... or should I say "Where are the bears?" When I was young such TV programs as Lancelot, William Tell and similar movies along with a hit by Alan Price, funnily enough a member of the "Animals" pop group when not performing solo, titled "Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear"
(see him perform it on YouTube) released in 1968 glorified the life of the "dancing bear". In reality the truth was somewhat different in the majority of cases. Whilst perusing my DK travel guide on the journey from Septemvri to Dobrinishte I came across a reference to the "Dancing Bear Sanctuary". Accessible by taxi from the Relitsa station, all else left my thoughts, this was a "must see" journey, my first in the area. Relitsa is incorrect it is Belitsa, Relitsa is on the other side of the country.
The trip could be accomplished by catching the 10:10 from Dobrinishte, arriving at Belitsa at 11:04. Returning on the 17:24 from Relitsa would give me at least 4 hours at the sanctuary, or so I thought! My first breakfast of coffee and French toast under my belt and a short walk back to the station afforded me the opportunity to take some more photographs of the station and narrow gauge rolling stock denied to me at Septemvri the previous day. A plaque on the station wall attests to the length, gauge and date of operation of this particular station. By contrast the adjacent buildings attest to a bygone age of passengers, freight and even a horse drawn threshing machine. I last saw one of these in operation threshing corn in the fields at the bottom of my street in about 1964. I board the train ready to depart, the sun is shining, all is well, or so I thought.
We arrive at Belitsa station bang on time. I alight with one or two other passengers who disappear off down the slope towards the road. I cross the track to speak to the station master standing in front of his domain. "Dobar den, taxi molya (Good day, taxi please)" quoth I. "Ni" came the reply. After much use of Google translate, sign language and pencilled notes I established that the town below was not Belitsa, in fact the town to which the station was named was up the road turn left and about 6km away. The bear sanctuary was about 16-21km beyond that and there were definitely no taxis at the station or anywhere else. I could walk or, as I had a return ticket, I could catch the up train back to Dobrinishte when it arrived at 12:17. With an hour to kill I had ample time to admire the views before sitting in the sun awaiting the train and pondering how to avert defeat.
The 12:17 train was approaching and I was fuming, having come all this way there must be a solution. I rose to meet the train when the station master approached with a colleague whose shift has ended. For an agreed sum to cover time and petrol he would drive me to the sanctuary then take me back to Dobrinishte via a couple of other towns on the way where he had business to do. Out of adversity I would reach my destination and get to see more of the territory to boot. His car was parked on the other side of the tracks so we waited in amiable silence for the train to depart. He could not speak a word of English, this would be an interesting experience. We crossed the tracks and, as he had a last word with the station master, I noticed the markings on a rail making up the track. Small world! The adventure continues in my next post we will find the sanctuary and visit a couple of towns on the way home.
View my "Dancing Bear Sanctuary" photo album here. (I will add more photos as part of my next post)
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