Green Bird Farm, Bulgaria, Sep-Oct 2020
My 90 days without a visa in Bulgaria were almost up. It was time to move. I thought long and hard about my next destination and chose Greece where the number of COVID-19 cases was low.
The coronavirus made traveling really tricky. There were many factors to consider.
What countries accept Australian citizens coming from Bulgaria? What other entry requirements are like a negative test result for COVID-19? What If I do not go home in Colorado after that where I could go next? For example, Serbia and Macedonia were open to anyone but no country would allow me to enter it after visiting one of these two.
Greece seemed to be a good place to go to. I could travel by bus. Flying between countries became even more complicated, so I decided against it. Greece required a negative test result for COVID-19 taken within 72 hours before crossing the border. I also needed to fill an online form for the Greek government with my passport details and address where I was going to stay.
Once the decision where to go was made, I had to act quickly before new restrictions were in place. Each country sets its own rules during the pandemic and they can change overnight. The number of COVID-19 cases in Bulgaria was rising. The border between Greece and Bulgaria could close again as it happened in spring.
Who would have thought only months ago that traveling within the European Union that is supposed to have no borders was going to be such a headache?
Ardatur buses leave Varna for Thessaloniki daily at 6.30 a.m. The agent at the bus station in Varna could not sell me a ticket without a test result. For me, this meant 3 additional trips from Byala to Varna – first to take the test on Monday, second to buy the ticket with the test result on Tuesday and third to take the bus to Greece on Wednesday. The test results would be valid until Thursday morning. If something went wrong, my test result could very well expire and I would have to start the process again.
I don’t like complex solutions, they rarely work. Also, I wanted to accomplish all the above during one visit to Varna and it turned out there was a way to do that.
The Ardatur website did not have any prerequisites for purchasing tickets to Greece. It was designed in the good old pre-COVID times and assumed anyone could freely go from one EU country to another.
I bought my bus ticket for Tuesday online for $41 and filled out a PLF form to enter Greece. On Monday morning, I went to Lina Laboratory in Varna and paid 135 leva ($82) for an express COVID-19 test with a guaranteed result by 5 p.m. In Bulgaria, anyone can take this test without a doctor’s referral and medical insurance. I was the only customer there. The nasal swab took a couple of minutes.
From there, I went directly to the bus station where I showed the receipt from the lab to confirm that the test was taken. The agent, a very nice lady, believed me that I would have all paperwork by the next morning, entered my Australian passport details into the system and issued me a printed ticket with the agency stamp. She also arranged with the bus driver to pick me up on the road near Byala, so I did not need to go to Varna to take the bus. I went home to pack for the trip.
Leaving Byala, my safe heaven, to face the unknown was hard. I spent 2.5 months swimming in the Black Sea almost daily and gorging myself on free figs that were so abundant this year. I went to bed in the state of nervous anxiety and could barely sleep.
By Tuesday morning, I received my test result (negative) and a response from the Greek government (positive). At 7 a.m. I was standing on the road waiting for the bus. It did come and stopped for me.
We reached the border at 8.30 p.m. Yes, there is a checkpoint there now. It worried me more than anything that they would ask me why on earth an Australian citizen wanted to travel from Bulgaria to Greece and when she left Australia but nobody was interested in questioning me. My paperwork looked satisfactory. A few passengers from the bus were randomly selected to do a free COVID-19 test. Fake certificates with the results are not uncommon.
By 10 p.m. we were at the main Thessaloniki bus station where I got off. The bus continued to Athens. I arranged with someone to pick me up there. One hour later, I was at my destination, the village of Kalives, Halkidiki.
Pingback: Kalives, Greece, October 2020 - Break the Crust
What an adventure and what a time to do it! We had similar situation in August, when we had to drive through Slovenia in a record time of 40 minutes, because on the next day it would be in the red zone. And then we had to stay 2.5 hours on the Austrian-Slovenian border, because all Germans, Austrians and other Europeans were on their way from Croatia trying to be out of Slovenia as soon as possible. And yes, there was the border control where it was previously none.
Wow, I did not know that it’s possible to drive through Slovenia in 40 minutes. Must have been a lot of excitement. That’s an excellent example of how the pandemic changed the way we travel. Thank you for sharing!