Park Imperial-Renovated 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!

2. When someone tells you to catch a bus from Sofia to Plovdiv stick with your convictions and use the train!

NOW FOR THE GOOD BITS

The travel from Sofia to Plovdiv was pleasant and the scenery lovely. Our only regret was that we did not catch the train!

Plovdiv was always one of those places ...

... but as the time progressed the train gradually filled up and the mist gradually burnt away by the sun, and I enjoyed continuous mountain sceneries interrupted by views of towns and fields.

Provdiv was sweltering under the sun when I arrived around noon so I took a bus to the Bachdovo Monastery 15 km out of the city in the mountain. A lot of monasteries in Bulgaria were the places ...

9th June
Rila Monastery to Plovdiv
Sunny 31 degrees

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 ...

... he couldn't speak any English and our Serbian only consisted of the necessary tourist phrases so we made do with pointing. At one point he whipped out a bit of paper and wrote his address on it so we could go and stay with him next time we were in Serbia, he got a bit upset when Cesca told him we didn't have an address in NZ to give him back, we think he was the type of guy who might just have turned up for a visit! Undeterred by this rejection he insisted on giving us some old ...

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 ...

... Asif and Asad. Khalil, Asif and Asad are all practicing mslims and as such, don't drink alcohol. It was quite interesting, even a little amusing watching Nas' have to curb his drinking out of respect for his brother in law and his mates. While they may not drink, Khalil at least, certainly isn't averse to a bit of this strange sort of chewing tobacco that contains a lot of wild and wacky herbs and is also apparently mildly narcotic. According to Nas, it's also a natural and ...

... for people to use to fill up their drinking bottles. Finally we made it to Tsigov Chark, a resort town built on the banks of the Batak Dam, the 3rd largest dam in Bulgaria. It is very popular during the winter months for skiing on the nearby mountain slopes and also popular on weekends during the summer season. Checked out many of the resort hotels for pricing but they were way too high for our budget. Finally settled on the Hotel Panorama.

After a very interesting train ride we crossed into Bulgaria in the early hours of yesterday. The town bares a spooky style and atmosphere to good old Bristle - BMXers, Breakdancers, laid back life - after the bustle of Istanbul a good next stop I feel - it's cheaper too which a bonus - breakfast for both of us for less than 4lev (2quid). The old town is lovely and our landlady has been a brilliant tour guide so far - off to walk up a big hill for a view. EM

According to historians, Plovdiv is one of the oldes towns in Europe...even older than Rome, Athens and Constantinople (Istanbul). Tomorrow will see most of the sites before jumping onto an overnight train to Istanbul....including another Roman Ampitheater! Those Romans really got around. The breeze is up, sun is out and I'll be wandering outside soon enough...

... including a huge broken window that was completely out of place, there not being any walls anywhere nearby. The hill did offer a great view of the town. It's attractive to most directions, nice hills and all. The Southern side is a bit of an exception. A small forest of white apartment buildings stretch along that vista remind the viewer that it was once a communist country. Still, country's Communist centurions were good enough to leave up the old churches in Plovdiv too. From ...