The day was cloudy, foggy, damp, and quite dreich (Scottish word) when with my driver Elisei, I set out in search of Bulgaria – as one does!

Bucharest itself – particularly the Old Town – is quite lovely, but on our way our of town, Elisei advised that we were going through a part of town that was very rough, he told me to promise not to go there myself – and apparently at night even the police are reluctant to venture…

…and with minimal English he simply described this place as “wrong”.  Oh dear…

Along the way there were lots of abandoned gas stations…

…and in case you are wondering, this IS the major road!

…arriving at the border crossing between Romania and Bulgaria, just before we cross the River Danube from one to the other…

…and what looks like a strange glow at the end of the bridge is simply the fog… it looked amazing!

Yes, again, this is the major road!!!

…still the main road……..

Not exactly an encouraging sign… but interesting it is in English!

…and like magic as we approached our first destination, the fog totally vanished!

We were going to visit the rock-hewn church, however upon seeing how many stairs there were… and no, this isn’t all of them…

Look up – that will give you an idea of how many there are… we decided to give this one a miss and head to our next destination – another rock hewn monastery…

…and just as strangely as the fog disappeared, it reappeared…

…and – hey presto – just as we approach our next destination, the fog vanishes!

What I found extra-fascinating is that this is still an active monastery!  We encountered a monk – a man in his forties with a long dark brown beard – and he and Elisei chatted, but out of respect, I did not photograph him.

Elisei took my camera and climbed the stairs to the chapels to take some photos for me while I remained below…

…and while I waited, a kitten came over, purred, jumped up on the seat, stepped into my bag, and promptly made himself comfortable!!!  He was sooooo cute!!!

After asking him several times to relocate, and giving him gentle nudges, Elisei decided it was time for more deliberate action…

…however kitten had decided he was going with us!

…and he was not impressed when we wouldn’t take him………  🙁

…and just as we are preparing to leave, the fog rolls back in……………..  Twilight Zone!!!

Oooooooooooodles of Romania houses have seats in front of their fence – to sit and chat with the neighbours – seriously!

…and back to the hotel – and this reminds me – this cab driver has a sign on his door displaying the tariff of 3.50…  Here in Romania, be wary of taxi drivers!  The tariff they are supposed to charge is 1.99 – and not only will you have to pay the inflated amount if you get into this taxi or others like it (that have all types of amounts advertised) – but the drivers will quickly turn off the meter when you arrive, and if you haven’t paid attention to the total, you will often end up paying an exorbitant amount!  No, I didn’t learn this from experience, a friend here educated me…

…and now safe and sound back in my lovely hotel… and just in time to get to work…

~ Bella