The offers of the nature guides in the Bulgarian nature reserves are promising. In my thoughts I am already up on the peaks of the Central Balkan Mountains in my hiking boots, on the way from hut to hut, the memory card of my camera bursting with impressive views – happily posted on Facebook and Instagram. This is how it should be.
Well, if it wasn’t for Corona.
To cut a long story short: This year, hiking in the Eifel is the order of the day. Certainly beautiful too, but ultimately not what I had been looking forward to for a long time while planning.
In September I was supposed to start together with a friend: First to the Vitosha Nature Park for a view of the roofs of Sofia. Then to the karst mountains, then a three-day hut tour in the Central Balkan Biosphere Reserve. Belasitsa Nature Park was waiting for us with its chestnut trees, which, in September, we imagine, slowly turn autumnal. Not to forget the cultural offers in Sofia and Plovdiv.
All this is probably not particularly corona-dangerous. Presumably it is lonely in the very best sense: The guide, a small group, and we. And untouched nature. However, the journey to this adventure 2000 km away from home should be as environmentally friendly as the holiday itself. We had done a Cornwall trip like this before – travelling to Great Britain on the Eurostar, and there we made good progress by train and bus. Even the direct connection Hamburg – Budapest had already taken us to a festival holiday without changing trains. Today it no longer exists.
Environmentally friendly travel meant that flying to Bulgaria was out of the question, and even more so in corona times.
I decided to do two things: firstly to ask the nature guides how to travel in Europe and what they can recommend as a land route. On the other hand, to ask special agencies for train connections. This research will take some time, but I am optimistic that I will be able to solve this question so that we can set off next year!
I’m already looking forward to a journey that is part of the journey: To see how landscapes change, how other passengers get on board, how life awakens at 5 a.m. in strange cities through which one travels; all this is very appealing if one agrees that the journey is also the destination.
Article by Petra Reinken, www.wortwolf.de
Summer Memories From a Walk with Sofia in Belasitsa Nature Park