Kosara Residence Bansko

... kann ich natuerlich ich auch kaum, die Bulgaren haben kyrillisch erfunden). Habe aber den Bus nach Rila in die Berge gefunden und war dort dann am Spaetnachmittag (erneut 60km fuer 2,50 Euro). Habe mich im Kloster einquartiert (10 Euro fuer die Nacht, Duschen gibt es keine), wenn die Tagestouristen weg sind ist es ganz nett. Touristen gibt es naemlich sehr viele ...

... late and missed the gondola ride that would take me up to the mountain, so I was stuck in a city where half of it was empty (its major industry is skiing in the winter), having nothing to do. I walked the streets, used the hotel’s wifi to go to internets and relaxed. I ate a simple dinner and tried their "draft wine", I guess it means homemade wine without filtering, and it was cheap and nice.

... back and continued on to Rila Monastery. We arrived early afternoon and found that a room was available so decided to stay overnight at the Monastery. The Monastery is in a forested valley and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was first built in 927 and has 300 monk's cells in buildings surrounding the Nativity Church. It continues to be a working ...

... though as we wended our way up to the Monastery on the narrow twisty winding roads, as again they have no snow plows in evidence here, so they we just driving on hard packed snow and ice - thankfully I didn't realize this until after the first half of the journey was over. The Monastery though was spectacular and well worth the visit! It was a huge circular structure 4 stories high and because we were in the mountains ...

... cup of tea from their cafe. It's funny here, everyone in Bulgaria thinks that tea should always be flavoured, not normal flavour, and that it should be drunk black. I ask for milk and they don't seem to understand. When I finally get my message accross, (Bulgarian is very similar to Russian) they give me my milk but still proceed to put lemon in my tea. Yuck, they obviously don't know what happens when you mix lemon and milk together.

... room, my own 5" lcd monitor on which i have watched two movies, "The Bucket List" and "Mad Money" both of which are extremely good movies, when you have all the swearing taken out. I really didnt even notice that much at first and then was surprised about half way through when Jack Nicholas had not sworn at all. I realized today as I sit half way done with a nine hour flight that I should be locked up in some mad ...

... managed to free, and is now home to, 25 bears. Even though the training of bears has been prohibited in Bulgaria since 1998, as of May 2007, there were still 3 registered dancing bears held in captivity. Fortunately, in June of 2007, these last 3 bears were transferred to the park and there are now (officially) no dancing bears in Bulgaria. The park tries to provide the bears with a natural ...

... since supper was a long way away! Found a cafeteria style place and had some pork and sauerkraut stew, thumbs up! Wandered around Sophia a bit more and then went back to catch the bus. On our way to Bansko, we stopped at the Rila Monastery, the largest Eastern Orthodox Monastery in Bulgaria. It was an amazing place. Got the weirdest feeling when I was there, not good or bad, just weird. I bought a wooden painted Icon, love it but I will need to cut back on ...

... to Semkovo (there aren't any buses) and left us there, and I spent 2 days with Dora, my counterpart. It was nice and relaxing. A word about Dora - I have definitely realized how great she is. We had a really great time together. We've definitely found things to talk about. We only speak in Bulgarian - I think i'm failing so far in one respect, which is to improve her English, but she just seems really ...

... not sugar coated which should appeal to many. Catch you next time. TT Great Brands of the World - Bulgaria With a pretty simple message plastered all over the country it's not so surprising that I am now very inclined randomly purchase, drink and even clean my teeth with Flirt Vodka. As with Russia, it seems Bulgaria is yet to develop ...