Tripping With Toby: Iron Curtain

Horowitz Travel- May 11, 2017- Iron Curtain

We left town down the main divided road now blooming with a luscious display of roses in the center. We were on the southeast road to Turkey and Greece. We eventually got close enough to the borders for Verizon to welcome us to both countries in turn.

Once again, we had a long enough drive to tell tales. Patrick had the winner. He was once held hostage in a strip club. He had a client who was traveling alone and "liked women." One of the many nights Patrick took him to a club, the man spent over $2,000 on wine, women, and..... Since it was such a large amount, his credit card denied it. He didn't have that much cash. The club insisted that he go to his hotel to get his debit card. They sent two "gorillas" to accompany him. Patrick had to stay at the club under the careful eyes of two other large, hairy "employees" until his client returned and the debit card coughed up the money.

Patrick also told us a bit of what it was like growing up under Communism. He's 45 years old, so had that experience. He had a happy childhood and didn't miss what he didn't know about. What he did say was that everything Western was cherished. If he came across a Coke can or chocolate wrapper that a Western tourist had dropped, he treasured it. His pencil holder was, in fact, a Coke can.

In preparation for our visit to the old "iron curtain," which was really a fence, Patrick sent us a link to a movie called Border. In Bulgarian, it's Granitza. It tells how eighteen-year old boys who might have misbehaved in the army during the Communist era were given duty guarding the borders. A barbed wire fence separated Bulgaria from Turkey and Greece to keep Bulgarians from escaping Bulgaria. The fence was electrified, not to hurt the escapee, but to alert the guards that someone had breeched it. What the fugitives didn't know was that once they were over the fence they were still 2 km from the border. Guards would track them down in the "dead zone" and either capture or kill them. Capture involved a lot of paperwork. Killing someone fleeing was rewarded with 20 days off the guard’s two years of service at the border for each body. Guess what happened?

There is now another fence. It's barbed wire & taller than the one in the 1960-70's. It's on the border and alerts are by thermal detectors and cameras. The present fences are to keep immigrants out of Bulgaria. They already know that Bulgaria is the worst place to enter the EU. They're usually beaten and robbed before they're sent back. We passed a "camp" for immigrants that looked more like a prison.

After going through a few places that looked like ghost towns, we arrived at our first site. The Honda climbed a craggy slope as close to a bunker as it could get. We trekked through the weeds while Patrick assured us that he'd scare away the lizards and snakes, and that the snakes weren't poisonous. I stomped and tromped my way up making as much noise as possible. It was difficult entering the bunker but worth it once inside. The paint was peeling off walls, small animal and bird droppings were everywhere. It was a dismal, desolate place to serve. Although it's spring and a sunny day, we tried to imagine the loneliness, cold, and isolation of the young men's duty. Patrick cleared dust off graffiti telling us it was the soldiers' record of how much longer they had to serve. As I climbed out, Patrick told me that the rock I'd slid down to enter the bunker had a snake under it.

Patrick moved the car to a scenic overlook near a 10th century rock church we'd visit after lunch. He had a great idea. His Honda came with a picnic table fitted into the spare tire storage area. We had gone to Lidl, a grocery like Aldi's, and bought fixings. What a treat!

Of course, we had to climb down to and into the church site. David and Judi lost their footing and sat down hard. I've started to keep score of slips landing on rears for the trip so far. David 4, Judi 2, I tripped once but didn't fall. Hermit monks lived in this tri-conal cross-shaped stone construction. Who else would? We managed to extricate ourselves in one piece and went on to see the soldiers’ barracks and lookout tower.

On the way, we passed through the old checkpoint and falling down gate. The barracks were in no better shape than the bunker. On other trips, Patrick had found a letter in Arabic that was tucked away under a shelf in a pile of rubbish. He thinks it was written by an immigrant woman who may have been hiding there. I asked if he could get it translated, but he said it's part of the history and didn't want to remove it.

Whew! Home free, we thought. We were heading out of the border zone when we were flagged down by a Bulgarian cop and an EU policeman from Germany. It was not an unusual occurrence, and we'd been told to bring our passports. They took David's and mine, but Judi looked honest enough for them not to be interested in her. Besides, she flattered them by asking if she could take a photo. They agreed.

We'd asked the hotel to do our laundry yesterday. Today we returned to clean, if not damp, laundry folded and displayed on our beds.

I found out that Patrick can take larger groups and has access to a mini-van. Since being here I've learned that Bulgaria wouldn't be a bad place to start learning about European history. It is a cradle of ancient history that eventually links with other civilizations. Information about Patrick is available at https://www.bulgariaprivateguide.com/ or Google Bulgaria Private Guide Patrick.

Tomorrow Patrick will drive us a long way to Ruse, a border town near Romania. No barbed wire, just a meeting with our Romanian guide, Radu Savu.

Toby