Belgrade - Sofia

Good morning from Camp Dunav!

With a view of the Danube, we also caught a glimpse of daylight. The sun was shining, and the sanitary facilities were calling for us. Since we didn’t know if and when we would have such an opportunity again, we unpacked the entire cutlery set. I won't need to worry about my hair again until I am back in Turkey.
Afterward, we enjoyed another fantastic coffee in the sunshine. Meanwhile, we chatted with our new neighbors from Osnabrück about travel routes and less about the horrendous toll fees. They are also traveling on two axles while returning from Greece. In the meantime, one of the little cats actually managed to get into the Benz, which was supposed to be out of reach for her. Thanks to the tip from the Osnabrückers, we were alerted to this and did not accidentally separate the animal from its siblings and take it to Bulgaria.

The first part of today’s stage required Kadir to use all his skills at the wheel of a 4x4. As many probably know, he already mastered the route from Huchting to Walle AND back at the age of 15 in Uncle Ismet’s Granada without a Falk plan, so I felt safe on the bumpy and rutted tracks at all times. After about 80 km, we then headed onto the perfectly flat highway towards the southeast, while occasionally crossing the Danube.

The closer we got to country group 1, the lonelier the perfectly paved road became. Apparently, not that many want to go to Bulgaria. However, they probably prefer to use the free side roads.
At the border, we of course chose the slower of the two queues. The Serbian officer greeted me, who was driving and handing out the papers, friendly in Turkish, as he first held Kadir’s passport. We then moved a few meters further to the Bulgarian colleagues. After the usual check of identification cards and registration documents, the gentleman ordered us a few meters forward and came from his booth to our vehicle. Then came the somewhat surprising question for us: “ARE YOU GOING TO WAR?” Um, what do you mean? At that moment, the guy enjoyed the effect of his statement and grinned widely, and we quickly made the connection to the military Benz. He waved us off with a cheerful “DON’T SHOOT ME” to the next control point just a few meters away. With the colleague there, we only had a short but friendly exchange about goods to declare or items to report. Since we of course did not carry either and he believed us, we were allowed to enter his country.

From that moment on, we were in the grasp of the Cyrillic script, but still in our beloved country group 1 :-) We immediately took advantage of the EU roaming benefits to look for a place to spend the night. Unfortunately, our favorite portal “Park4Night” didn’t yield as many or well-rated pitches as we had hoped. However, since we only wanted to transit through Bulgaria, we aimed to cover some distance today. A search with a lesser-known small search engine resulted in a promising hit: “Sunset Garden” east of Sofia was to be our destination. The reviews promised a simple but lovingly designed place. And that's exactly how it turned out. After a call to Danny, we promptly received a message with all the instructions and the info that we would be the only campers.

Upon arrival at “Sunset Garden,” we fortunately still had a few minutes until sunset, and we were warmly welcomed by two super friendly people at the gate. We immediately engaged in a lovely conversation with Danny, the owner of the site, and his buddy Stephan. Danny explained the self-built shower to us, learned the German term “instant water heater,” and showed us the self-constructed toilet hut, as well as the fridge stocked with drinks. From this fridge, he promptly pulled out two beers, which he handed to us. We gratefully accepted these two cans as a start to the evening.

Unfortunately, we could only catch a glimpse of the sunset behind the hills that surround Sofia. Nevertheless, Danny’s favorite beer tasted very good and prepared us for the winding down day, which was soon replaced by the evening, the remaining Pastis, and the puddle of Tanqueray. What we did not yet know at that moment: we had already consumed alcohol with incredible foresight.

But more on that tomorrow, as well as the fact that the temperatures in the coming night will only just barely settle above freezing…