As we had a long drive the day before we decided to split the journey to Dobrinishte, where one of our daughters lives, into two bits. So we drove from Romania over the border into Bulgaria and stayed the night in a town called Vidin. The journey was straight forward enough although at one point we took the wrong turning and nearly ended up in Serbia. A man on the immigration border into Serbia put us straight and it was about turn, and off we went.
On entering Bulgaria we joined a long queue of trucks until we worked our way to a part in the road where it split into a lorry lane and a car lane. As we queued up on the car lane we were reading the signs linked to crossing the border. One said that we would be put through a disinfectant spray before crossing the border, something we hadn't done before and sadly didn't do this time, I was wondering what it was like and am still wondering.
The town of Vidin is just across the border and is actually on the banks of the Danube River. As we drove into it I must admit I thought to myself, this was not a good idea, it seemed rundown, scruffy and chaotic. There were a load of trucks stopped at the roadside probably a resting point for the drivers.
As we got further into town to find our hotel though things improved although the roads were still confusing and maze like. The hotel when we found it was lovely and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. They were quite pleased that they could practise their English, although I saw on tripadvisor the most recent British tourists had come from Liverpool and Newcastle, putting that together with our Scottish accents must be quite confusing.
Anyway, the receptionist was lovely and gave us a brief history of the town , something she is obviously enthusiastic about and with that and a map we set off to explore. The old town area is very small so all the areas of interest are within walking distance.
The medieval castle, the best preserved and intact castle in Bulgaria.
The river Danube , there were kayakers on it, looked really lovely. I wanted to go on it too as the water was lovely and calm.
There are old defensive walls built around the old town. This part of the wall runs alongside the river and had this arch built into it so you could get to the water side. Just out of view are some fishermen using hand held rods to catch fish.
The old synagogue which obviously used to be a very impressive and important building, now it is run down and a bit desolate.
In the picture below David is geocaching, I think he thinks he is disguised because he is wearing a green t-shirt. The area was surrounded by nettles but he hopped, skipped and jumped over them to reach is goal!
There were many fancy and interesting buildings and state around but it was often unclear as to what they actually were. A tourist guide leaflet would be handy to direct people around the sights.
I actually thought the statue below was originally damaged but then realised it had been made with a disjointed arm that the man is holding in his hand. The look on the statues face actually looks like he is confused by it too!
This state was near the town square.
This is an old gateway into and out of the city.
There are lots of old roman artefacts dotted around the town, some seem to be just lying in random spots.
Local wildlife in the town.
The hotel we stayed at was right on the river and used to be the old bath house. Just outside it is a lovely walk along the riverside, where many of the locals hung around at night in the street cafes and bars. There was a lovely feel to the place walking around.
We saw some dogs hanging around that had tags in their ears, I found out that these were homeless dogs which had been neutered. A good idea, should help to ease the problem of street dogs. Apparently it is done all over Bulgaria but some areas are better than others at implementing it.
We had a lovely night at the hotel and if possible will go back there on the way home.
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