Ruse, Bulgaria to Bucharest, Romania

Our departure from Pleven was delayed as our car was blocked in! The hotel reception lady was in a tizzy trying to determine who owned the van and calling the police or tow company to remove it. In the meantime, we wandered the park, the ruins, the mausoleum then came back to find no change! Finally, the van owner showed up, no apologies or word said, got in the van and drove off! So did we! We drove to Ruse with a "must see" detour to the Church Cave. Obviously not a big attraction as the path up the cliff was overgrown! It was merely a cave with a candle and a small painting. Chalk our visit up to the good ??? marketing by Bulgarian tourism!
We arrived in Ruse and wandered down to the Danube and around the park. 4 river boat cruises were docked and a barge was coming in. We parked the car in a secure underground lot and the following day we caught the van to Bucharest. We had to stop at the border and hand over our passports. When Bob asked about Schengen, the guard said, "Not here, only airport." huh?? So much for Schengen countries and open borders...not. As we were waiting, we noticed 4 transport trucks carrying U.S. howitzers waiting to cross into Romania. Presumably headed for Ukraine. 🤯😬 It made me feel very uncomfortable. After a wild ride into Bucharest, we were dropped off near the main intersection and told to be there in 2 days for the return. Not having internet (Bulgarian SIM doesn't work) we forced ourselves to have a pastry 🤪 while we looked for a hotel. After a bit of booking name confusion, we checked into a lovely boutique hotel then set about organizing our bus tour to Peles Castle, Brasov and 🧛🏻‍♂️ Dracula's Castle for the next day. As our hotel was 2.5 kms away from the centre, we did a lot of tooing and froing. Aching feet!Læs mere