Hotel Kris Plovdiv

... we put on our itinerary but did not book accommodation, transport etc in advance. We initially felt in the planning stages that we would see how tired we were and how much we could cram into a day in Sofia.<br><br>Going to Plovdiv was to prove to be one of the best things we have done. The Old Town was incredible and we stayed bang in the middle of it. The cobbled streets and incredible restored buildings were like nowhere we have seen in a while. There ...

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 ...

9th June<br>Rila Monastery to Plovdiv<br>Sunny 31 degrees<br><br>We left the lovely Rila Monastery to drive to Plovdiv. It involved some backtracking to near Sofia and then on to the motorway to Plovdiv. Unfortunately, once again, the area is very smoggy and spoils what would be lovely views of the countryside and mountains. We arrived in Plovdiv and found our hotel ...

... The hostel was really a converted flat, decorated in IKEA style furniture with a young couple running it from one of the rooms. We showered and retired after a big trip.<br> May 29th - Plovdiv to Istanbul<br> Unfortunately, today it rained. This was a bit of a pain as we had to wait all day to catch a night train to Istanbul. Thankfully, the young couple in the hostel were really nice and said we could come back and hang out with them for as long as we wanted. We had some Bulgarian ...

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 ...

... now? Are we there? We are? Oh wow, I did it. Katie is a lovely girl, but on that day I really think she could have tried the patience of a saint. And I am certainly not a saint. (Sorry Katie! All jokes aside though, you really did do amazingly well. From the top of the mountain to the bottom, on your first day on skis, without a single stack (and there were some pretty daunting bits) is a considerable achievement. Be proud. :) ) On the next day on the slopes, Sharone and I ...

Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Ïëîâäèâ) is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 378,107. It is the administrative centre of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria and three municipalities (Plovdiv, Maritsa and Rodopi), as well as the largest and most important city of the historical region of Upper (or Northern) Thrace. The city is an important economic, transport, cultural and educational centre. Plovdiv is situated in the central ...

... and pulling a baby out. So I said 'ah midwife' and then they tried the word out for themselves, quite pleased to be learning a new word, and the one who was the midwife whipped out a pen and paper and wrote it down! Bless! The one who was a teacher said her daughter was a student in Finland, and so she helps out students who are visiting. They asked me how much hostels in Sofia and Plovdiv charge, I guess to check out the competition. I wasn't sure if that was what they were ...

... have expected, but at 2,000 years, it's the oldest thing I've seen so far this trip, and I snapped a few compulsory photos. A bit more wandering (yep, I was lost) found me at Plaza Dzhumaya and the start of Plovdiv's pedestrian shopping street. On one side of the plaza is the brick Dzhumaya mosque, dating from 1368. There is a major difference between Romania and Bulgaria in that the Romanians held off the Ottomans for centuries while the Bulgarians were ...

... applied wood. So often old intricate work reminds me that at one time, labour was way cheaper than the materials that labourers used. I cannot imagine what it would cost someone these days to build a ceiling like the one in this house considering what a competent tradesperson is paid. As a museum its value was limited. We were only charged a student fee (one Lev each, so about seventy cents), but we got only that much out of it. Most everything was labelled in Bulgarian and the ...