Monday is a glorious day and forecast to be the last good day of the week before temperatures drop and it gets stormy, although that forecast turns out to be totally wrong. We are taking E&A to Ruse today. First stop is the bakery in Basarbovo which sells amazing bread, then onto Jumbo, the shop that sells everything you never knew you had to have and desperately needed. An hour later and a few bags heavier we head for the city. We go to the market then for a nice long lunch and watch the world stroll by as we do so, although it seems very quiet today. Maybe we are so used to the kids being off for the summer holidays and now they are back at school. After filling up on salad and gorgeous pizzas we head towards the park and the Danube. We watch the barges for a while, the old folks sunbathing and playing cards and chess, and then see the remains of the sand sculptures which have been here since the beginning of the summer and are still surprisingly intact. The summer is officially over now as all the bars along the Danube have closed for the winter. So we head back into town to grab some beers before we watch the sun set over the Danube. It was a stunning sunset. After a very long day we head home then have an early night.
Planet Food in Ruse
Autumn is definitely here
Train alongside the Danube.
The old station, on the right here, is now a restaurant so your table is about a metre from the track
Fishing at sunset
Amazing sunset
Tuesday E&A are having a rest as they are heading back to the UK on Thursday. They are also preparing lots of food as they are cooking for us tonight. I have (maybe) arranged to meet Efan today to go get grapes, but as usual the details are not confirmed and have probably been lost in translation along the way. So I head into Popovo to see if there are any at the market. There are some, but they are not good and a local who speaks good English warns me off of buying them. But we do have a good chat about wine-making and I learn lots: the season for winemaking is very short, about 20 days. You don't need any fancy kit, just crush the grapes, add water (3 litres for every kilo of grapes), stir every day, let them ferment for a week, sieve out the pulp then let ferment for a second week. It should then be ready to drink. The pulp can even be used to make Rakia. The grapes start off cheap and get more expensive as the end of the season approaches. This is because the grapes become better quality, need very little or no sugar, but you run the risk of not being to get any if you leave it too late. I fear I may have left it too late. I go home empty handed but a lot more knowledgeable on wine making (but as usual I will triple check the info I have been given as you never know....). Lunchtime comes and no Efan so I drive up to his house. He has forgotten but he gets ready and off we go anyway to a farm where he says they sell good grapes. We get there and the grapes are not good and are expensive. Next stop Ruse where he says we should have gone first! After a non-stop driving lesson (Bulgarians are experts on everything) we arrive at a wholesale market in Ruse where they have plenty of quality grapes. The Merlot grapes are excellent quality so I get 100kg which works out at less than 40p per litre of wine. Happy days. We head home where it turns out E&A have arranged a joint birthday party for Pammi and me as they missed our birthdays this year. We had amazing food, played games and drank way too much wine.
Birthday party
Party games
Emma tries out the pool, but the water is freezing
Wednesday the weather is still good, a bit overcast but none of the storms that were forecast earlier in the week. Anthony wakes with a hangover, Rakia, sparkling wine and red wine do not mix well. Although today will be another chill out day, we are still going for a long walk as E&A want to see the forest. So after a leisurely breakfast we set off. The last time we came along this forest track it was autumn and fairly easy to access but after an hour or so we have to turn back as everything is so overgrown. As we come back long the track we pass a bee farm and the owner invites us in to look around. It is huge, 260 hives each holding 6000 bees, but he tells us it has not been a good year as the farmers are using too many pesticides which affect his bees. When we go to leave he gives us a tub of fresh honey, so generous of him and such a nice guy. It will a great place for our customers to visit. We carry on with our walk out the far side of the village to some tracks we have never been down before but soon have to turn back as Pammi is starting to get blisters. We are so lucky to have so many places to walk that are so beautiful. We need to promote this for our business more. Back home we have hot toast with fresh honey which was absolutely gorgeous. Pammi and I then harvest our grapes before we all have a go at crushing them in with the grapes bought from Ruse. That evening we have an early night as E&A want to start hitch hiking back to the UK tomorrow and want to reach Serbia by the evening.
Corn harvest, but it turns out we planted too late and they were not edible
Pammi harvests our grapes
Anthony fires a rifle for the first time but was a great shot
Crushing the grapes
180 litres of red wine
Marple ate all the fallen grapes, got drunk and had to go to sleep :)
This track soon became too overgrown to carry on
Part two of the walk was better
'B Company' hives
Thursday the alarm goes off at 0530. Pammi makes a packed lunch for E&A and after a hearty breakfast we set off to drop them off at a gas station on the main Sofia road which should be a good hitch-hiking spot. Thankfully the rain forecast for today did not happen. Back home we planned on having a rest but a friend of ours thought they may need to come and stay for a few days so Pammi got on with giving the let a deep clean whilst I cleaned outside then wrote part of the blog. Afterwards I started to empty the pool, I cannot see us needing that again this year! As it turned out our friend did not need to come and stay, so jobs done, we crashed out for the rest of the day. Having guests is so exhausting but very enjoyable. By the end of the day E&A are in Serbia but the nights are so cold that they wake to ice on the outside of their tent the next morning.
Hitch-hiking back to the UK
Friday starts off a dark, wet, typically autumnal day but soon clears up to be crisp but dry. We are up early and head off to the market at Popovo for a few bits of food shopping. It is great that we need so little now that we have a good stock of vegetables, so we have time to have a really good look around the shops and market for once. I even pick up a pair of unworn G-Star jeans for less than 2 GBP at the second-hand store. Absolute bargain. Back home we go for a walk as I want to photograph some things around the village. We pop in to see K&C who are really getting on with sorting out their new home. Later Pammi starts knitting whilst I get the job of unraveling a huge ball of wool. Early evening the weather is almost pleasant so we go for another walk around the village. We see TH and pop into his house so he can show us his wine vats and have a taster. The wine although really young is gorgeous. We spend a while with TH, Ani and Thomas but call it a night after one tumbler of wine before we are incapable of walking home. Walking back down the hill to our home we meet some of our neighbours so sit and have a chat with them before it becomes too cold and we all go home. We are so lucky to have all these Bulgarian friends. We eat our evening meal indoors, Pammi has made a real winter warmer of chickpea cottage pie for tonight which was so nice, it seems so strange after months and months of living outdoors.
Young but gorgeous wine. That is not Pammi's wine glass by the way
Our neighbours
Saturday starts off another miserable day with horrible misty rain. Pammi is doing the deep clean of our home today so I am packed off to do some shopping in Ruse. It is wet and horrible so don't hang around and am soon home. Another winter warming lunch of butternut squash soup soon makes the world a better place though. Pammi resumes knitting whilst I carry on unraveling wool. The excitement is just too much!! The rain continues till late afternoon when it brightens up but we are now indoors for the night. Tonight we have fresh leeks and potato from the garden in a cheese sauce, although it still feels weird eating indoors. It is then time to watch DVD's before a relatively early night. E&A are now in Austria having been given lifts by among others the Border Police!!
The well outside K&C's house
More walnuts
Light renovation required.........
Sunday and we wake to a beautiful sunrise. The sun rises really quickly and it becomes a lovely day, sunny but chilly. After breakfast Pammi meditates whilst I write the blog. K&C want to visit Borko this morning so I go with them as I want to return Borko's wine press. When I get home Pammi and I go for a walk to the top of the village but in the opposite direction to that we normally take. We find the Turkish cemetery which has some amazing tombstones. We then take a track we have not done before which takes us on a huge loop of the village but is a great walk in the autumnal sun. Home again, we enjoy the sun for a while before having a chinese meal in the courtyard before the sun goes down and it starts to get cold. Whilst cooking I make my weekly call to my mum in England and then my sister calls me. All the latest news exchanged, we say goodbye and Pammi and I have our meal in the last of the days sun. Meal over, I write the blog whilst Pammi does more knitting. Another week ends.
The Turkish cemetery
Out on a new walk
Next week we will clear the tomato plants and start getting the garden ready for winter. Just need to research some uses for all the green tomatoes we still have........
Take care all and have a great week.
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