Monday 8 June
Today was our last day in Bulgaria, our bus to Ruse departed at 11:00am.
We made the most of the morning, eating out hotel brekky (certainly nothing to rave about!) and then heading out to see a bit more of Veliko Tărnovo.
We took more photos and stopped to take in some of the great views.
At around 10:00 we checked out of the hotel, the lovely reception girl gave us details of which bus to catch and a not written in Bulgarian that we could hand to the bus driver in order to catch a local bus to the main bus station.
Unfortunately the local bus was not running in time, so we ended up paying for a cab, about $2! And got to the bus station on time.
The bus to Ruse was another mini bus, quite bumpy and very hot! Not super enjoyable but thankfully the driver was quite fast and we arrived in Ruse ahead of schedule.
We wanted to take a walk into the main centre in Ruse to take a look around, but after purchasing our onward train tickets to Bucharest, we really did not have too much time.
We took a short walk but then came back to board the train as it departed at 14:35, but we needed to be there at 14:00 to have passports checked for border control.
The train departed on time however once across the border it then stopped for Romanian customs, sitting for another half an hour, our patience wore a little thin as the train was very hot!
Finally on our way, the rest of the trip was smooth sailing and we arrived into Bucharest in time at 17:15. The train ride was really not too bad, although the toilet certainly was not the freshest smelling!
Our first job on arrival into Bucharest was to book our train trip to Vienna, we had been trying to book this before leaving home but we're unable to do so. We managed to make the booking at the station with no issue, securing a double sleeper for the overnight train on 16 June. Very happy!
After successfully booking the train we checked into our hotel, the Ibis Gara de Nord, nice and handy location, although you have to dodge the many homeless people to get to the hotel!
Desperate for a shower, thankfully check in was quick. Feeling brand new after such a long day of travel we caught the metro into the old town for a few drinks and dinner.
Old town Bucharest is simply bursting with bars, cafes and eateries! It's amazing, almost too much to choose from!!
We settled on pasta for dinner, it's an oldie but a goodie when you're in Europe and you are hungry! We also had a nice fresh salad.
We have found so far that Bucharest is a little pricier than Bulgaria, which is understandable given the tourist influx in Romania! The waiter even asked if he could keep the change!
Feeling sufficiently full from dinner, it was time to hit the hay. A quick trip back on the metro and we were tucked up in bed before you could blink in eye.
We will spend Tuesday morning delving further into Bucharest before catching the train to Brasov at 13:00.
I will be interested to see how we find Romania after visiting some other less tourist filled locations. Price wise, we may be in for a shock! But time will tell.
Until next time people, take it easy :-)
Sent from my iPhone
June 16th that is a special date!!!!
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