This week our Bulgarian bash comes to a close and our Romanian Romp begins.
We visit a stone forest in a desert, explore some rock dwellings, travel up the Black Sea Coast into Romania and visit the delightful Danube Delta.
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The Detail:
Distance Covered: 281 miles
Financial: Fuel £84; Tolls £32; Groceries £27; Alcohol £27; Zeus £4; Boat Tour £126 Total £300
Stopovers: Stan; Varna; Yailata; Techirghiol; Lacul Tasaul; Murighiol [2 nights]
It’s hard to believe we have been on the road for over 3 months now and covered more than 6000 miles. We have seen and done so much.
It doesn’t seem to matter how much time you spend somewhere, there is always more to see and do. But as much as we have enjoyed the last month in Bulgaria, and we really have enjoyed it, there is still so much more of Europe we want to see.
So into Romania we go. Not really knowing what to expect, but that’s all part of the adventure.
Pobitite Kamani Rock Formations (Stone Forest)
This is a weird one. It’s a desert landscape, by which I mean it’s mostly sandy. With naturally occurring limestone pillars which look like tree trunks giving the appearance of a stone forest.
It’s not a localised phenomenon either. The area we visited stretches for close to a kilometre, but the formations actually cover some 13 square kilometres.
It is an almost unique place. The only other similar site is in Australia. There has not been a definitive explanation of how the formations were formed, adding to the mystery of the place.
National Archaeological Reserve Yailata
Along the cliffs of the Black Sea coast there is a large shelf, or terrace, about 50 metres below the surrounding clifftops. We’re not talking about something the size of a postage stamp, it’s quite large, around 45 hectares or 110 acres in old money.
Within the reserve are many archaeological remains, including a Byzantine Castle, ancient wineries, churches, tombs, sacrificial stones, and a cave town of around 100 dwellings hewn out of the cliffs by ancient humans around 500 bc.
Many of the cave dwellings are difficult to get to, but a few are more easily accessible and there is a circular walk around the site which takes in all the major ruins of interest. A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
John Lawton Memorial
We had noticed that close by was the John Lawton Memorial. We know a John Lawton, owner of the Teignworthy Brewery, so we just had to swing by and take a look.
John Cooper Lawton was a rock music legend, lead vocalist, songwriter and author of Uriah Heep, Lucifer’s Friend, Les Humphries Singers, Zar, Gun Hill, John Lawton Band, OTR and others.
He died unexpectedly on 29 June 2021, at the age of 74. On 1 July 2022 a monument to the musician was opened in the “Ogancheto” area of Kamen Bryag, where for years he performed the emblematic song “July morning” during the ritual welcome of the first morning of July. A rather bleak-looking place at this time of year, accessed by a dirt track but the view was looking out over the sea and John loved it so much that his ashes were scattered here and explains why the memorial was put there. Lovely that he has his own staring seat forever.
Into Romania
We took a slow drive along the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria to the border crossing at Vama Veche. The roads didn’t disappoint, NFB as expected, hence the slow drive!
The border crossing was trouble-free. The queue of lorries waiting to go through wasn’t very long at all. So no overtaking stationary lorries for kilometres beforehand, well maybe for a kilometre or so. And then we were in Romania.
First thing to do was buy a vignette. Most garages near border crossing points sell them. Just our luck though, the first one we tried (Moll in Mangalia) didn’t! However, they did point us to one that did not far away.
Cost was RON 178.15, which was £32.04, for 3 months. We are planning to be in Romania about 6 weeks, but it was cheaper to get 3 months than 2.
From there we started looking for somewhere to park up. We are looking to sit somewhere for a couple of days to get our heads around what we want to see.
We began making our way up the coast, looking at places on Park4Night. The weather turned a bit horrible so many of the spots we looked at were either too exposed or inaccessible because of the muddy tracks to get to them.
Costinesti
We spent a little while in Costinesti and saw the Evangelia Shipwreck. On 15 October 1968 Evangelia was sailing in ballast from Rijeka in Yugoslavia to Constanța in Romania when she ran aground in the Black Sea off Costinești. She was declared a total loss, and there is a suggestion that the shipwreck could have been an insurance fraud.
We ended up parking in a car park beside Lacul Techirghiol, named after the spa town of Techirghiol located on the banks of the lake. The water of the lake is very salty and the mud is said to have healing qualities.
The legend says that once upon a time a crippled and blind old man named Tekir, riding on the back of his donkey, reached the shore of this lake by mistake. The old man tried to get out of that smelly mud for hours on end, but his stubborn donkey didn’t want to move at all, as if a mysterious force was not letting him out of the lake. It was with great wonder and joy that the old man realised when getting out of the lake, that his eyes could see light again, and that his feet, which had stopped working a long time ago, began to obey him. As for his wise donkey – its bad wounds on the back had healed, and his body was younger than ever. When they heard of this, many people rushed to the shore of the lake, bathing and putting mud all over their bodies to be cured.
And no, we weren’t tempted!
Lacul Tasaul
We were originally planning on finding somewhere to stop for a short while. Think about what we wanted to do and where we want to go. But Lacul Techirghiol wasn’t that place. I suspect that over the weekend it would be too noisy for us.
So we decided to move on. Not too far, but somewhere quieter. Where we can do some planning. What we didn’t want to do is drive for miles and then think, actually, we wish we had gone to such and such place.
Continuing along the Black Sea coast, through Constanta, it became more and more clear that this wasn’t our kind of thing. Blindingly obvious that it is a massive tourist destination. Hotels and other accommodations are everywhere, and more are under construction around every corner. Definitely not our kind of thing, but clearly popular with others.
Turning away from the coast we headed inland a bit. The contrast is almost unbelievable. Just a few kilometres from the coast and we are on the side of a small lake surrounded by countryside. Perfect for us.
Murighiol
Some menu highlights from this week
Click on the picture for further information. If you would like recipes or further information let me know in the comments
As before, There is so much more we saw and did that I haven’t included here – you’ll just have to go see it for yourself!
I haven’t gone into great detail about anything in particular in this post, so if you would like me to expand on anything please leave a comment and I will endeavor to write another separate post on the topic.
Happy Motorhoming.
Hope You Enjoy!
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