Toll Roads

When I picked up the rental car, I had two questions: does the car come with winter tires and how/where do I pay toll.

The answers were a) yes and b) there is a vignette in the car, so I don't have to pay anywhere. If someone asks me to pay, then that is a scam, but of course this should not happen.

Today's roads featured a few speed control and toll cameras, a police patrol, an old abandoned traffic control post and: a Bulgarian Toll control. The last mentioned were the ones to stop me and tell me that I did not have a vignette. Strange... I thought...remembering the rental guy. So I pointed towards the sticker in the windshield. "It has expired" was the answer to my gesture. So I called the rental company, and indeed, they admitted that the sticker had expired. So I paid a fee (luckily the patrol had a mobile credit card reader) and I also had to buy a valid vignette (the toll patrol officer even accompanied me to buy it from a vending machine and clicked through the system for me). When all was taken care of, they smiled and waved me good bye. 

I got in touch with the authorities a second time, when I wanted to visit a stone forest but shortly before the sight, the road was blocked.

Right on the corner of the intersection, there was a Lada car, saying "gendarmerie". Inside: two men with uniforms, behind the car: two ladies on plastic chairs. It took me a few seconds to understand what their professions were, being irritated by the French synonym for police and their leisurely conversation with what I assume were prostitutes. Nevertheless, I asked them whether I could take the road despite the signs. They did not understand where I was trying to go and sent me back to the "autobahn". I stopped the car in front of theirs and pinned a new destination on Google maps, however, when they left, I had time to reconsider the situation and circumstances. As there were cars leaving the blocked road, I decided to see how far I get. And I am glad I did, otherwise I would have missed this bizarre scenery:

My favourite sight of the day, however, was the Transfiguration Monastery near Weliko Tarnovo: