Our journey from Romania took us down from the mountains into Bucharest, then onto a train crossing the endless Danube plain. One of the strangest things we noticed was the complete absence of fences — a lingering legacy from communist times when private ownership was discouraged.

We only planned a short stop in Bulgaria to break up the long trip to Istanbul. A couple of girls we’d met travelling the opposite direction had highly recommended a hostel in Veliko Tarnovo, so that became our destination.

After many hours on the train, we crossed into Bulgaria. The landscape was flat and dry, and we were starting to wonder if we’d made the right choice — until the train suddenly dropped into a deep canyon. The scenery transformed instantly into a beautiful river valley filled with trees. It was a dramatic and welcome change.

We stayed at Hostel Mostel, which turned out to be excellent. We had a comfortable private room with ensuite, and the hostel offered great common areas, an outdoor terrace, fast WiFi, and a solid included breakfast. Its location was also convenient for exploring the town.

Veliko Tarnovo is a historically significant town — once the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire — and is dominated by an impressive hilltop citadel. We enjoyed our time there: the accommodation was good, the food was tasty, and the town itself was interesting to wander around.

However, we weren’t completely at ease. There seemed to be quite a few shady characters around — men in dark glasses driving blacked-out Mercedes — which gave the town a slightly uneasy edge. While we liked Veliko Tarnovo, it’s not a place we’d rush back to.

We had booked a night train to Istanbul for the next leg of our journey. On the day we were due to leave, we were relaxing in the hostel garden when the manager came out with news: a storm in Turkey had damaged the tracks and all trains had been cancelled.

After a quick rethink, we decided to reroute through Greece. The following day we boarded a night train bound for Thessaloniki instead.