Hotel Elite Plovdiv

... whole process is starting again. The website took our credit card number and issued a receipt which we had to pass onto the guesthouse!<br><br>2. When someone tells you to catch a bus from Sofia to Plovdiv stick with your convictions and use the train!<br><br>NOW FOR THE GOOD BITS<br><br>The travel from Sofia to Plovdiv was pleasant and the scenery lovely. Our only regret was that we did not catch the train!<br><br>Plovdiv was always one of those places ...

The second reason I went to Bansko was the 5 hours' narrow gauge train trip that goes though the mountains, from here to Plovdiv, where I would catch a train to Istanbul, and I am happy to report that it was not a disappointment - so I didn&#8217;t go to Bansko for nothing. At 2 minutes before 0700 the train pulled out of the city that was blanketed by morning mist with just a few passengers on ...

... they provided before heading down to the station to book our train tickets. For some reason the international train ticket office isn't in Plovdiv station but quite a way away down the road. I attempted some bad Bulgarian without much luck before we found someone with some English to show us where it was. This was when we fell victim for our first scam of the trip. Not being able to pay in Euro or credit card we had to get some Bulgarian Lev to pay for the train. Finding a exchange, the ...

Saturday 16th May. We packed up and were on the road reasonably early and headed towards the border of Croatia where we crossed the border and drove through past Zagreb and towards Serbia. All was good and roads were fine though we had to pay tolls along the motorways we soon added up but it was a quicker way to drive there than the free regional roads. At the border of Serbia things got interesting as the border controls insisted we had to pay insurance as they said ...

... well. You've made it so far already, you're doing great! Katie: No! I can't do it, I really can't. I can't. I just can't do this! Me: (not quite so soothingly) Katie, you've been saying that for about two hours now. Clearly, you can do it, you are doing it! You have already done 95% of the mountain for heaven's sake! Come on! We're nearly there, you have done fantastically well! Don't give up now! Katie: (skis another 5m) I can't! I just can't. I can't do this... - oh... Are we ...

... in the hotel. Went down in the morning for my free complimentary breakfast, only to find that having milk with your cup of tea is just about unheard of. So much in fact that when I asked for some milk with my tea I had to pay for it, it wasn't inclided with the free part. The omlette I had for breakfast was ok, they had a choice of about 5 different hot meals. Overall, I had a great sleep and so I rate this hotel 8 out of 10

... not just sour milk but turn it into yoghurt. Whilst waiting for my train I went up to street level to get a bit of fresh air as it was quite close and humid and met a couple of rather sweet old ladies who were room touts. They spoke a little English and I explained I was leaving not arriving, but they stopped and had a chat anyway. They were sisters, one was a teacher and one was a 'noorse', well used to be a nurse I suppose they were 60/70-odd. She then mimed being ...

... through the set. I have now travelled far enough south that I can go days without seeing another true blonde, but apparently, my hair has yet to significantly interfere with my ability to blend in. The next morning (after a late night at a bar with a local university student and two Polish girls) I set off for the modern part of town, chancing on Plovdiv's ancient amphitheater along the way. The setting, entirely surrounded by the city, is not what I ...

... of an apartment building were not as considerate as those of the mosque. The piled some concrete on top of the seats and did their building. Perhaps Plovdiv's Roman ruins aren't to die for. The city has some great Ottoman era houses, and it hosts a huge quantity of house-museums. These are houses that people turned into museums. We checked one of them out; it has become an ethnographic museum. The building's exterior is painted plaster and the interior is decorated with ...

... Big Amphitheatre The little one, a shopping mall has been built over the top of, whilst the big one, it was cool. They discovered it whilst they were building the main road. It has been restored and is now used for performances. The old town was good to walk around, and I did have some more wine. That was basically Plovdiv. Sofia, here we come