Today’s journey will take me from north Bucharest to Dragasani, one of Romania’s prominent wine regions and home to several of the most regarded producers in the country. I’ve got a three o’clock appointment at Crama Prince Stirbey, a winery focused on making wine from and celebrating indigenous Romanian grape varietals. I’ll meet with Stirbey […]
Leaving Dobrogea, the Black Sea, and Danube Delta behind, I cross the new Cernavoda Bridge and head for the highway. Two things are burning a bit of anxiety in me. First, I’m nearly out of gas. My reserve light popped on as I rode to Rasova this morning. My best calculation is I have about […]
I ride down a dirt road to Crama Rasova—the Rasova Winery. Just beyond the guardhouse, a vast green lawn slopes down to the bluffs of the Danube River and to a modern building. Considering the rural neighborhood, the building at first seems out of place. Yet a closer look reveals it seems to fit into […]
With black clouds moving east, I pack up my motorcycle and head west. It was just two years ago when I last rode this bike through Romania. That fall, I rode to the Transylvanian capital, Cluj Napoca, from Budapest. Dining in a leafy courtyard on a balmy fall evening as I listened to a nearby […]
Sipping my cup of instant coffee as I gaze out from my small balcony to the streets of Varna. I’ve been here for four days. Today I must cross the border. My Maps app shows about two hours of riding to get to Constanta on the Black Sea Coast in Romania. I look through the […]
The following afternoon I sit down one-on-one with Marin, who guides me through a fast-track “master class” of Bulgarian wine. We find a quiet cafe in a leafy neighborhood, far off the main drag. WE snack on cheese and dried meat while tasting the beautiful bottle of Pamid I’ve been carrying for well over a […]
Varna is feeling like home. In fact, Bulgaria seems like home. Long-term travel, especially by motorcycle, with no itinerary, gives me to settle in when it feels right. Here in Varna, it feels great. Tonight I meet Nina, my new friend, and sommelier at Sea Terrace. It’s her night off, and we will give our […]
One of the Bulgarian wineries making a name and earning praise and accolades in the eastern part of the Danube Plain is Salla Estate. Located just 60 kilometers from Varna, Salla Estate’s beginnings started in 2007 when brothers Ivan Ivanov and Georgi Anastasov planted some 30 hectares of vineyards outside the village of Blaskovo. In 2010, […]
With my bike safely parked in front of the Divesta Hotel in downtown Varna, I exchanged my motorcycle boots for walking shoes and headed to the Black Sea Coast. Varna is the third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest in the Bulgarian Riviera. It is the northernmost city on the Black Sea and is served […]
The ride from Veliko Tarnovo to Varna over good roads is uneventful and takes me about three hours with a stop for fuel, coffee, and a much-needed drink of cold water. After battling the notorious Varna traffic, I get lost looking for my hotel. My time is tight as the clock ticks. Legendary sommelier and […]
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