Trimontium Plovdiv

... your head its more universal but coincidently come the next country i become wrong, we have come to find that this is the only country where when you shake your head no it means yes and when you shake your head yes it means No. That clears that confusion up, and here Nay means No and in Greece Nay means Yes, and everything is in symbols I'm afraid to talk for I might be saying Yes, please!<br>

... whole process is starting again. The website took our credit card number and issued a receipt which we had to pass onto the guesthouse!<br><br>2. When someone tells you to catch a bus from Sofia to Plovdiv stick with your convictions and use the train!<br><br>NOW FOR THE GOOD BITS<br><br>The travel from Sofia to Plovdiv was pleasant and the scenery lovely. Our only regret was that we did not catch the train!<br><br>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. <br><br>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 ...

... notes out of his wallet as keepsakes and the he was gone. The rest of the journey was routine although we did wonder for a bit if we were on the right bit of the train when it split in two just before the border. Fortunately we were and soon we arrived at our destination of Plovdiv. There was no specific reason why we had chosen Bulgaria's second city to stay we had just heard from a few people that it was nicer than the capital Sofia and it was a bit nearer Turkey. Our directions to ...

... 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 ...

... with Geoff and young James in tow to have a few drinks and then head up to Pamporovo where the nightlife is better for a bit of a last night fiesta. No problem, Doug and I arranged to come along. Everyone had a few drinks here and I didn't even realize that James was only 16, he seemed (emphasis on seemed) to handle his drinks fine. In due course, we headed off to pamps and went into an Irish pub called Dak's' where James quickly went from, 'fine' to, 'total pain in the ...

... a lot of garbages and the edge of a bridge was collapsed. I even saw some stray dogs around the city. As a matter of course, there was no TI office. They shouldn't show their city to tourists. In the city market, I was scared by a burgar vender to buy a kebab. Honestly, I was fed up with Sofya. However I had to kill time there to take a train to Greece. What is more, the train was one hour late and smelly inside, although the ...

... the President of Bulgaria!!!!!! complete with secret service etc, but he allowed people to come close and shake hands as he walked through the center, I have some pics but they are on my phone so I will have to wait until I get back to the uk to download them, still not often you get to see the President of a big country. I may visit the aviation museum later today or maybe leave it until one day next week, tonight we will watch sunset from the top ...

... on all sides by ugly concrete blocks. Sheesh. The old town though is very fun. It is all old wooden houses which lean over one another and the cobbled streets. On my second day there i went out hiking past a series of monastaries which lead up into the side of the mountains. Some of the monastaries there have been cut out of the cliff side and are very interesting. Plus there are great views into the mountains themselves. I also hiked up to a fortress overlooking ...

... reading all the signs to myself, trying to master this foreign language. For example, Plovdiv is written (Pi)(lambda)oB(delta)iB. It doesn't do it justice to type out the Greek letters, but hopefully you can see how interesting deciphering the code can be. All across the country, in every city even, there are buildings that are halfway built or crumbling, and factories that are now abandonned, remnants of the Communist era. There are no plans to demolish these buildings or to ...