Our initially very casual interest in Bucharest spread to all of Romania and then to its enigmatic neighbor, Bulgaria. It ratcheted up to the level of curiosity when we discovered that we couldn't find any travel articles on either country! In contrast, adjacent Greece, Turkey and Hungary are frequently written up in newspapers and magazines. Are Bulgaria and Romania like cosmic black holes which swallow up travel writers and allow nothing to escape, not even postcards? We can now attest that these wonderful countries are merely neglected. Both Bulgaria and Romania are great destinations, especially for experienced tourists who have already seen the major sights of modern Europe and who want to travel a few years back in time - while it is still possible.

In preparation we scanned the Rough Guides to Bulgaria and Romania and the Lonely Planet's Guide to Eastern Europe, but we didn't stop with traditional guide books. A big part of our odyssey was putting on the seven league boots of the information age. Via the Internet we introduced ourselves to new friends like Cristina, Georgi, Margarita and Konstantin and then met them halfway around the world.

Beyond just surfing the Internet, we started to realize that to enjoy this trip we had better adopt some other approaches which are new to us. For example, we are generally too independent (and too cheap) to join any type of package tour. But in Bulgaria, because of the Cyrilic alphabet and the sometimes unpronounceable words, we contracted with a private driver/guide Mike Travel, Sofia. His assistance was flexibile and less expensive than a tour, and it saved a lot of precious time we would have wasted struggling with logistics. Mike is a good driver and a likeable person. He was able to introduce us to interesting, wonderful people and get us to beautiful, out of the way places. Good job, Mike!

Click on the following links for travel details and photos.

Bulgaria or Romania

Thanks:

Thanks very much, Mike in Bulgaria and Cristina in Romania who were our main pillars of support.

Thanks also to Cris, Anca and Tim of Brashov, Romania who put us up, fed us and drove us around for a day as part of an informal bargain made through e-mail, FAX and telephone.

We discovered that a woman who lives across the alley from us in San Diego, California has been leading folkdance and folklore tours to Bulgaria and Romania for the past ten years! Thanks a lot for the advice, Rae! (Opa Folklore Studies, 7560/5 Eads Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037)

And thanks to correspondents Ellie P., Chris L., Chavdar P.C., Violeta I., Bernie R., Elena D., Gelu D., Florin B., Mike D., Doug W., Amanda J., Nick F., ... for all of your kind e-words and advice.

Thanks to American tourists Terry and Marcia S. and Walter W. for advice and the use of some of their photographs taken while on similar trips with Mike Travel.

Our apologies to Teddy of Bucovina Estur for being "no-shows". We couldn't arrange train connections from Brashov to Suceava, and we couldn't contact you via telephone to cancel. On our next visit to Romania we will be sure to go with you on a tour of the painted monasteries.

If any of the people mentioned here want their full names and e-mail addresses included in this site please let me know. I have assumed that you want to remain anonymous.

Bulgaria and Romania are poor countries and touring can be relatively inexpensive. In spite of the bargain prices your visit will help economically and will encourage them to preserve their unique cultural resources. Beyond the valuable help you provide just by being a tourist, if you have an inclination to donate directly to the poorest of the poor in Bulgaria or Romania I suggest contacting Catholic Relief Services ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). From the US the CRS can pass donations to Caritas Bulgaria, rue Gogol 13, BG-1124 Sofia (and the equivalent organization in Romania). Also, there is a woman, Donka Paprikova of Sofia, who is called the "Mother Teresa of Bulgaria", but I don't have a good suggestion for getting contributions directly to her from the US. Her address in Sofia is Hospice Miloserdie (Oinien Ieeinadaea), 39 Svetoslav Terter Street, Sofia 1000.

** [Our ideas about our next trip to Bulgaria and Romania]

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