Autumn break in the Balkans 18th > 25th October 2022

[Airbus A346]

A slight delay to my posts due to an unexpected illness on my return to the UK, it put me out of action for 2 > 3 weeks, thanks Bulgaria

Bulgaria was down as part six of my Eastern European travels and was in the planning stage during Autumn 2019 (for 2020) but curtailed by the arrival of Covid 19.  Looking for an Autumn break I found Ryanair flights from Liverpool to Sofia for £14.99 each way, a Citroen C3 hire car for £92 and an abundance

of hotels for around £30 per night. No brainer.

My original trip was very ambitious, after comparing notes with Wadoki who went in 2018, I decided to scale things down. Apart from the central plain Bulgaria is very mountainous with densely forested National Parks and poor roads. Was it worth hundreds more kilometers for a few more Migs ..... no.

My targets were the National War Museum in Sofia, the excellent Museum of Aviation in Plovdiv/Krumovo and numerous Migs on poles.

The drawbacks for anyone thinking of going .......

Communication - difficult, almost everything is in Cyrillic, hire car agreement, sign posting, restaurant menus, only younger Bulgarians speak English.

Driving - some of the roads are in an appalling condition, they drive fast, don't give you an inch and can be quite aggressive.

Hotels - are cheap but do your homework, I use Booking.com check the reviews and the lowest scores first lots of problems with poor housekeeping and cockroach infestations.

Navigation - a smart phone with Google Maps, plenty of data, and a good signal is absolutely essential for getting around.

Police - roadside patrols are everywhere, they jump out with a big red lollipop saying 'STOP'  I had my Passport, Driving License and car documents checked.

So, on to the aircraft

Sofia Airport is very frustrating, lots of derelict and stored aircraft plus the military base on the North side. Once you are landside forget it, viewpoints are very few and far between, inadvisable, illegal or dangerous. I decided to leave it until my departure day and deal with it from the terminal (airside).

Noted from the bus after disembarking .......

701   Airbus A319CJ Government of Armenia
073   C-27J Spartan Bulgarian Air Force
EC-KLR  Boeing 737F Swift Air
LZ-FBD  Airbus A320 (white)
LZ-FBI  Airbus A320 (white)
LZ-MDK  Airbus A320 (white)
LZ-EGT  Embraer Phenom 100
LZ-TRH  Learjet 60
HZ-AS41 Airbus A320 (white) LH Techniks ramp
VP-CZH  Airbus A320 (white) LH Techniks ramp 

Outside Terminal 1, the original Terminal .......

LZ-TUN by MARTIN CHELL, on Flickr

LZ-DOF by MARTIN CHELL, on Flickr

On display in the Lufthansa Techniks staff garden ...

LZ-DOB by MARTIN CHELL, on Flickr

[ian531]

This looks like another great trip Martin

Well done - thanks for posting

Ian

[John Jones]

Great job Martin, brave man.

John J

[garstonboy]

Very interesting Martin. I used to go to Bulgaria in the mid-70s and found it very strange - quite creepy really, because you knew you were being followed (they were not very professional) and I didn't find the people I dealt with - I was working in the papermaking industry at the time - very pleasant either. It sounds as though very little has changed. In those days Sofia Airport was very sleepy and there was very little to see. In those days, I visited all the Iron Curtain countries, but I found Bulgaria even more unpleasant than East Germany. Incidentally, I usually was ill for a day or two there. It must be something in the water!

I look forward to more photos.