We went out in Koprivshtitsa last night for a bite to eat and again randomly tried some Bulgarian dishes. The starter of beans with tomato, red pepper and other bits was a big hit with both of us. The aubergine puree not quite so much. Sarah had a main course of vine leaves, which were much the same as their Greek equivalent, but I pushed the boat out with a tongue, red pepper and egg stew. It was surprisingly good. It was more expensive than the night before so we will have to check out menu prices before sitting down if we are going to take advantage of Bulgaria’s great prices.

Overnight in our car park was very quite. We even had a babbling brook we could hear. The odd dog broke the silence, but there do not appear to be quite so many stray or barking dogs as in Greece.

In the morning we made a decision not to visit the Black Sea on this trip. I have got the impression from researching it that it is very over developed and it would mean a 400 mile round trip to go to see it. We both have such good memories of the Aegean, that we decided the trek, just to say “we’ve been there” was not worth it. Maybe on a future visit.

So instead we headed for a British run campsite in the north of Bulgaria. I had read about a UNESCO World Heritage site at Kazanluk, which is a Thracian tomb from about 300 BC. However the actual tomb is closed to the public and a replica has been built nearby. We were not overly interested in seeing a replica tomb, but Kazanluk was more or less on our route so we scheduled a stop there.

To get to Kazanluk we had to drive through what is called the Valley of the Roses. Bulgaria apparently produces huge quantities of rose oil and it is in this 90km long valley that the roses are grown. We hadn’t been travelling long before we started to see fields of pink roses. They all appear to be the same variety. They are not quite as spectacular as you might expect because the heads are picked regularly and so each plant only has a few unpicked flowers at any time.

Guess what? Roses in Rose Valley

It was while we were whizzing through the rose fields that SatNav again tried to trip us up. We were flying along a rare, for Bulgaria, straight smooth road when SatNav told us to turn off. Initially it appeared a great move, in that it brought us right among the rose fields. We stopped to take photos. I went into a field to get better shots when a man emerged and beckoned me over to see the roses which had not yet been picked. He kept showing me different things and then of course he seemed to want a tip, for showing me his field!

If you have done a lot of travelling you will have come across similar situations in historical buildings when a guide will pretend to be doing you a favour by showing you something that “other tourists don’t get to see”. I’m prepared to give a tip in those circumstances when the person goes out of their way and shows me something genuinely interesting, like the church warden in Italy that unlocked lots of doors to show me vaults full of bones in the church crypts, but I was not going to reward a man for showing me a field of roses when I was already in the field of roses taking photographs before he spotted me. He wasn’t happy be I hot footed it.

As we carried on SatNav’s diversion it became apparent SatNav had lost his marbles. Because the roads soon became covered with pot holes big enough to eat Basil alive, and then eventually the tarmac ended and pot holed mud lay ahead. Thanks again SatNav. We turned round and SatNav told us that we should retrace our steps and go on the main road, as if none of this was his fault. SatNav likes playing tricks on us from time to time.

Stork in it’s not very photogenic nest!

We arrived in Kazanluk and found the Thracian Tomb, which was more or less as disappointing as expected. The replica tomb is tiny, big enough for four people at a time. I had to wait as one coach party filed in six at a time, but I got to go in on my own. There were some well executed frescoes, which would have been impressive if they were 2,300 years old instead of 20, other than that it was just a small plastered room! They could have improved it with a small museum, but there were virtually no artefacts to look at and not even an explanation of who the Tracians were*.

Frescoes in replica Thracian Tomb

Having spent the day so far in a nice flat valley, we then had to cross a 4,000 foot pass to reach our final destination. Basil, as usual, coped admirably with the twists and turns and in fact he was held up for much of the climb by a slow car. We stopped before we reached the top for lunch and in the uncut meadow next to us I could hear the unmistakable call of a Corn Crake. No sign of him though, they are very illusive.

Eventually we arrived at Camping Veliko Tarnarvo (43.066358, 25.754086), the best campsite so far in Bulgaria. It is run by two Brits and very much has the feel of a British campsite, with large grass pitches. Even the countryside in the area could just about pass for British with lush green gently rolling hills. It is not cheap at €18 a night including electricity and wifi in the bar area. We can pick up wifi, which is fast, on our pitch thanks to our booster arial. There is a reasonably priced restaurant with Bulgarian and some British dishes and a swimming pool which opens in June.

By missing out the Black Sea we are now several days ahead of schedule so we may stay here for a few days.

*The Thracians were a people who lived at roughly the same time as the ancient Greeks in parts of modern day Bulgaria and Romania. They did not build any cities, but lived in tribal villages and so left very little behind for posterity. They had a fiersome reputation as warriors and were used as mercenaries by the Persians amongst others.