Sankt Peterburg Plovdiv

... and a host who when w e asked if we could sit in the garden, promptly put up an umbrella, handed me a glossy magazine (I'm still not sure why) and told us his life story! Funnily enough, it was so interesting and we heard the good the bad and the ugly about life in Bulgaria.<br><br>After our rather full day and dinner in a Balkan Restaurant we headed to bed and set the alarm for 5.30am to ensure we did not miss the train to Varna the next morning.<br><br>

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 ...

... 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 ...

... to put a fair sort of a dint in Nas' supplies of Wymehcko (pronounced Shumensko, believe it or not. Crazy **** cyrillic!). Steve's son, Geoff's cousin James also put in an appearance which is noteworthy mostly because of the havoc he managed to wreak in an amazingly short amount of time. James is a nice enough guy, but can't handle his alcohol, or at least, couldn't on this occaision. On Corey's (Geoff's good friend and old housemate) last night in Bulgaria, he came around to the ...

... the city and went back to the station. It was about three in the afternoon, when I arrived at the train station. I had a timetable to take a train leaving Sofya for Thessaloniki and the train was supposed to leave Sofya late in the evening. I knew Plovdiv was more enjoyable than Sofya, but it was an idea to try the capital of Bulgaria. I hate to say this, but Sofya was the dirtiest city I had ever visited in Europe. A river was messy ...

... sure you have mosquito repellant!!!!!! This past few days Svetla has been at work so I have spent most of the time dowloading Euro 2008 games and catching up with the tournament, thank god for the internet!!!! Last night we went for a meal in Plovdiv town center and afterwards we were walking through the center and saw a gathering of people by the Art gallery with some camera crews so we were expecting some Bulgarian celeb to pop out but instead out ...

... 7 thousand years old. So obviously there is a lot of history in the place. Unfortunately there didnt seem to be much else. It is much more of a tourist destination then Sofia is, and seems to lack a fair bit of character as a result. The main street is just your usual upmarket boutiques and italian ice cream stores you find in most cities. The ruins that are there are very nice, but in what seems typical Bulgarian fashion they have either been completely built over or are ...

... which may not be worth the 7 hours of commuting. Should you need a place to reflect, to ponder life, to resolve problems or just to restore a sense of peace in yourself, I definitely suggest seeking on this haven. After the bus ride back to Sofia, Mary and I parted ways. I took a bus to Plovdiv. This bus ride, I was able to keep my resolve and stay awake, taking in the beauty that is Bulgaria, listening to my iPod while the bus played Kelly Clarkson in the background. The nerd in me ...