Seven o’clock on a Sunday morning and there is an air of excitement. People are out in the streets again, shops are open and the flea market is in full swing. Wooden carts ladened with more jumble wheel by and children play rolling old tyres in to the river. The heat is on, the rising sun turns the fortress walls a rosy red and the sounds of the city rise to bedlam.

Niš lost much of its fine 19th-century architecture to bombing raids during World War II, but its massive Ottoman fortress escaped relatively unscathed. Inside the fort walls is a pleasant place for a Sunday stroll.  The parkland is dotted with roman remains and people enjoying leisure time. A small group of toddlers attend a morning paint class and half a dozen teenagers practice martial arts. 

Lunch is an un elegant affair at MacDonald’s. When travelling, I always find that every blue moon I am drawn to the establishment, like a childhood excitement associated with some form of treat. A triple cheese burger and fries is chewed and swallowed. Leaving a feeling of why did we have the urge? Well at least it satisfies our desires for another 6 months. On the plus side we did get free wifi, yeah.  We’ve not had wifi since arriving in Serbia and so good to be back in touch with the world.

Today, we head to another country, Bulgaria but in a strange way, we will be sad to leave. Serbia is a country of very strong character. A cultural confusion of East and West, of churches, mosques, raw countryside and scrap yards.  Of course, there are telephones and satellite dishes, but they are inside traditional buildings and used by people from farming or industrial communities. Serbia still sees some contradiction between its past and its present borders. Its history is not to be found on tourist resorts, but on the street and in the countryside, as a part of everyday life. Thanks to a strong farming community, the majority of the country remains forested and totally unspoilt.

Onward to Bulgaria!

Out of Nis and we head for the motorway. Half the roads are closed for repairs, so road blocks are often and force our route through scenic deep gorge. Every opportunity to join a main road is closed, feels strange but non the less we bumble along. We take a short cut off the bumpy road along an avenue of pine trees, which leads promisingly quietly through a green and pleasant countryside of corn fields dotted with cattle and sheep farms. Quite out of the blue we’re brought to a halt by a traffic jam ahead of us. We ask a lorry driver what’s going on and he shakes his head in exasperation. About twenty minutes go by and the police drive down the inside lane. We are just under 20 miles from the border crossing and we are now in the passport control queue! 

20 miles and counting

It was horrendous with thousands of people stranded on the motorway. No means of water, toilets or food and in scorching conditions. The entire Bulgarian border crossing had closed it doors. Too many tourists entering and not enough border control. Thousands of Turkish gastarbeiters from Germany all heading back to the East for holidays with relatives. Mothers and babies walk along the verge and shelter behind lorries. We were lucky to have the motorhome so we had food and water unlike most.  We do what we can to help but our resources were not enough. It was like something you see on the movies. One man resorts to disassembling the barrier and cars squeeze through crossing over to the other side.

At one point, Craig works out that we will be at least two days in traffic at this rate. Based on the distance to the border, the average length of a car and a few minutes to check passports . And his calculations weren’t too far off the mark. 

As we approached it was clear. The Serbian border control was absolutely in control and no issues stamping and checking everyone out. Bulgaria was a nightmare, no stamp of the passport (which takes up time)  just under resourced, unprepared and no control. The road system didn’t help as lanes went from two to six to eight and then complete and utter pandemonium. Its amazing no one got really hurt. No police to control the situation or guide people just half a dozen passport control people and no support.

Mac n Tosh’s passports and documents didn’t even get a sniff never mind checked.  Once through Bulgarian passport control the queue continues! This time for vignette.  Thankfully, you only need a vignette (as we confirmed with the police) if you want to use the motorway. If you use normal highway then you do not need a vignette. Another day queueing or non motorways…no brainer.

queues go on and on

By the time all the formalities were complete we arrived in Bulgaria 38 hours later than planned. Exhausted and completely disgusted at how the Bulgarian, Serbian and EU authorities dealt or should I say, didn’t deal with the matter.  To leave all those children and families stranded for all those hours without any resources is incomprehensible. We read in the newspaper (after the event) that this is an annual occurrence and something they expect, so why on earth they do don’t address the issue is absolutely ludicrous.   

It took an hour from this point to the border