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BULGARIA

Bulgaria is a Balkan country on the western side of the Black Sea. Being so close to the Turkish Border it has become the major (fastest) route back to Western Europe from The Middle East and Asia. Bulgaria is one of the cheapest countries for Europeans to go skiing or have a beach holiday at any of the Black Sea resorts. Nevertheless, it receives not that many tourists from Western Europe. Sofia the capital has just over 1 million people and is by far the largest city in Bulgaria. The country is a mix of low and mountainous terrain full of gorges and deep valleys. Form Istanbul it was 200Km to the border before we crossed into Bulgaria. A picturesque small country called Bulgaria has existed for more than 13 centuries in Europe, linking East and West. Bulgaria remembers ancient civilisations and great people that wrote its turbulent history. Situated in South-eastern Europe, Bulgaria occupies the North East part of the Balkan Peninsula. We bush camped along the main road and had our first taste of the European winter. Coming from warm Syria and Jordan in the last month we were in for a shock as the night temp dropped to minus 25 degrees and our canvas on the pop top froze solid. Around 1AM we had an early wakeup call as we were hit by a snow storm and it shook the truck in fact we lowered the roof as the wind was Gail force and the cold was unbelievable Than after that we had an early wakeup call at 6 AM as someone wanted money and food in exchange for camping on his land? It did not take long to find out he was not the owner and was just after a quick dollar It took a few minutes and he realized he was not getting anything. The weather was foul, with Gail force winds, snow and sleet, our plan to visit Sofia came to a hold and we decided to push on to Slovenia as soon as we could. (Hopefully within 3 days) We were warned of the Bulgarian police and criminals roaming the ring road around Sofia but except from the many police radars nothing eventuated.