Tuesday, 01 May

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="044d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="11">   <A HREF="id136.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wednesday, 02 May"><U><IMG SRC="0460b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>       <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="11">   <A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May"><U><IMG SRC="0480b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Gastropod's Trail</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Gastropods Trail"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> Tuesday, 01 May</div> <div> Ineco, Turkey to Burgas, Bulgaria</div> <bR> <div> We had spent our lat night in Turkey at the children's playground/sports facility for the town of Ineco. From here it was only about an hour to the Bulgarian 'back door'. The road was mostly uphill through beautiful oak forests and rolling hills. The border procedures on the Turkish side were about the same as in Ipsala, only in reverse and a bit better organized.</div> <bR> <div> We have a knack for arriving at lunchtime - we watched one officer eat a whole bag full of sunflower seeds - one at a time - exercising patience. The very first stop and obligatory ceremony for entering Bulgaria was to disinfect and wash our hands (under the watchful eye of the health officer) and rolling the van through a pool of desinfectant as well. For the first time, too, the van and it's contents inspected. I don't know if the custom's officer was being thorough or curious, but he made a thorough inspection.</div> <bR> <div> My sister has a parrot with the name of Boyo. The favorite cooky of Boyo is a kind of hazelnut stick which is my fovorite too and we packed a container full for our trip, prominently marked 'Boyo'. The custom's inspector's English was very good and he explained that he could understand that we had boxes marked 'coffee', 'flour', 'rice', 'sugar', etc., but he did not know what 'Boyo's' were and had me open the container!</div> <bR> <div> Driving from Malko Turnovo (the Bulgarian border village) to Burgas, it was immediately obvious that Bulgaria is still struggling with economic recovery. The roads are rough in spots and the cars on them are more often Lada's than BMW's!</div> <bR> <div> Burgas is the fourth largest city in Bulgaria. The municipality includes the City of Burgas and 14 other small villages. We were lucky to arrive in Burgas today; the 1st of May is still a public holiday (although there are no parades, speeches or demonstartions) and the whole town was out and about enjoying a day off - strolling with the baby or showing off their Sunday best. Fashion for the young ladies is very short and very tight. The innumerable sidewalk-caffees were all full. We joined them and had fun doing the people-watching for a change.</div> <bR> <div> Not far from Burgas is Bulgaria's largest holiday resort, Sunny Beach. Literally hundreds of hotels dominate the sparkling stretch of beach. I still thought that we owed ourselves a night in a hotel... two were open, one had no water and the other was beyond our financial will! We drove back to Burgas and spent the night on the parking lot of the opera house. Culture before comfort!!!!</div> </td> </tr></table></body>