Off to Sofia with high hopes

With visa free entry into Romania we wanted to know if it could work for Macedonia and Greece as well... best option with limited language... go to Sofia, enquire at the respective embassies.

Unfortunately no deal on both counts... so what now .. being packed to go somewhere, going home is no option, we could stay awhile in Sofia or maybe go south until we hit the Greek border and take it from there. South it is.

Soon we realised we were near the renowned Rila Monastery... why not check it out...with a brilliant roadside restaurant to keep the hunger bunny away we decided on over-nighting close to the monastery .... tomorrow we will make the day of it. As sunset approaches, we see a sign for " Stobs Pyramids" , Distance, two kms off the road... Never heard of it. With no specific place to sleep lets go check it out who knows!

What a lovely surprise... not that much to see but the sunset made the walk up to the sand formations so worthwhile.

Being close to the town of Rila it became our overnight town. After a short walk through town with a plastic funnel bought (our reminder of this trip) .. a perfectly level 'spot' right next to the fire/police station and slept like babies...

With a really late wake-up and breakfast in Rila we realized it was Saturday when seeing many car zooming past us on the way to the monastery, after a few km's in pursuit we made a prompt u-turn in the parking lot of the monastery ...

Note to self we DO NOT do popular tourist sights on weekends.

Meandering further south we took a sharp turn to the east along the Greek border.

A night "spot" in an unattended

​​petrol-station with fully operational wifi... (very fast I might add) was a pleasant surprise...

Yup you read right Unattended... its only open on week days. They probably never switch off the WIFI.. To crown it all even the clean toilet was left unlocked.

With a good nights sleep decided to go check out Bansko (popular ski resort)...

It not being ski season yet, we got to see all the behind the scenes preparations.

A new ski lift was being built, carrying six people up at a time. Being our first time at any ski resort... made it pretty impressive. Seeing how much infrastructure is needed for just a few months of skiing. There being no snow and no visitors we drove high up as far as the roads would allow. Amazing views from the top, I am not sure you get see it when covered in snow.

Next .. back in the town of Bansko.

How amazingly wierd to see a large town practically abandoned except for a few work-crews, building and repairing, all for the 15th of December (official date for the start of the ski season).

Aiming towards central Bulgaria we considered crossing over to our side of the Bulkans via the Troyan pass, a long scenic route. This took us to one of the lakes where we ended up watching some really good Kite boarding, by late afternoon we passed through the town of Koprivshtitsa. A real gem, so much so, we made the decision we would be back to see it some time. In the meantime we had decided to go all the way home by then. These trips had been really great, only one item kept us continuously aiming towards some sort of stability. ... A "decent shower"

The area around Koprivshtitsa was so breathtaking, by the time we were close to the beginning of the pass we made a u turn, deciding that another day of wet wipes and basic splash bathing could be tolerated so as to experience a night out in "the wild".

A memorable night... scenic sunset and fresh mountain air.

The next day knowing we had made the right choice, staying out for a night in the wild, we meandered back to our home in Gostilitsa... in full agreement that "stealth vanning rocks".