Ruse, Bulgaria

My first ever encounter with the river Danube was in Budapest, on a stag party in 2005. The second and third came in Serbia in 2018, where said river flows through both Belgrade and Novi Sad. And here we are for my fourth glimpse: the Danube continues to be neither Beautiful nor Blue, but it does form most of the border between Romania and Bulgaria and so you get your passport checked on either side of the bridge. Ruse is on the south side.

This was at the end of a long and sweaty train journey, all the way from Bucharest in second class. I'd gladly have paid four times the price if it could get me into a first-class carriage, but there wasn't one. The trains have old-fashioned compartments of six seats each, with a narrow corridor along one side. I spent most of the journey standing in the corridor catching a breeze through the window. As you will have seen on the news, there's a bit of a heatwave in southern Europe right now. It's been between 35 and 40 degrees C every day, and these trains don't have air conditioning.

For most travellers Ruse is just a calling point on the journey, but I like to break the mould, and anyway I didn't want to stay on that train any longer than I had to. So I stepped off for a few nights here. I have a childish idea that 'real travelling' begins when your hotel receptionist struggles to speak English: "I see he made reservation, he already paid," stammered the shy young lad behind the counter. In past-tense Bulgarian, the second person conjugation matches that of the third person. So his mistake was logical and therefore forgivable.

Having said that, in my hotel room I was bemused to be confronted, for the first time in all my years, by a mirrored ceiling. Just my luck for it to appear when a) I'm alone and b) it's too hot at night for bedclothes or indeed any other kind of clothes. Because nobody needs to see that. Not even me.

But overall Ruse turns out to be very much my kind of place. I couldn't quite say it's a travel recommendation from me to you all, because it takes a long time to get here, and there isn't much to do. But it has fresh air, leafy shaded parks, tasteful buildings, quiet streets, and almost no litter. Perhaps best of all from my selfish perspective is that you can have a cold beer outside a cafe on the main square and close your eyes and hear nothing but the water splashing in the fountain, and the hum of people talking quietly around you, and children playing in the distance, and birds singing. No idiot DJs and no rubbish piped music. Bliss. A nice way to relax before getting back on the train.

Court house in the city centre

State Opera House.
Quite impressive that they've got one, in a city of only 145,000 people.

Monument of Liberty

Many of Bulgaria's national heroes died tragically from elephantiasis of the moustache.

Gents' toilet in pub. I'm pleased to say that my needs did not necessitate hovering.

Edd vs Food #115
The complimentary hotel breakfast. Ham and cheese melted on fresh bread. Very well executed.
I had steeled myself for soggy toast and week-old cornflakes.
Round here, they don't bother asking if you're vegan or gluten-intolerant.

Hotel bedroom. Note mirrored ceiling and mucky wall pic.
And yes, that's a full-size fridge next to the bed...
...but despite the mirrored ceiling, there was no pink champagne on ice.