Tomis Mamaia

... town.  

On my way to Bulgaria I cursed a bear of a man called, unfittingly, Mimi.  Mimi had convinced me that the coastal road to Bulgaria was quiet.  How wrong he was!  He was, however, right about a bag being full of live ducks.

I took the first opportunity to leave this road of doom, cruised south westerly and entered Bulgaria untwarted at a quiet border-crossing town which translates into English as Black Water. 

12th June

Golden Sands (Bulgaria) to Constanta (Romania)

Sunny periods 29 degrees

We left Golden Sands and travelled north to Constanta. The drive was fairly easy as we passed huge fields of barley, corn and sunflower (must be stunning when flowering). We also passed some new wind farms. We crossed the border with a little difficulty as they scrutinised our car paperwork but finally let us continue. We arrived in Constanta without a ...

... on one side of us and a shitload of hotels lost in the 70s on the other side.

We couldn't resist the bright coloured buildings with their neon lighting and bad curtains. We pulled over at a 3 star and found out it was only about $80/night so we took it. We threw our bags in our room decorated with gold fabrics and walked around, quickly discovering the Black Sea was directly outside our hotel door! How fabulous. We walked down to the nearest ...

... went by and we boarded the bus. I was the only 'foreign' one on board, the rest were either turks or gypsies. Once the bus took off everybody lit up their cigarettes and started smoking. I couldn't wait for this trip to be over with. Had our passports checked at my first Passport Control and then we were over the border into Bulgaria.

... the Brits are starting to discover the place and are everywhere. I didn't get my feet into the Black Sea this time, but they have been there before. I rarely swim in California coz I don't like not being able to see what is beneath me, but since there are no harmful fish in the Black...and no tides, I like swimming there. The water temp was just 19 tho, too cold.

... to the boarder. On the Bulgarian side we were controlled once. On the Turkish side we were controlled... 3 times. The gypsies gave us a wagon of cigarettes for each of us, in order to help to get them through the boarder. Continuing our "friendship" mission, we agreed to do that. I paid 10 Euros for a Turkish visa - a stamp that would let me stay in the country for a month, and when it was well after 1 am, the coach moved forward. At 6 am we were already in Istanbul there...

... especially Canberra). :-) We are both tanned after only a couple of days here (and yes we have been using sun protection). The beaches are sandy and really packed. I took some photos early in the morning and there were already a lot of people. Around lunch time you cannot find a spot to sit on the beach. It was good to have Roxy as she knew all these tricks. On Sunday night we went to one of the resort areas called "Neptune" where they have ...

... told later by the port authorities that in Constanta there are no "plainclothes policemen" and they are always in marked police cars. We also heard 5 other pickpocket stories that day. So I'm afraid Constanta will always be a place I remember for the wrong reasons. If you travel there please be aware of the possibilitea and be street smart. PS we were able to claim $200 on our Travel Insurance so there was a happy ending.

... things into words, and this bloody hangover isn't exactly helping, so I'll give this a go. Think back to an experience which turly stirred your blood, which caused you to question and reflect upon everything you ever thought you believed, which offered some precious clarity and clairvoyance into the massive web of life found in this world, your place in it, and at the moment of climax, the feint whisper of a better tomorrow and a better future. Deep ****, I know. But I ...

... ethos)and generally drove us a bit crazy. The good thing was that he found our Aussie buddies from Romania; James, Mike and Mark, and told them where we were staying. Sanity restored. So with Aussie lads in tow we wreaked havoc in the Constinesti nightlife. We decided that the vodka being served at the cheesy disco was in fact ethanol - it smelt like metho and sputtered a bit when we tried to light it - so after a quick turn on the dancefloor to Kylie (with ...