Around the world in...219 days pt 3 - Train adventures around the Black Sea countries

My official arrival into Bulgaria was marked by being rudely awakened and questioned by border security in what seemed like a fairly intense encounter at 4am! I think most likely, it was more the shock of being woken for the 6^th time on a fairly horrendous train journey across the Turkish border, than any kind of malice from the border guards but it definitely made me think again about the country I had just arrived in.

The city of Plovdiv was my first experience of a country that had grown up behind the iron curtain and despite the fall of the Berlin wall, I found the atmosphere veered from cold and suspicious to incredibly warm. A chance encounter in one bar led to a full night out... Bulgarian style! It was great to see this side of Bulgarian life, especially as the couple we met, brought some friends along to make sure we stayed safe in a notorious (but fun) part of town.

The first major difference that struck me was the use of Cyrillic script. In most countries I had visited previously, despite any language barrier, there was a degree of understanding from the familiar lettering and as we were relying on trains for this section, I had a feeling of foreboding about the days ahead! Another shock to the system was to see the use of horse and carts in everyday life, including one entrepreneur who was giving city tours on a settee strapped to the back of his cart! It is clearly a country that is developing fast however, and the capital Sofia was as good a city as I have visited in Europe with its own unique style of architecture leaning more towards the Ottoman empire than to that of the Russian communist which were often based more on scale and functionality than design.

Typical architecture in Sofia with a heavy Ottoman influence but showing Cyrillic script

Travelling around Europe with an Interrail ticket made things easier, as I only needed one ticket for the whole trip. However, the challenge is in reserving a seat, which is vital for sleeper trains in areas where there may be only one train per day! To add to the confusion, we were told that it is not possible to reserve train tickets directly from the station. Instead, you have to find the offices of the train reservation company and book with them instead. Booking was in itself a challenge due to the lack of common oral or written language, so a combination of mimes, drawings and extreme patience on both sides were required to accomplish our goal. On the whole, we were quite relaxed about time with the only constraint being that I had to be in Stuttgart in 18 days for my next flight and thankfully, our second long train journey passed in far more comfort than the first!

One of the issues with long distance trains however, is that you tend to arrive late at night or very early in the morning. We concluded that arriving places at night is far more fun than early in the morning when there is nothing open and nobody on the streets to ask for directions. Also the trains tend to get really cold towards the end of the night, so it can be a miserable experience trying to find your way around a new city! However, there are downsides of arriving late at night. For example, our arrival in Bucharest was one of the more hairy moments on the trip, as the walk from the train station was on unlit roads, half of which seemed to be under construction. It is one of the few times that I have felt unsafe whilst travelling and I was relieved to get to the hostel.

Romania was fantastic to see from a train and I wished that I had more time to explore the smaller cities and especially the countryside. I was disappointed with Bucharest which seemed to me to be undergoing a lot of construction, and the number of stories of people being ripped off was a little concerning to say the least. One recurring story was of unlicensed taxis driving unsuspecting tourists to remote locations and forcing them to withdraw vast sums of money. In the worst case I heard, one German tourist had 200 euros taken (in the local currency, the leu). It’s a shame as the majority of Romanians go out of their way to help you but I always felt a little exposed as a tourist there. I would like to return to Bucharest when the current phase of building is complete.

The last few days also saw the start of train delays that we hadn’t suffered up to that point. For example, the train from Ruse on the Bulgarian border to Bucharest which should normally take about 2 hours was delayed by an extra hour and a half! During the wait we were offered a variety of lifts to Bucharest, some by taxi drivers and some by locals, all of which we gladly declined. It is possible that we were misjudging the intentions of the locals in Ruse, but from the stories passed on from other travellers, we both felt it would be better to be safe (and late) than sorry.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed my time around the Black Sea countries and feel privileged to have witnessed both Bulgaria and Romania at a time when they are still adjusting following their accession to the EU in 2007. They were both countries with a real edge and although the majority of people were friendly, crime rates are still quite high. As they both develop within the European Union, I look forward to seeing how these countries adapt and more importantly, how they keep their own unique identities as they progress.