Grand Hotel Velingrad

A lot of Americans celebrated and had fun on this day but not me. I went to the central bus station on time to catch an early bus but somehow the cashier sold me a wrong ticket so I missed the bus, and then she refused to give me the refund. The first really unpleasant experience for this trip. And the day didn't get much better after this. I ended up catching a later bus to Bansko, but because of that I ...

... is www.hotel-magi.hit.bg and you can email them at hotel.magi.velingrad@abv.bg The rooms are quaint, separate bathroom and heated. Still find it strange to just stand inside the bathroom and turn on the shower without having to stand in either a bath or shower bay. Will give an update on the food soon as we have eaten. Went to a nice restaurant for our dinner, it even had a live gypsy band playing. Had a great selection of ...

... a wide range of diseases. 9000 litres of water per minute spring from the five thermal and mineral deposits in Ladzhene, Kamenitsa, Chepino, Rakitovo and Kostandovo. We decide to make Velingrad our next stop in our tour of Bulgaria. The quaint little township has its streets lined with birch, poplar and linden trees, each adding to the colour of the streets with their gold, brown and red leaves. Old woman constantly work along the streets to try and keep the leaf litter to a ...

... the Turks. The people of Batak rebelled on 22 April under the leadership of voivoda Petar Goranov. On 30 April the village was surrounded by Ottoman army units and irregulars (bashi-bozouk). The battles were carried on for five days. The last stronghold of the rebels was the St. Nedelya Church. At the end five thousand people were killed and the village was burned down to ashes. News of ...

... to pick up. They have a sauna that Damyan & Erina made use of, I think it was 7 leva for the hour. The rooms looked very basic, but what you would expect for only 30 leva each person. All looked out onto the lake and provided a great view. However, the beds themselves were very hard, the mattress was very thin, making it very hard to get a good comfortable sleep. The pillows were like sacks of sand, flexible yet still hard as rock. I must admit that ...

... mountain peaks above 2000 m ,included Mussala peak ( 2 925 m),the highest peak on Balkan peninsula.Because of its rich biodiversity and big number of endemic,relic and threatened species ( fauna and flora included),for ex.2934 invertebrate species and 172 vertebrate species,including the largest bulgarian population of Balkan chamois,hazel Han, rock partridges, sousilk, little owl and martens ;the NP is a part of "Man and biosphere ...

Man, we ALMOST did not get the private bus to Rila Monastery because it was a hefty, additional expense. However, we are so glad we did pay the extra money to see this beautiful complex and its surroundings. Rila Monastery is a very well known Bulgarian site that is set in the Rila mountains. The setting is just great. We spent about an hour at the monastery and walked down to the cemetery which was cool too. We will let the pictures do the talking here. The only piece ...

... that is suited to each species. It is the largest park of its kind in Europe and now covers over 120,000sqm. The bears were cute but it was heart wrenching to see and quite depressing. A lot of the bears were trained to dance by being forced to stand on a heated piece of metal, forcing them to shift their feet or "dance" to avoid burns. Due to this type of training, they started to "dance ...

... for making sculptures. "Katja that's how I'm going to tell you...It doesn't matter where a man lives, but what's inside here," and he knocked his head. "Considering your ideals, ideas, goals and a picture about what you're capable of; that's what is a measure of a good or bad life. I could have worked every day, 24/7; i could have enjoyed afternoon siesta. So how can you measure a good life?"

... in time to see a spontaneous gajda performance at the entrance to the Devil's Throat cave. A wily Frenchman helped me to get back part of the way to Shiroka Lāka. I noticed his hands were shaking uncontrollably and he explained to me that it was because of the aggressive Bulgarian motorists. He was heading to the Black Sea coast for some final relaxation. I decided to return to my hillside room in Shiroka for a little bit of the same.