which sometimes caused the ferry to get stuck at the loading ramp, making waiting times even longer. Another factor that would make ferry traffic impossible or difficult were the very cold winters, when the Danube river sometimes freezes completely. About one month after the opening of the bridge, the ferry service between Vidin and Calafat was suspended. Travellers from Bulgaria (and Turkey) towards Central and Western Europe who wanted to avoid both the long waiting times and high transfer prices for the Calafat-Vidin ferry crossing and the customs procedures and road tolls one would face when travelling through Serbia, which is outside the European Union border, had to make a long detour towards the Giurgiu–Ruse Bridge. This bridge is located downstream and before 2013 it was the only other bridge across the Danube border that Bulgaria shares with Romania. This detour to Ruse often took longer than waiting for a ferry in Vidin or Oryahovo, however, both ways of crossing the border can take a long time. Travelling through Serbia was usually faster, but crossing outside the borders of the European Union can be a hassle with customs. Waiting at the Serbian customs can take 1 to 5 hours, especially during the summer season, when many immigrants travel back to their families. The Danube Bridge 2 makes travelling in and out of Bulgaria through Vidin much easier than it was previously by ferry boat. Even though the linking roads are still far from motorway standards, the New Europe Bridge (Danube Bridge 2) has become highly popular among transport companies, because it provides a road with no custom checks from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey to Austria, Germany and the rest of Europe, through Romania and Hungary, without leaving the European Union. The Giurgiu–Ruse Bridge was built with help from the Soviet Union and opened in 1954 as the Friendship Bridge (; ). Instead of its official name, Bulgarians tend to simply call it the Dunav most, which means Danube Bridge. Hence the name Dunav most 2 for the second bridge crossing the Danube between Vidin and Calafat. On the other hand, in Romania, this trend is not as common. Kilometer markers are set up along the Danube river and counting starts at the Black Sea. Although Bulgaria is south of Romania, crossing the Danube Bridge 2 from Vidin towards Calafat is done from northwest to southeast. This is because here the