By Our initial itinerary had a stop in Ruse, but because the Danube was running low, we skipped that and jumped ahead to the port of Vidin, Bulgaria. I guess that gives me an excuse to come back to the area – to see what Ruse has to offer. Our first morning on the boat was free as we wouldn’t get into Vidin until mid-day. I took advantage and got a facial. I figured with the zipping around and jet lag, my face would benefit from some TLC. It was good and a good way to ease into the cruise.
The big adventure/excursion for the day was a visit to Belogradchik red rock valley. On the way to the site we got a little bit of history on Bulgaria. A mostly agrarian country, Bulgaria was under communist rule until 1989. They had a peaceful revolution and have been a democracy ever since.
The Belogradchik Fortress is pretty nifty…and a risk managers nightmare. There are very few barriers to prevent idiots (as I like to call them) from getting too close to the various ledges and falling off. Luckily no catastrophes while I was there, but I did see some idiotic behavior that even got the staff yelling in Bulgarian at someone clearly in dangerous territory. If you want to get scared, have someone yell at you in Bulgarian!
Anyway, I wasn’t sure how strenuous the climb would be and promised myself I would go up only as far as I felt comfortable and wouldn’t beat myself up if I didn’t make it to the top.
The guide animatedly told us about the rocks and the cute names for them. I lacked imagination so I didn’t see the Elephant or Rooster but did see what I thought was a couple of stones kissing, maybe. Maybe I was delirious?
I made it to the second tier, proud of myself for my accomplishment…and then watched a few others continue the ascension. With prayer and perseverance I made it to the top. I was so tickled with myself! Not only for getting to the top but for being willing to accept and be kind to myself if I hadn’t. There was a time in the not so distant past when I was with a group in Arizona on a climb and couldn’t keep up. They continued and I turned around in frustrated tears, ripping myself to shreds. I have come a long way, baby!
One the way down, I introduced myself to a few more folks on the cruise and helped them take pictures. They in turn took pics with my phone so my documentation of the trip wouldn’t be just close ups of my food, selfies and landscapes.
We returned to the boat for a lovely dinner. I believe this was my new found cruise friend Charlie’s birthday.
At 7pm we set sail for Donji Milanovac, Serbia!
Great photos!