Hebros Hotel Plovdiv

... given it was put on by the local community and was free. There was plenty of singing, dancing and of course a fencing demonstration when you least expected it. The sun had set and were sitting att he top of the ampitheatre taking in Plovdiv at night - an incredible sight. <br><br>Unfortunately the main museum we wanted to see was closed as it was Monday. However, we did get to enjoy an old traditional home with some really great local artwork on ...

... Bulgarian culture and religion were preserved during 500 years of Ottoman rule, so most of them are located in some out-of-the-way, mountainous region, and this monastery is one of the major ones. Inside its chapel is a 500 years old icon of St. Mary which is said to have healing power so there was a line of people waiting to pray in front of it and touch it. <br><br>I went back to the city and ...

... notes out of his wallet as keepsakes and the he was gone. The rest of the journey was routine although we did wonder for a bit if we were on the right bit of the train when it split in two just before the border. Fortunately we were and soon we arrived at our destination of Plovdiv. There was no specific reason why we had chosen Bulgaria's second city to stay we had just heard from a few people that it was nicer than the capital Sofia and it was a bit nearer Turkey. Our directions to ...

... br>· Bulgarian Revival houses and museums in the Old Town <br>· Historical Roman Hissar Kapiya Gate <br>· Visit the many bars, traditional Bulgarian restaurants and nightclubs that this student city is famous for <br>Itinerary: <br>· Day 1 <br>· Depart 9am from Sultanahmet <br>· Cross ...

... wonderful for walking in... skiing yes, walking - no) before they shut down the lifts other lifts at 1630h. I had a pretty good idea how this was going to work out. Needless to say, we didn't make it to the top in time, Sharone was still pretty sore from her snowboarding tumble the day before and even had I been on my own, I still would have had to push myself pretty hard to make it back up in time. Eventually though, we did make it to the top and of course, the lifts were ...

... improve her impression of us! The next day a couple of English guys joined us, and I went out with just the boys for dinner the next couple of nights as the other Brits had moved on. The English guys were doing a massive European tour by car, and it sounded brilliant, they had been everywhere, including Georgia and Armenia, and were on their way to Macedonia and Albania. We had a thunderstorm all that night but it then dried up which was good as sightseeing in the rain is ...

... escaped felon? I contemplated the spelling of SWAT in Cyrillic. Everyone seemed calm, except the policeman, who continued to gesture any approaching pedestrians to the side of the road. After fifteen minutes, the cause of the hold-up was revealed when we were once again permitted to walk down the street - a movie! As I walked the last 100m to the hostel, I passed men and women in 19th century dress, horses, carriages, and of course, lights, cameras, and a man ...

... Turkish Lira. I don't like getting woken up, and apparently I am not the only one; the whole line was grumpy and half asleep. I got to the front and the lady told me no coins, bills only. Triple checked!! I think someone was not happy about being there in the middle of the night either! Thankfully one of my buddies was behind me in line and had enough bills on him to cover us both. Otherwise I would have been stuck sitting ...

... to get a sense of how far it actually was between London and the city he was born. We talked about travelling, it being a common hobby of ours. He had found a new company that flies London to Hong Kong and bought a return ticket for seventy five pounds! and the two hour ride to Plovdiv went by quickly (I write in this blog's title "busing" around the West Balkans because that's the best way to get around. Had I waited for the train to Plovdiv, I would have been getting onto ...

... the prices of half of them so that is no longer possible, but I have found the best value beer of anywhere I've been - without a doubt. Can't pronounce the name but at 2 leva ($1 Euro) for 2.5 litres of beer we definitely have a winner. Doesn't taste bad either. That combination means the country probably has a serious drinking problem as well - I shall ask around.