Bulgaria

We crossed the border into Bulgaria and continued our journey along the Black Sea Coast. During the Communist era millions of tourists came here every year and although many new resorts and hotels have been added since, we were not very impressed. After a night we headed inland through beautiful countryside to Veliko Tarnovo, yet another Unesco town. Campsites are few and far between in Bulgaria but we found the best place of our journey so far, just outside town. Bulgarian cuisine is meat based, grilled or stewed, often on earthernware or cast iron skillets, in an oven.

Bulgaria is poorer than Romania. The average monthly wage in Romania is 200 Euro per month and in Bulgaria it's even less. Things are a little cheaper than the rest of Europe but not by much and fuel seems to be about the same price everywhere. I once read a book called The Geography of Bliss. The author had travelled to the happiest and unhappiest nations of the world to try and understand what makes people happy. The Moldovans were apparently the unhappiest nation in the world due to the fact that they were on the outside of Europe, longingly looking in. The Bulgarians and Romanians we met were often fairly dissatisfied with life and always comparing their countries to Germany. Not everyone felt that being part of Europe was a good thing for them.