Ferry life

Ever wondered how Bulgarian truck drivers cross the Black Sea? No, me neither, but now we know plenty of detail about the Drujba Line ferry that crosses the water between Georgia and Bulgaria.

As you’d expect, it’s a pretty basic setup, but it was better than expected. We had a room with four bunks for the three of us, plus a little en suite bathroom. In fact, it was very similar to the cabin we had on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. The big difference was in the lack of other facilities. There was a small deck we were allowed to walk on and a canteen area and that was it.

However, we’d come armed with our own cinema – so we had plenty of movies downloaded to watch on the way over.

Here’s what we watched:

Pirates of the Caribbean – The Black Pearl

Better than I expected. I’ve never watched the whole thing before and Jonny Depp was quite amusing. The special effects didn’t look to bad from a distance on a laptop screen.

The Big Blue

Started well, but the whole cobblers where they try and say he’s half dolphin turned Tiger right off. I thought it was an interesting statement about the selfishness of some males, especially the French variety, and their complete lack of perspective when they have an obsession, but that didn’t seem to be a popular view. Plus, director Luc Besson seems to be showing this to be a very honourable way to live your life.

The Favourite

Interesting perspective on English royalty. Loved the acting and the comedy.

The Black Panther

Better than I expected. I’ve avoided the majority of the Marvel Comic Universe and I wasn’t expecting much, but I thought this did a good job, with the comic book heroes as a metaphor for Black politics in the US.

Game of Thrones – Season 1

I finally managed to persuade Sarina to start watching Game of Thrones and, unsurprisingly, she things it’s quite good. We’re only up to episode three. Things are going to get a lot better.

The day on board revolves around meals, it’s the only thing going on really.

8am – breakfast: Yoghurt with a little cereal, bread and cheese.

12pm – lunch: Varied menu, but usually a pile of veg for us. Nice though.

6pm – dinner: Fish one day, cheese bake another, but altogether much better than expected.

The canteen area, complete with DVD movies dubbed in Bulgarian

Anyway, we made it. Two and a half days of laying around, doing nothing but watching movies and eating. It was hard, but we got it done.

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Days 156 and 157: Ferry from Batumi to Burgas