A Traveller’s Guide to Romania, Bulgaria, With Parts of Greece, Hungary & Northern Macedonia

Byala - sunrise over the Black Sea.

Lots of people have been asking me about writing and if I was doing anything or getting back to it. As I’ve visited many places, I’ve been told many times that I should do a travel blog or tourist reviews. I’ve done a lot of solo trips by car and just gone where the road takes me. A couple of years ago, I met some people in Bulgaria who told me I should make a business out of it. I’m not so sure about that but here is an unvarnished step–by-step guide to a fair bit of south Eastern Europe. 

I guess I should say at first that I feel exceptionally lucky and privileged to be able to undertake a trip like that and see so many places. Lots of people would love to do it but couldn’t some can’t afford it or some wouldn’t like the ad hoc nature of it. Others, like the guys I met in Sofia (more of them later) would love to do it but would worry about the driving. 

Anyway, enough preliminaries: I spent the first week in Budapest and enjoyed the wonderful sights and sounds of that beautiful city on the Danube. The highlights would be the old chain bridge, the parliament building, the castle on the hill and the lovely old back streets and quaint restaurants of Buda. Also, if you get time, try to do an evening cruise on the Danube. It’s reasonably priced and you can eat and drink while viewing the whole city. 

After a week, I started getting itchy feet so I started driving south. I went from Budapest to Szeged and stayed there the first night. It’s a nice city, with lots of old buildings – a nice place to stop for the night but nothing special.

Romania:

Next morning, I headed for Romania. I had a number of places in mind so I settled on Sibiu – it’s in the mountains and a pretty little place. My plan was to visit, look, discover and if I liked the place, stay the night; if not, move on. Sibiu was nice but it was starting to rain and it was still early so I decided to move on to my next place, Sighisoara. Now this was way more interesting. Set in the mountains of Transylvania, a beautiful old town. I checked into the Transylvanian hotel – they gave me room 13 – eek! Just shows I’m not superstitious – I slept like a log and wasn’t visited by any vampires ☺. When I arrived, I found what I assumed was the old town but as I was walking around on top of the citadel, I could see another, much larger part of the city and I was wondering was I in the right place. I saw a local person sitting on a wall looking out at the evening sunshine and I asked if they spoke English. We chatted away easily and the man confirmed that I was close to the old town. I was aware it was getting dark so I told him I needed to do some exploring. It was a marvelously interesting little town and I kept discovering new aspects until I realised I was starving and returned for dinner in the main square where there were half a dozen restaurants. All were reasonably priced, had lovely wholesome local cuisine and sold beers for just over a euro. It was a beautiful setting in the mountains of Northern Romania and a great evening. 

Next morning, back on the road again – the plan was to do Brasov, Bran Castle, which is where the fictitious Count Dracula was supposed to have lived but is really where the Romanian Royal family lived; Sinaia, which my innkeeper had told me about, and maybe stay in one of them or if not, get as far as Bucharest. I did Brasov by 10.30, then Bran castle before lunch – it’s nothing special inside but nice outside. Then I headed to Sinaia, to the famous Peles Castle – it’s gorgeous – well worth visiting. Then I headed to Bucharest – met a hitch hiker with a backpack on the way; a Romanian, who advised me where to go in the capital. I went for a bit of a walk around in the old town, then dinner. The following morning, I explored Bucharest but wasn’t overly impressed. I saw Ceausescu’s huge monstrosity but wasn’t impressed. I quickly tired of the big city so I headed for Constanza on the Black Sea coast. Did a bit of a walk round there and it’s pretty but not a lot there. I had heard about a famous seaside place called Vama Veche near Constanza so I went there but wasn’t overly impressed. I noticed the Bulgarian border was literally up the road so decided to keep going. Crossed the border and noticed numerous hitch hikers, so gave another person a lift. 

Observation 1. – The only places that hitch hiking seems to have survived are South Africa, Romania and Bulgaria. People don’t even hitch in Russia anymore; at least that’s what I’ve seen.

Observation 2 – People everywhere were extraordinarily friendly.

Observation 3 – As the famous Irish sports writer Con Houlihan would have said, there are an alarming number of people out there now who can speak English. Not once, literally, in a month, did I find someone who couldn’t speak English. And speak it very well at that. I had some marvelous conversations. With some of them, their English was so good, it was literally better than mine. 

Observation 4 – Romania, Bulgaria & Macedonia are not exactly wealthy countries but their socialist past has left a wealth of well-educated people. 

Observation 5 – Of course, as the countries are not wealthy, you can live there very cheaply. I didn’t book anything in advance – just when I decided to stay in a place, I looked up hotels in the area on line and I always had a huge choice. I went for value provided the hotels were well rated. I think in a month, the most I paid for a night was sixty two euro and that was in Budapest. The lowest I paid was fifteen and I found lots of places for twenty five and they all included a great breakfast. 

Bulgaria:

Where was I, oh yeah, just crossed the Bulgarian border and gave Maria a lift, a student with incredible English. She talked at a very high intellectual level. She wasn’t wealthy as she was hitching but she was very talented academically. Anyway, I was headed for Varna. She was going to a place I’d never heard of called Sozipol, so we parted. I wasn’t impressed with Varna so I headed south and found a beautiful little seaside place called Byala. Had dinner and spent the night there and woke up very early to watch the sun rise over the Black Sea. Spectacular, really beautiful and should be experienced. Headed on then and first visited the ancient city of Nesebar. It is a lovely place - then to Burgas, where apparently lots of Irish people have bought apartments. Nice place but nothing special. Then to Sozipol and I could see why so many people headed there for a holiday. It’s a really lovely place with a beautiful harbor and beach; lots of lovely old cafes and restaurants. The climate is fantastic – it was +28 but with a sea breeze. I could retire to there, rent a flat, eat out three times a day and hardly put a dent in my pension. Lots of other people (foreigners) have had the same idea. So, another night here and then itchy feet took over again. Well, I wanted to see Greece and I also wanted to see an Irish football game, so I reckoned my best chance of an Irish bar was in Thessalonika.    

Greece:

I had had a long day but still managed to hit Thessalonika by about 7.30 pm. It’s a real party town; noisy, with something seemingly happening 24 hours a day. Having watched the sun come up over the Black Sea, I now watched it descend over the Mediterranean. I went for dinner in a lovely restaurant in the middle of the old town where there were literally hundreds of restaurants. The place was alive. This was on a Friday evening. I Googled Irish bars and found one called the Dubliner. I decided I’d wander round and look for it the following day, but I hadn’t walked ten yards before I saw a guy with a green T shirt serving. The bar was right there. I asked about the match and the man brought me in and introduced me to the owner. There was also a fella from Carlow there so the three of us got chatting and spent the night swapping stories ☺ 

Next day, I did a morning tour of the city, then decided to drive to one of the nearby outlying resorts to find a beach and have a swim. I went to Stavros, a lovely seaside town; then back to the bar to watch the football and the Irish rugby game. There were visitors there from the UK, Ireland, Armenia, Spain and elsewhere and I met a lot of interesting people. For the following day, I was recommended to explore what they call ‘the three fingers,’ which are three long peninsulas near Thessalonika. They were not wrong – they are magnificent – incredible scenery and beautiful golden beaches. My only complaint, if it is one, is that every beauty spot seems to be somewhat spoiled by illegal dumping. I guess it’s a problem in many countries. What a shame though that some people don’t appreciate the beauty of their country and ruin it with trash. I explored this area very early on the Sunday morning as I wanted to see as much as possible and be back in the bar by five pm local time for the big football  match. I made it in plenty of time. There were even more people there this time, including a crowd of Irish people. 

Next day, I was back on the road again. The bar owner had recommended Ionnanina, pronounced Yannina. It’s a beautiful town with a lake and an island in the middle with an old castle - really picturesque. Another guy in the bar had recommended Meteora, which is magnificent – incredible. I had never heard of it but it’s spectacular. (I have subsequently found it on a list of ten must see places to go before you die ☺). It’s basically a group of enormous weirdly shaped rocks which look like they may have come from a meteorite, hence the name Meteora I guess. But the even more incredible thing about them is that monks from the Greek Orthodox Church built monasteries on top of each of them. How they even managed to get up there is incredible. Nowadays, there are steps and cable cars to visit so I climbed up to three of them and they’re really impressive. There are dozens of these rocks so I couldn’t visit all, but it was a wonderful day. And to top it all, I then drove across the border into North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia) to a place called Bitola. I just got a hotel, had dinner and a few beers and crashed. I think I slept for ten hours.

Bulgaria 2:

Next morning, I drove to the capital, Skopje and then back into Bulgaria, to the capital, Sofia. I went looking for an old colleague whom I knew lived there. I had no number, just knew the pub he drinks in and it was near my hotel. He wasn’t there but as it was Tuesday night, I wasn’t surprised. There were three Irish fellas sitting at the bar but I didn’t engage them in conversation. I went for a walk around and took loads of photos but then it was getting dark so I went back to the main restaurant area and who was sitting at the table right next to me but the three Paddy’s. One of them knocked over a pint and I just laughed and said, ‘lads, you couldn’t bring ye anywhere.’ They were surprised to meet a fellow Irishman and immediately invited me to join them. One was from Limerick, one from Galway and one from Sligo. We chatted hurling and all sorts of stuff and ended up drinking until five am. They were over to look at apartments and were heading to Burgas the following day, where I had been the week before. They were fascinated at my lifestyle and the fact that I’d drive around Europe with no plan. They said they’d love to do it but wouldn’t have the courage. Two were in their early seventies but didn’t look it. They were great craic and we have kept in touch. 

So, next day, off to Rila Monastery, Koprivshtitsa and ended up in Plovdiv, the 2019 European capital of culture. It’s a lovely city. I just got there in time for dinner and a few drinks. Next morning I went exploring again; there’s a wealth of old Roman buildings in the city. The main attraction is an ancient amphitheatre, which is still used to this day. Sadly, time was running short so I had to get back on the road next morning. I still have some of regrets at not staying as there were so many wonderful places to explore. Next on the list was Veliko Tarnovo, which wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. Everyone had recommended it but I wasn’t impressed, other than to say that the people were very friendly.

Romania 2:

So, as I was only a hundred miles from Bucharest, I decided to head back to Romania, thinking that maybe a second look might improve my impressions. I did another small tour on the next morning and to be fair, it is a nice city. I then headed for a place called Cluj in Northern Romania. Lovely city and well worth visiting. Next day, it was Saturday morning and I was due back in Budapest on Sunday evening but I had plenty of time. I toured the city, then went to another old city, Oradea and finally crossed the border into Hungary and headed for their second biggest city, Debrecen. Had a lovely city tour, then dinner and a few beers. Next morning another small tour and then drove back to Budapest. 

I’m sure I left loads out but as I said at the outset, it’s unvarnished and this was how it happened. Maybe more travel guides should be as informal as this one? I think I covered most of the places I visited. All in all, it was a wonderful trip and well worth it. I can recommend all of the countries I visited but don’t take heed of tourist adverts or sponsored blogs. My recommendation is the same as in every other country – talk to the locals. They always know the best places and they’ll be delighted to recommend them to you.