Arbanassi Palace Veliko Turnovo

... amidst other adventurers. . . typically those that you share a common language with.
Its a beautiful thing in this world of strangers when you meet someone for the first time, find yourself at a cafe, and you are already deep into discussing politics and religion . . the typical taboo topics.
My other secret to traveling alone is to find an Irish or English establishment. On my walkabout this morning, I found an English pub where they serve "proper" english ...

... are doing here, and wonder if I could do it - if I could leave my city comforts that we have come to think of as so necessary and live the simple life. Being here has reminded me that there is so little that we actually Need in life, but we think of everything as so necessary. Its nice to know that in a situation where we might need to go back to relying on the Earth and ourselves entirly, there are people who would know how to do it.
It's interesting to think about.

... up from her seat and ran around the building turning on bright fluorescent lights. Some of the paintings were really interesting. Some were...eh. The most interesting thing I saw was paintings of Veliko Tarnovo from the early 1900's and before. The town looked almost exactly the same!

Veliko Tarnovo (or V.T.) is mostly a touristy area because of the huge fort that sits on top of one of the hills. The fort was quite impressive. Some of it was reconstructed in the ...

... Helga is the exuberant outgoing one and Viola is the mirror being both funny and incisive. They are great fun to hang out with but I can't see what I bring to the party. Although my accent is apparently hilarious when I read from the guidebook.

Anyway we've made very good time and despite the long breaks this walk is starting to look a bit short as we're getting close to the overnight "hut". We're now on a sandy track in cultivated heathland on top of a ridge ...

... was just a tap at hip-height on the wall, but nobody cared because we got to sleep in a BED!!!! We were in dorms and I was sharing with a bunch of the girls.



Bulgaria is mostly Greek and Eastern orthodox, so we got to celebrate our second Easter Sunday. At 11pm the bells rang out into the night to call the monks to mass, and some of the group rang in Easter with a candle-light ceremony in the chapel, but I was tucked away in bed by this point!

... middle of nowhere with no real bearings of which way we should go. We eventually found an old bloke who gave us some directions with various pointing techniques and the word 'most' which I worked out to mean bridge (the old bridge in Mostar is the Stari Most). We were on our way, walking a short way along the highway then veering off up some sort of logging path. It was initially not particularly nice but it opened up and soon got nicer. Just as leah was starting to ...

... chores if they ask. Everyone is so friendly to one another it feels like family. And it practically is, being only 4 guest and 3 workers here. MY first experience of Bulgaria was in Plovdiv. I coincidentally ran into a travel companion, Duncan, whom I had met on the ferry from Italy to Greece. The secret at work, right Robby. ANd at the hostel I met another young traveler from England and a bit older Scottish fellow. ANother very hospitable and nearly empty hostel ...

... algo. Total, son las 3am, quien necesita dormir si puedes estar comiendo albondigas y comprando en la Duty Free? Como puedes vas al servicio que, para los interesados, eran aun los inservibles boquetes en el suelo en los que aparte de hacer tus necesidades te lavas los pies... Y encima tienes que pagar. Inolvidable. Llegamos a Estambul destrozados pero la recepcion en este hotel fue estupenda de nuevo, llevandonos a la terraza a desayunar enfrente del mar.

... going in the right direction. There are some other hikers over there, we were there about a half hour ago. Following along the mountain side ...

... just idyllic. Veliko Tārnovo was once the capital of Bulgaria. The move to Sophia was a recent political move (19th century) in order to bolster their claims to Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans. What a shame, the city of Veliko Tarnovo was built on a gorge on the snaking S-shaped Yantra River. It has the natural defenses of the gorge system and the splendor of being located on a river valley with many majestic views. We arrived at 8pm and with the lights overlooking ...