“Bulgaria 🇧🇬 ~We Have Arrived from Macedonia”

• August 26, 2020
• By Pen
• 6 Comments

Our driver from Macedonia showed up on time, and he spoke English. He use to be a driver for the US Embassy for several years. Daryl joked that he got to go to work in America, from Macedonia, every day. 🤣

Here are a few photos as we drove out of Skopje, Macedonia 🇲🇰

We had an easy drive from Skopje to the Deve Blair Border Crossing. The drivers fee was a bit steep at 183 Euros, $176.00, or 9,210 Dinar. We paid in Dinar; his currency. The drive was only an hour and a half. We were dropped off, just prior to the Macedonia crossing. In a world without the virus and pandemic, drivers would normally be able to drive us directly to our destination in the neighboring country, but now, since they have to prove they do not have COVID, just like the tourists, it is not cost affective.

We collected our belongings and began walking towards the border police. We had two choices: the car lane or the truck lane. We chose to walk through the car lane. 🤣🤣
After we “rolled” up to the windows, with our suitcases, I handed over our passports and Proof we had been screened for COVID, within the required 72 hour period. The officer asked me what we were doing in Bulgaria and answered; we had no definite plans, but hoped to stop at about twenty different locations to site-see. He looked over our American passports, and excused himself with them in hand. He told us to wait, and then left the booth. We wondered what was up. He spoke briefly with a colleague, then came back. He gave us our stamps, so whatever was up, turned out okay. I suspect the fact we have American passports is a bit confusing, since Americans are not free to travel outside the USA, at this time. (this is our understanding, anyway) But, thankfully, in Europe the ETIAS (European Travel Information And Authorisation System) which is similar to the Americas’ ESTA system; is all computerized. So, our passports show where we have been for a long way back, and we have not been back to the USA in several years. More currently, it shows we arrived in Europe, back in February, and we have not left Europe, since. So we have this going for us, anyway.

After we got our new country stamps, we were directed to the “nurse” at another booth. The nurse spoke pretty good English, and she asked us where we were going to go in Bulgaria. I told her the same thing. We talked about COVID and after I told her we were not a risk to anybody, nor were we AT risk from anybody, because we already had the virus back in January; she said her, and her family members also got COVID. This was one time, since March, after the lockdown on Santorini, Greece that we even heard of anybody having COVID, in all of our travel months. Anyway, she took our temperatures, which we normal, and and wished us a good visit, and we were free to go.

Before we arrived at the border, our Macedonia driver made contact with the Bulgarian driver, to confirm he would be waiting for us on the Bulgarian side, to take us to Sofia; the capital. We were told the Bulgarian drivers name and the plate number of his car. We were also told how much his fee would be for his part, to take us to a rental car company. ($82 US dollars). Our driver in Bulgaria was waiting for us, and we could see him as we walked the neutral zone with our suitcases and all. Thankfully, most of this stretch was downhill. We wondered if the Bulgarian driver spoke any English, and we were pleasantly surprised he had brought his 11 year old daughter along to help with translation. She was a very sweet young gal, and spoke pretty good English, and we got to visit al little on the drive. I chose not to take a photo of her, (though I wanted to) because she was very young, and I did not want anybody to feel uncomfortable. We made one stop at an ATM, so we could get the local currency to pay the second driver. The currency here in Bulgaria is called LEV. (137 Lev = $82 US dollars

We ended up going to the Sofia Airport to rent a car. This was not our first choice, as there are many rental car companies all over the city, but for some reason, we are not exactly clear on, there is a shortage of rental cars right now. Our guess is its not from being so busy, but from being so NOT busy. Cars on lease have gone back to the dealership, or sold. This could cause a “pandemic” shortage. The driver did not know where to go to get us to the rental car company offices at the airport. Finally, I decided to try and enter the airport, assuming I might find counters inside. I was surprised when security let me go into the airport without proof of a plane ticket and itinerary, as one, now a days, needs to have a reason for being in the airport (we have had to show proof of ticketing for the last several year at every airport, abroad). But, here in Bulgaria, no such thing. I did have to wear a mask, and my temperature was taken, again. I found the rental car counters, and got the paperwork going. Yay! Economy car/ 25 Euro a day, and we planned for 17 days. I went back outside to wait for the rental to be brought around. In the end, we got an upgrade, since the car I arranged was not quite ready to go. No worries, and we are enjoying the Land Rover with all its bells and whistles.

Originally I was thinking we would rent the car for Bulgaria and Turkey, but realised when we were at the border crossing, that returning the car back to Sofia in Bulgaria, after tootling around in Turkey would require another COVID test to get back in to Bulgaria …duh 🙄 …um nope, not paying for that again. So, we will need to ride a bus from Sofia to the border town, closest to Turkey, when that time comes.

For now, we are in a quiet part of the busy, busy Capital city, at Hotel Geneva. it is just right and we will probably return at the end of our time in Bulgaria, after turning our rental vehicle back in, and make our way to Turkey.