Bulgarian currency is the Bulgarian Lev, which at this time was about twice as much as the Euro, so halving all of the prices were easy. When we arrived we had no idea how much things would cost but quickly came to know that the prices were very cheap- depending on region of course.
On arrival by road into Bulgaria we bought a 'vignette' which basically covers you for using all roads. The cost varies depending on how long you will stay, but we bought a month pass for around €15 and It is mandatory to have this in Bulgaria unlike tolls in other countries. It  scans you as you drive past the cameras, and there is no way to travel Bulgaria 'avoiding tolls' as there is in other countries. With that being said, once you have paid or the vignette you never have to worry about taking the wrong road and paying a hefty toll (like Greece for instance), and you can take advantage of the many great roads they have in Bulgaria.

Food- In Bulgaria, so far we have been shopping in Lidl and Kaufland (German supermarket with more variety and slightly higher prices) but bare in mind we have not been all over the country yet so, there may be many more local ones to try out. Lidl prices are slightly lower than Greece and other parts of Europe but you will obviously pay more for special things. Eating out in restaurants can be extremely cheap depending on the region, for instance we paid €14 for two main courses, 4 beers, garlic bread and a dessert in Saparava Banya and in Bankso the famous ski town, the menu prices were outrageous that we had a beer and left. We recommend checking the menu before going in, to get an idea. A local 500ml beer should be €1 or 2 Lev on average to give you an idea.

Diesel- On average Diesel costs around €1 per litre but can be a few cents more or less depending on where you are and how close the gas station is to the highway. 

Thermal Baths and Hot Springs- We have come across many thermal baths and hot springs, some varying by price and some completely free. We began our trip in Rupite which was completely free and had a paying area for some extra facilities like showers, but only vost €1.50 for this. In Sapareva Banya, famous for its hot springs and geyser, the local hotels and thermal areas charged around €10-20 per person to use the facilities much like a waterpark, however we came across an old thermal bath house which was free, not sign posted at all and had a pipe with hot thermal water and cold water which could be mixed to have a great hot shower. These can most likely be found all over Bulgaria if you ask locals or keep an eye out.
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Having been in Bulgaria for almost a month now, we can safely say that wildcamping is tolerated and widely practiced by many locals who have campervans, and tourists travelling around. This is not to say it is legal but from what we have experienced we have never had any issues from locals or plice, quite the opposite actually. They pass by, intrigued or not bothered by it at all, which is quite nice. The police have been very relaxed here from our experience, too relaxed if you ask us, but very friendly and the same goes for the locals. We have parked near vineyards, national parks, forests, hot springs, city centres and small villages so far and have felt nothing but being welcomed.

Our experience so far have been very positive with the locals, whether at the supermarket, in a camping area, in a restaurant or just passers by. The Bulgarians absolutely love to take their campers out and about and generally do it with their friends on weekends or special occasions, which we experienced on Orthodox Easter. They like to enjoy themselves and are very open to approaching you and being friendly- I've even had many people come up to me to take photos of the van or ask where I'm from and just general chit chatting even whilst out hiking or having a drink in a bar, they are extremely welcoming and love to give tips and advice on their country. We found that a great way to get to know the people was during the wine tasting in the Melnik region, because whilst learning about the wine, the hosts were telling us about the history of the country, their own lives and the current situation in the country- a very interesting experience and we loved it. 

Beginning in Rupite, my first impression of Bulgarian scenery was pretty positive, surrounded by tall mountains and hot springs, this was a prominent volcanic region of the country. During the past few weeks here we have experienced the rolling green hills of Melniks wine region, the steep and snowy mountains of Pirin and Rila National Parks, the rugged and steep gorges near the Rhodope Mountain Range, the modern city scape of Sofia and the laid back hipster scenes of Plovdiv. The scenery changes her all the time and we still haven't reached The Black Sea yet.

With 300 days of sun every year, the Melnik wine region really surprised us with the weather and at first we just thought we were lucky. Upon arrival in Pirin and Rila, the weather was warm and sunny below the mountains of course but when we got higher and higher the snow became deeper, roads inaccessible and the temperatures dropped as expected, but for May this still surprised us- but apparently this is rare and has not happened for ten years. The lakes of Rila were absolutely beautiful even if they were still frozen, and the various rivers flowing through the gorges and cities were very calming and a great place to relax. As the summer gets closer we are preparing ourselves for 40+ degrees at the Black Sea, but for now our temperatures of 25+ are perfect.

As a vegetarian predominantly, I was excited to get to a new country with more options available than in Greece for instance. Luckily in Lidl they have vegetarian burgers, various tofu flavours and various cheese based foods which I have been buying. The cuisine here is typically Balkan style with Turkish and Mediterranean influences so there are many meat based dishes as expected, especially grilled meats. They are big on their 'kavarmas' or stews, which are very tasty and can be ordered with veggies or meats. For vegetarians there are various salads including the national salad -Shopska salad, the breakfast 'Banitsa' (soft pastry with traditional white cheese), Bean soup which is everywhere and is cheap and delicious, various fries/potatoes, grilled vegetables, breaded cheese and so on. There are definitely options available but if you are in a small town, don't expect much except meat, meat and meat. The food is very delicious but now that we have been eating and eating and eating in restaurants, having missed out the last six months, we are taking a break, to cook more food in the vans, but there will always be time for a meal or a beer out and about.

From talking to the locals, we have heard that Bulgaria had a very short lockdown period and has since been relatively normal. Since we arrived (May 2021), we have noticed that there are no travel restrictions, no masks are needed in most places except supermarkets and indoor restaurants, museums, all shops and tours are operating (even free walking tours in Sofia and Plovdiv- highly recommended @11am every day of the year), hotels, campsites, cinemas etc. are all open as normal, in fact we have not seen anything really that is closed since we arrived. Life is as normal here and people still abide by the rules in some places but It feels as if no pandemic exists here, which is extremely refreshing. A lot of what we do, is outdoors, eating on restaurant patios, hiking outdoors, going in outdoor hot springs, doing city walking tours etc. so It is a great way to stay safe but still live your life. 

​I highly recommend coming to Bulgaria when possible, to do some great wine tasting (see other blog post), do some amazing hiking, travel cheaply, meet great locals and enjoy some great weather. Bulgaria is certainly the place to be!

Since we had left Greece, we had Pirin National Park on our list, due to it's many hiking trails and amazing views. After Melnik, we made our way towards the the National park which went through the picturesque ski town of Bankso, which to me, looked so like a scene from The Rocky Mountains. There were ski shops, restaurants and bars everywhere as well as a main town centre, an old town and a beautiful backdrop of the snowy Pirin mountains no matter where you stood in the town. We planned to stop here on the way back, but first-hiking!

We took the 12km twisty road up to the furthest carpark we could reach without being stopped by snow on the roads, and spend two nights parked there. We were surprised at the amount of snow still around and hw the temperature dropped- after all we were almost 2000m above sea level here. 

On our first day we did a hike that would lead to a few beautiful lakes, but seeing the snow all around us, we weren't sure how far we would get. We took the trail from the carpark up into the mountain which eventually became more and more difficult with the snow being pretty unstable in places. The view was incredible despite not being able to reach the lakes, so we stopped to enjoy the sun, the backdrop and the powerful river gushing down the mountain beside us. We figured that if we had cross country skiis (or even knew how to do it) or snow shoes, we may have been able to do more hiking, but for now this was as far as we got, and we even got to see the 1300 coniferous tree on the way!

The second day there, we took a shorter trail in the opposite direction that would 'eventually' lead to the peak of Mt Vihren, which we knew wasn't going to happen, but again we decided to walk as much as we could before the snow stopped us again. The views were absolutely beautiful up in this region, despite there being chilly evenings and mornings and the restaurant was extremely cheap- I paid €4 for soup, fries, garlic bread and a beer!

On my first full day in the ski town of Bankso, I decided to do a hike with Gimli, while Dennis worked. We had parked by the main river in the centre of town, which was walking distance to many things so I searched for reachable hikes from this area. On Google I found a hiking trail called Krinetz Hiking Trail, about 2.5km walking from the van. We headed off around 11:30am and within a half an hour we had reached the restaurant at the beginning of the trail. I had decided this would be the place to have my after hike beer! We headed up the path and into the pine trees, where the smells and sounds were everything I was looking for. I love forests and so does Gimli. There was no one around so he could run free, exploring his surroundings! We walked for about an hour into the mountains and then took some time to sit in the beam of sunlight before heading back down to the restaurant for a beer (500ml) and a salad- €3 in total. 

On the way back from the hike we took the route through the town and then to the old town, by passing shops, cool looking bars and restaurants and smiling faces. Bankso was absolutely beautiful and even when i took a look in the real estate windows I was so surprised to see beautiful furnished apartments for sale here for as little as €12k, It was such an amazing area! Needless to say we were both shattered when we returned to the van after god knows how much distance we had covered, but It was such a great half day out.

Not only was this town famous for having Bulgaria's only hot steaming geyser (located right in the heart of the town park), but It had many lovely hikes around the area which I took advantage of. Having a Labrador is great because, even though he can be lazy at times, he is the best companion for long hikes, and it gives him the exercise he needs. 

Today we headed off on what we thought would be a short hike through the woods and back again, but which turned into a lot more than we bargained for- in a good way! Following the trail on Maps.Me, I had planned to do a hike to the lake in Panichischte which seemed like a decent day hike- and it would have been, if we didn't go the wrong way! We began by taking the trail into the mountains, starting at St Petka church, where the red arrows began. Instead of continuing straight, we went right for about an hour which was beautiful but in the end, was not leading to the lake. I then turned around and returned to the beginning and following the main road, came t the trail head of the hike to Panichischte lake. path was straight for most of the beginning, and led past some picnic spots, water fountains and a fast flowing and refreshing river- which Gimli took advantage of.

As we continued it got steeper and steeper for the last two kilometres which was doable and relatively moderate, apart from the fact that we had walked two hours earlier in the wrong direction. The trail was very easy to follow with red arrows the whole way and eventually leading to a main road, with water fountain and entrance to the wild lake. Gimli had a nice dip and after four hours of walking, we decided to head back. the trail around the lake could be continued and would be very nice if you wanted to extend your day. We took the trail all the way back down to St Petka church and through the town, back to the van. I found the trail on the app Wicilocs, where there were many more, shorter and longer ones to take advantage of. We had the 7 Rila lakes coming up, so we were saving ourselves for this. 

The Seven Rila Lakes, is one of, if not the most popular natural attraction for tourists in Bulgaria, so of course before I even arrived here, I knew I had to visit them. I had been to Bulgaria briefly a few years prior but had not had a chance to travel much within the country so this was a great chance to spend some time in the Bulgarian nature and take in some beautiful scenery.
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We parked in the small town of Sapareva Banya, where I had done my previous hike, and made our way up to the Rila chair lift with Dennis van. We decided not to bring Gimli as I knew it would be a long hike and I could only imagine him jumping off the moving chairlift. He was happy enough to chill in the van, after his almost 15km hike the day before!
When we got there, the lift was broken so they offered us a jeep ride about three quarters of the way up to where the lift would bring us for €7.50 return each and the chair lift would have been €10 return each, so we took it. 

The German military G Class monster jeep brought us steep up the muddy, rocky mountain in ways we had never seen before, this was an adventure in itself. It ate up everything in its way and carved its way through the crazy terrain, to finally drop us at the area where the snow began, where we would hike the rest of the way to the beginning of the trail. We walked for about 30-45 minutes to get to the start of the hike, and didn't see anyone but three workmen making their way down. I was getting the impression we were the stupid ones, hiking to the lakes in the snow, but no ne mentioned anything to us.

The trail began with some snow here and there and a flowing river weaving in and out of the area, but as we carried on, we noticed the snow got much deeper, and even worse was that the river was somewhere beneath us, so we had to navigate by the previous footsteps and the noise of the river in the hops of not falling through the snow into the river. I fell through twice and my left leg was submerged up to my hip in snow, but luckily it wasn't at the river.  Still though, this was becoming very challenging and as we began to meet a few people on their way down, we were getting more of a taste of what was to come. The lakes were apparently frozen, and with the depths of snow, would take hours to reach, as well as the continuation of this damn river beneath us. We decided to continue to the first lake which was frozen but still pretty majestic, and then onwards to the second lake which we figured would provide a good view of the others in the distance. The climb up here was like something out of a mountain disaster movie, as we climbed almost hands and knees up this steep snow wall- with no equipment obviously!

At the top we caught a glimpse of the second lake but with frozen and soaking hands and feet, we were already planning how to descend. Returning the same way was a no go unless we wanted to risk rolling down the snowy mountain and falling through a crack in the snow to the river below- so we decided to take the higher 'trail' which went along the mountains edge, and looked treacherous but that just shows how much we didn't want to return the way we came. Step by step I walked and tried not to fall down the mountain and as the wind grew stronger and the snow fall came, I really felt like a character in Everest. After a while we finally made our way back to the chair lift and eventually back to the starting point where the jeep had dropped us off. He picked us up again and to finish off the day, it ended up that our driver was an ex Olympic cross country skiier, who now drove this epic monster jeep 6-7 times a day up and down the mountain. His enthusiasm for this 42 year old rock solid machine was contagious!

Our day in Rila was nothing like we had expected and we were certainly not prepared, but looking back, It was a crazy but cool adventure. According to Mr Olympics, this was one of the first years in a long time to have so much snow in May, so we were just pretty unlucky. We will try again in the future hopefully! Don't worry though the story had a great ending because Dennis had discovered an old thermal bath house beside our vans, with hot water from the local geyser, so we put on our swimwear and spend some time warming up in this epic stone bath house with the hot therapeutic healing water- followed by another amazing dinner at our favourite restaurant of course! 

The choice to come to Bulgaria was made spontaneously and after 6 months in Greece, it was time for a change of scenery, language and cost of living. Bulgaria, still being part of the EU, with little or no restrictions and a lower cost than Greece, seemed to be the perfect option to wait out the pandemic.

The first spot for me was Rupite Hot Springs, while Dennis stayed behind to explore a few more days in Greece. Rupite had great reviews on Park4Night and when I arrived I could see why. With a huge open space to park, free thermal hotsprings steps away from the van and a backdrop of beautiful mountains, I could see myself spending a lot of time there. And I did! I spent a week in Rupite, and maybe half of that time submerged in the healing waters, which were the perfect way to relax on a cold day. When the weather started to heat up, I eased back and only spend a couple of my last evenings there.

It was coming up to Orthodox Easter and the crowd came rolling in as the long weekend began. Dennis. Gimli and I, took a long hike across the hills overlooking the hotsprings and when we returned we decided to move on. The people were so friendly here and the atmosphere was really warm and welcoming but we wanted a more chilled weekend and I had run out of gas so we chose another spot

We stopped for gas at a recommended fill up station where we quickly got our German and Greek cylinders filled up without hassle. I chanced it by asking if they could fill my Irish one which had never been filled in Greece and sure enough they did it within a few minutes, It was smooth sailing in Bulgaria it seemed!

We took the mountain roads towards the towns of Melnik and Rozhen and onwards up to Rozhen Monastery where we parked with an incredible view of the Rozhen sand pyramids, a unique mountain range in this region. Melnik Itself is one of the most famous wine regions in all of Bulgaria so we were excited to try some of the wines while we were in the area.

With the temperatures soaring, we thought it would be a great day to hike to Melnik, which was fantastic but proved to be a struggle back up the mountain later on. Was it the heat or the beer I had at lunch? Who knows! The views through the Pyramids were absolutely fantastic and so unique to anything I had seen before. We walked 4km to the town, took a stroll around the cobbled street and had our first ever local meal and beer in a restaurant which seemed surreal. We both had Kavarma (Bulgarian stew) and a local beer which was so incredible to enjoy in the sun, while Gimli reaped the benefits of the shade and relaxation under the table.
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It was hard to believe there was a pandemic at all, considering life was so normal here as everyone enjoyed their long Easter weekend. We were excited to explore the wineries over the next few days.

Melnik was an area we were told to go because of the beautiful town, but little did we know, there was a huge and varied wine region to discover. When we realised that Bulgaria was once one of the worlds leading wine producers, we knew we had to try it out. Our first taste of wine in Bulgaria was at a restaurant where we had some 'homemade' white wine, and absolutely loved it- pity we had no idea what it was, so we knew we would enjoy going to the wineries to learn a bit more about the region.

Villa Melnik- This was our first stop in the wine region, and the road leading to here from Melnik town was so incredibly beautiful, with rolling green hills, snowcapped mountains and vineyards everywhere. We parked at the winery and got a tour of the winery, the winemaking process and the history of the region. One of the most remarkable things we learned was that this region had 300 days of sun per year, and was absolutely perfect for wine making, being surrounded by mountains. We were taken to the cave cellar, dug out of the mountain and then finally to the tasting table where we tried a variety of local wines including the rare Melnik grapes Sandanski Misket and Broad Leaf Menik. The wines were so delicious we were finding it hard to chose a favourite, and it was paired with a platter of cheeses and meats.

Orbelus- Next was Orbelus, an organic winery in the region or perhaps in Bulgaria, which meant they produced less wine, which was a little ore expensive but still very affordable. We were the only guest here and so, we had the opportunity to sit with out host for about three hours and chat about wine, Bulgarian life and most importantly Bulgarian history. We had learned that during the Communist times, everything was owned by the state, so they produced wine in these regions for trade, and Melnik was a famous trading town, given its location. It wasn't until Bulgaria became part of the EU, that they received some funding to be able to re establish this wine region and that is why you will find all of the wineries are relatively young. When you see the road leading to this winery and many of the other wineries, you cant help but agree that they definitely deserve more funding, like many other countries get to keep their industry thriving. It seemed like these wineries were hidden in the corner of Europe, considering we didn't even know about them until we arrived, which was a shame because the world was well and truly missing out- especially the wine enthusiasts!

Our last winery was Zlaten Rozhen which was big and fancy and the only on where we sat at a bar. I couldn't remember the last time i sat at a bar! We chatted to our host, a young Bulgarian winemaker from the northern city of Vratsa about wine but mostly about Bulgarian life. We must have sat there for hours and hours before realising we didn't even know what we were drinking at that point. This was a winery which we had heard a lot about because it is well promoted around the area and many of the wine shops in Melnik sell their wines. It was amazing to see the contrast between the three we had visited, and even though we learned so much about wine, we learned even more about what its like to live in Bulgaria. I had been wine tasting in Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Slovenia and I was very impressed by the wines being produced here. Having learned that there were a few other regions to try out, we knew this wouldn't be our last winery experience in Bulgaria.

We paid between €5 and €7.50 for 4-5 wine tastings, some with food platters and some without, s check this beforehand.