First of all, I can't say how many parts will be for this roadtrip :) Hehe, feel free to read, hopefully this can inspire you to try travelling somewhere by car :) Just like when I shared few experiences with my parents, they even asked me if is it possible to travel by car when they come here. They are interested to apply for international license too! :D
Enough for introduction. Let's proceed! ;)
Bucharest-Sofia
approximately 390km, in 6 hours (non stop driving)
ETA - 7am Wednesday
Route to Sofia with its own challenge when half of it has only one road for each direction. So, we need to carefully cross another car, make sure, no cars from opposite direction. The road was really dark! Seriously, like I mentioned sometime before, we can just depend on our car's light, and of course play around with the high beam. I think, most of time I was using high beam. It was not a straight road, so, need to know how to balance your gear and brake along the hilly roads.
Phewww, I guess, I have improved my driving skills drastically from this road trip. Manual car is not a problem, anymore. Alhamdulillah.
Well, I can relate this one quote by Robert Ricciardelli I read before. It was like;
The road to success is NEVER a straight road, right? There are always loops of challenges, speed bumps of friends, red lights of enemies, caution lights like family, weather changes that can fog your vision - some may complicated your journey, but some may be a booster for you to go further :) Keep determined and have faith!
Since the view was most of times dark, I found it tiring to strain my eyes to keep my focus. Tried to open the playlist and sing along. Eat a lot, chew gums a lot, Drink a lot. But bad moment was when you need to go to the toilet in the middle of forest where petrol stations were not so many. And even, they were conserving lights too T_T
My urinary bladder, himnae! keep strong!
 |
| Image - credit |
The border of Romania and Bulgaria is Giurgiu (Romania side) and Ruse (Bulgaria side) where here, we need to use a bridge to cross Danube river that form mostly the border between Romania and Bulgaria. Still remember I said in previous part, Danube river in Budapest? Yeah this is its continuation :)
The bridge is called Giurgiu-Rousse Friendship Bridge. The age of the bridge is more than our Independence Day. Hoho. It was opened in 1954. Even though we need to pay (~ 6 Euro) to use the bridge, but it is really NOT in good condition!.There were holes everywhere, cracks along the road.
 |
| This was taken on our way back. |
 |
| See the bridge :p |
The customs was nice, they even had a conversation with us while getting our passports checked. Basically, customs will ask you where are you heading to (like the final destination). What are the reasons of your trip? Just answer; holidays :)
Yeah, he was wondering why we chose to travel in this cold weather, why not in summer? We just said that summer is the only opportunity to go home for a long holiday. He just nodded, showing face of understanding. "It must be hard for you. Okay, everything done! May you have good trip to Sofia and managed to catch the new year in Istanbul". Smile :)
But, Sofia is not that close to the border T__T
We need to drive for another 300km! Hahahaha.
Thats mean, Bucharest to the border was only 90km!
Alhamdulillah, there is highway to drive faster and safer (of course, not for whole 300km) :)
I stopped by at many petrol stations to take a 10 minutes nap. :) It helped!
In the middle of the journey, suddenly it was raining/snowing heavily. Fuh, luckily the road was not slippery and I can still maintained with 130km/h. Getting close to Sofia, about 150km, the roads pass through mountains (again), and it was really beautiful to watch lots of wooden houses, covered with snow. And there were I guess, at least 4 tunnels, each about 800 meters :)
Pardon me if I mentioned about the beauty of mountains a lot. T__T I'm so into nature, I can say :)
Pardon me if I mentioned about the beauty of mountains a lot. T__T I'm so into nature, I can say :)
We arrived at Sofia, Bulgaria; about 9am Wednesday. And as planned, we will walk around the city, maybe at least to 2 places of attractions :)
More stories? Want to know something about Sofia?
Till next post, bye!
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
150108
