Nord Plovdiv

I am going to start with the gawry bits first as a warning to anyone who reads this.<br><br>1. Be wary of hotels.com as they told us we had paid for our room when we booked and we subsequently got chased by the Guesthouse after we had left - for nonpayment! Thankfully they had our email address so did not have to call the Police to track us down! Everything seemed to be resolved but took several days, lots of emails and many hours until we found it wasn't and ...

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 ...

... too much trouble then headed into Plovdiv with our trusty tourist map. It has nice wide boulevardes with some modern stores, lovely parks, outdoor cafes and also an Old Town area. The Old Town was fairly spread out and walking was quite difficult on the large stones of the cobbled lanes. There were some interesting buildings and also some Roman ruins, the usual ...

May 28th - Belgrade to Plovdiv (Bulgaria)<br> After checking out of the hostel we spent all the Serbian money we had left at the supermarket on breakfast. Walking down to the train station we took a few snaps of the bombed out buildings, the locals must have thought we were crazy. The train had definately seen better days, on the compartment wall we sat in someone had written 'condemned by ministry of health Nov 2008'. Even so we made friends with an old Serbian man who came to sit with us ...

... had no green card insurance. As our paper work from the rental company was not green we had to pay 100 euros to cross into Serbia. Ouch! As we were unable to go any other route we were stuck with paying it. Grumpily we drove through and found the roads poorer than anywhere so far. Not wanting to spend time here we drove through the day on towards Bulgaria where we passed the border without problems. However the roads were dreadful, full of potholes, uneven and slow ...

... parents. We left Plovdiv after lunch and made our way out into the countryside, armed with a list of hotels to check out in the next cities. Passed through a few small cities yet didn't find any suitable hotels at a reasonable price. Took the road up through the mountains, spectacular views, especially with all of the autumn colours. Plenty of fresh water outlets along the way, taps made especially to collect the running mountain ...

... I was going to VT and that they would tell me when I had to get off, as the train went on to Shumen. The woman in the compartment was also reading this newspaper, which I had also seen in Sofia, along with a few similar titles. From transliterating the Cyrillic, it was called 'Doktor'. I'm not sure what it was all about though. Anyone know? Ooh and another great thing on the train? Bottle openers built into the train tables. Oh yeah, that's my kinda train! So I arrived at VT....

... She jabbers happily at us in Bulgarian, probably relating all the wonderful properties of the water, and it certainly is refreshing. Heading back to the bus, my eye catches on a simple knife. It appears that I left my good, much-beloved, trusty knife in Bucharest, as I can't find it anyway, so I pick up a cheap replacement. It remains to be seen if I'll leave it in Belgrade to avoid checking luggage on the trip home, but until then, I expect to make much use of it.

... demolished." But not this case. Something was special about the roof, so they left supports holding that up. Whatever it was about the roof we never discovered. Such are the mysteries of Plovdiv. At the top of the old city is a hill where a fort was once stood. It was one of Europe's oldest settlements. Some local kids were playing around in it as we arrived but they left soon afterwards. It would have been a lot of fun to play in as a kid, but there is a lot of junk lying ...

... Bulgaria on the road from Istanbul to Sofia, its capital. Hilly, leafy and most certainly Communist bloc, it didn't greatly impress me until I found the Old Town and hobbled up one of the gnarliest cobbled streets I've ever seen. Sure I've visited other Old Towns on this trip but this is one of the most ornate, whilst definitely being the most dilapidated ...