When I was a child and people talked about the Iron Curtain and political dissidents imprisoned in far away places like Romania and Bulgaria, when spy novel authors like Alistair MacLean or John le Carré had colleagues imprisoned by Eastern European intelligence agencies, Belene is the kind of place they meant. Behind the gate is the bridge to the island. I was reading the sign when to my surprise the gate opened a few feet and a very nice uniformed guard with handgun on his hip came out and politely told me that yes the prison was there, four kilometers away on the island. I said I wondered if it were possible for me to cross the bridge but he said no. He did say it was o.k. to photograph the entrance (I’d asked as I wanted any entry onto the premises I made to be voluntary).
