Park Hotel Gardenia Bansko

... kann ich natuerlich ich auch kaum, die Bulgaren haben kyrillisch erfunden). Habe aber den Bus nach Rila in die Berge gefunden und war dort dann am Spaetnachmittag (erneut 60km fuer 2,50 Euro). Habe mich im Kloster einquartiert (10 Euro fuer die Nacht, Duschen gibt es keine), wenn die Tagestouristen weg sind ist es ganz nett. Touristen gibt es naemlich sehr viele ...

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 ...

8th June

Sofia to Rila Monastery

Sunny am 27 degrees Late storm

After breakfast we left our lovely hotel room in Sofia to drive to Rila Monastery. We made one detour to see some sign-posted rock formations where we drove up a goat track for a while, then climbed a hill and got to see a nice view but with no sign of the rock formations ...

So today we were venturing further afield and heading out to Rila a little village in the mountains about 2hrs drive SW from Sofia and to the famous monastery that was in the mountains a bit above the village. First though we had to find a taxi to get us to the bus station to catch the bus out there. Luckily the taxi was the easy bit and the lovely woman at the bus station spoke English and directed us to the correct bus even ...

The Hotel Magi is situated in the heart of Velingrad on Cvedinenie Boulevard. It is a 4 storey hotel with quaint little rooms. Prices are good, 30 leva for single room, 40 for double room and 50 for a triple. Wireless internet is available, but the signal is not the best when you are in the rooms at the far end of the hotel. It boasts a bar and cafe on the ground floor which is open to public assess as well as for its patrons. Its ...

... managed to free, and is now home to, 25 bears. Even though the training of bears has been prohibited in Bulgaria since 1998, as of May 2007, there were still 3 registered dancing bears held in captivity. Fortunately, in June of 2007, these last 3 bears were transferred to the park and there are now (officially) no dancing bears in Bulgaria. The park tries to provide the bears with a natural ...

Had a lazy morning since we weren't leaving Sophia until 2. Got moving just before noon and then went in search of food. Quick piece of pizza, of course covered in Ketchup. I'm actually starting to get used to the ketchup on pizza slices! Then I tried to do some travelers errands. Browsed some stores and bought a bracelet for my mama while I waited for my pictures to be burnt to a CD. Made friends with the girls at the picture shop and then went to find more ...

... colleagues greeted me that way too. the only thing that goes on is a ceremony in the school yard which lasts about an hour and a half. kids from different grades made short speeches on themes you would expect, like here we are at the beginning of another school year... an assortment of primary kids from my summer classes even sang an english song (head, shoulders, knees and toes...) but i didn't get pictures ...

... exercises completely on our own, because the books suck and most kids don't have one anyway. It's also really important for us to do a lot of planning because we're working without a translator of course, so we have to come up with simple ways to explain advanced grammar, including looking up a lot of bulgarian words. So I was really upset with him, and asked him why he didn't stick to the plan, and showed him the exercises I had spent 45 minutes on the night before. What ...

... have kids or pets. Tonight is our last night in the hotel, then we will actually get to be out in Bulgaria. So exciting. We had a banquet tonite with professional folk dancers and a singer, I definately suggest checking out the video clips. Most of us also danced the hora, we all learned the easiest kind and danced to some of the singer's songs. Apparently it is a really big deal to be able to do the dance and our host communities will be really excited that we know how.