-romans--thracians.html