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A day in Nessebar. Last day in Bulgaria

The best start to the day with a Skype from Rosa. That was very exciting and got me off to a bouncy start. I was having breakfast with my new found ‘friend’ Lana the Russian woman who lives in Germany. She is here for mud treatment on her very dodgy knees and is trying every miracle cure imaginable. She is in awe of little old me who is doing nothing special but she just can’t conceive of going off and getting on a local bus. And then there’s the knees …gave her my view of the world and I reckon she’s heading off for surgery as soon as she gets back to Germany. She’s a hoot really. She insists on speaking Russian to all the hotel staff although they clearly hate it!! They pretend not to understand and she insists that they do understand because they all had to learn it at school. Oh dear…they love me with my English!!!

Anyway enough of her. I had dinner at the hotel last night because I couldn’t be bother going out and foraging but it was a mistake. She and I were the only ones in the dining room (which is why in the end we had to end up talking to each other) and there was a guy playing the violin to no-one basically. So embarrassing, I don’t know how I get myself into these weird situations. I think it’s got something to do with staying in a place beyond my station, I make weird decisions!!

So this morning after breakfast and my lovely chat to Rosa off I went. I was worried my new found friend would want to come with me but she was booked in for more mud!

Onto the bus, no worries, but this time it wasn’t quite as convenient as the destination bus stop was a fair way away from the old town so had to make my way down to where I wanted to be. It is a lovely town with beautiful churches and ruins but it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as Sozopol because it was just so very touristy. Tacky souvenir shops just everywhere…beautiful old houses ruined by these horrible souvenirs under them. Such a shame really. I thought being UNESCO listed prohibited this but doesn’t seem to here. Notwithstanding, I enjoyed exploring and soaking up another beautiful little seaside town with magnificent old houses and cobbled streets winding everywhere. Just gorgeous all in all.

Then there is the mandatory fresh fish in these little towns…naturally. I have photos which I will download at some point…repetitive shots of my lunches!!
Then came back…found myself a bus that actually came to the old town so not sure what happened with the bus going there.

Well I’m very hopeful that this actually is the last day in Bulgaria, not because I won’t be sorry to leave, I will, its been an amazing experience. Not without its challenges but with fantastic rewards as well. It has been the discovery of one treasure after another. My reason to hope it is the last day is the complete lack of confidence I have that I will be able to get everything to go to plan tomorrow…it really is a wing and a prayer this expedition to get to Bucharest.

Next exciting saga tomorrow so wait with bated breath to hear where it comes from. There’s an awful lot happening in the lobby of this hotel where I’m sitting…clearly a wedding party about to arrive.

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A day in Sozopol

Here I am again. Lovely day that panned out as expected. Lovely breakfast in this palace of a place (shame it’s not hot enough to use the pool…it’s HUGE) and off I set. Found my bus to Sozopol and spent a lovely and quite leisurely day walking the town and absorbing it. It is a little peninsula surrounded by sea (which by the way was definitely Black today due to the black clouds that followed me all day but didn’t actually get me!!). It has a fortress wall and lovely ancient houses, very quaint churches and of course the mandatory rooon. So I just took my time and walked every street in the town. Then I of course had to find somewhere to satisfy my desire for fresh fish which I had been smelling in my walks and was desperate for!! I found just the place and had a most delicious feed of some fish I’d never heard of along with a glass of wine…most pleasant. A little more wandering around fortress walls and rough turbulent (and black) sea. Then when it was time to return I found the bus station and before long along came the bus and off I went. Back to the opulence of the hotel where I sit in the lounge area and will soon just have to order a drink!!

I’m still coming to terms with the Bulgarian psyche. There are such lovely people you meet along the way and others who won’t make eye contact and won’t respond to a smile or a question. It is perplexing but I am getting used to it and really liking Bulgaria. I’m sure i’ll miss it when I get to Romania. (But still the Turks take the cake for me!).

Hopefully tomorrow will work as well as I set off to explore the other town I came here to see, Nessebar. The really big one though will be my effort to get to Bucharest in one day on Sunday.

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Burgas (and the road in between)

Well so far I’ve ended up as planned at the end of each ‘move’ day but I fear that is about to end as I’ll explain.

Early start today with my little bit of paper in Cryllic script that I’d booked myself when I arrived in Veliko Tarnovo…oh shit really you just have to hope!!. Anyway to the taxi, got to the bus station. Bus was late so I was totally convinced I’d fucked it but how would you know.

The amazing thing is that generally speaking it seems to work…more or less. A little mini-bus eventually arrived and off we set, 4 hrs later here I am. Bus driver beckons over a taxi driver and asks if I need a taxi…OK say I, into taxi I get. By this time in Bulgaria I know exactly what taxi’s cost and for the main part everyone has treated me very fairly. For the first time this bastard really tried it on. The trip was worth at the very top end 5Lv and when we got to this (I must say posh) hotel he said 15 Lv. I handled myself beautifully if I do say so myself. I just said no…I got my bags out of the taxi (a killer), gave him 5 Lv and told him to call the police. He left tail between his fucking dishonest legs (although I can imagine that he’s thinking rich bitch).

This hotel ( heavily discounted as it’s now Oct and this is a beach resort), is really probably too posh for me..I feel so scruffy and have to keep reminding myself to act as if I belong! The main problem with it is that you may get a discounted price but everything you touch once inside the walls costs you 4X what you’d pay just down the road, but I’ve decided to just wallow in it for 2 days.

My first mission once I got here (at 11am…and for the first time they gave me a room which was fabulous), was to work out how to get to Bucharest.

Went to bus station, went to train station, went to tourist information …gathering information as I went. Found this woman in another hotel that the tourist bureau put me onto who really seemed to know what she was talking about, and the information loosely correlates with what I’d learnt along the way.

So…I thought the little scrap of paper was worrying…that now seems like an agreement set in concrete. Now I have nothing, just instructions. Go to this bus station, get on the bus at station4 and go to Ruse (pay the driver on the bus). When you get to Ruse at 12md, find the bus for Bucharest and buy a ticket, it leaves at 12.30….O…K !!! Oh shit. Anyway off I’ll go.

The main problem is that if it all stuffs up I’ll have to pay for the hotel I’ve booked because the one thing I won’t do is arrive in a major city without accommodation!!

So…forget that for now. I’ve also worked out how to get to Sozopol tomorrow and Nessebar the next day…again its on a wing and a prayer but not as much riding on it.

So rest of afternoon…the mission is to get to know Burgas so walked the town as is my way so back to Burgas. Had a bit of lunch which was a bit worrying as the chicken smelled a bit off as I ate it…hopefully the famous caste iron stomach will handle it!

I felt I should honour the town by going to at least one of their museums so went to the archeology museum and it was fabulous, some really interesting Thracean stuff which I enjoyed. Then I walked down to the beach and guess what the Black Sea isn’t actually Black. By this time the sun had gone and the wind was very blustery so didn’t walk out on the pier or down on the beach. Beach resorts have never been my thing, I’m here to explore the ancient old towns and the history.

Then back to the hotel that I’m paying beyond my means for so might as well take advantage as they bleed my finances!!!

By the way the bus trip today to get here was splendid…through the mountains and very rustic countryside with horse drawn carts, ancient and crumbly farmhouses and very rundown vineyards. Ang, if you want to buy a cheap vineyard this is the country, with quite a happening wine industry and very cheap. Course language could be a but tricky but I’m sure you’d conquer that no worries.

Another problem with this hotel is that the free WiFi is only in the public areas (which of course means you sit here for hours and order a drink!!) but it also means Skyping is difficult cos when I go to my room, no WiFi.

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Veliko Tarnovo – Day 2

What of today. Such a busy day!! But very satisfying as I’ve seen everything I really wanted to see which is a bit of a coup. At 8.30, after a very ordinary hotel breakfast, I decided I was going to have to try to get to Arbanasi, a small hilltop town near here with some amazing frescoes and old ottoman houses. So I decide to get a taxi out there…very cheap here in Bulgaria….I get the hotel to call me a taxi which comes and then there is a lot of consternation about how I’m going to get back. No taxis hanging around in this village waiting for me. I negotiate with the taxi driver to come back for me in 2 hours but the girl from the hotel is looking very worried as she waves me goodbye!!

Anyway it worked perfectly, was just arriving at the pick up point when the taxi drove in. And the effort to get there was really worth it. Amazing vivid frescoes again just covering the churches I went to…ancient frescoes that take your breath away and are truly amazing. Also an old ottoman house that was great too. Arriving in the town though is the usual Bulgarian experience. No signs (at least not in the Roman alphabet) and no-one to ask so I wasted half an hour just trying to work out where I was and how how I got where I wanted to go. People often just ignore you if you ask them a question. But once you find one of the sights, which I did, you’re OK because the people working with the (scant) tourists are tuned in and helpful and you can get directions from one to the other…very helpfully given.

So I was off and running and blown away by what I saw which, to some extent, I was unprepared for. At the most impressive, the Church of the Nativity, I was overrun by a group of pompous poms with their guide. That was a pain in in the arse except that they had a very informative guide and what option did I have but to listen to him. He was referencing and referring to Boyana Church which was most interesting. But then I trundled off by myself again…turn right, then left, then you’ll see an arch, don’t go there but there is a road after in just follow up the hill….long story short I felt very pleased with myself as I headed back to the square to meet the taxi and even more pleased with myself when he and I turned up together on cue.

He dropped me back in the centre of V.T. and I felt I deserved a coffee and a gelati which I duly consumed. Then I somewhat stupidly decided I was going to find a bridge to go across to the Museum on the island formed by the river running through the town. I was doing this completely blindly and decided I just had to go downhill!! Well after a mammoth downhill trek (remembering that everything that goes down has to ultimately come back up), found I was completely on the wrong track altogether but enjoyed the walk immensely through the winding, cobbled streets of V.T with its ancient houses. All good but then up I had to come and work out how to get where I wanted to go. Ask a few people…ignored but then find someone who helps, and when they are helpful they are fantastic, found my way to the island, only to discover it isn’t the museum I’m actually wanting but the State Art Gallery. I’m ashamed to say that I just didn’t feel up to another art gallery so gave it a miss, having spent a few hours getting myself there. As I said it was a great walk though.

What next…a very late spot of lunch then back to the hotel for a brief respite and toilet break ( hadn’t been since before breakfast so that was welcome), the girl at the hotel was absolutely delighted to see me, said she was very worried and I think she thought she’d never see me again (and I hadn’t paid the bill).

Then I had one more mission for the day to get myself to the Holy Church of the 40 Martyrs. From my hotel there was a signpost that said 400M…easy peasy…they did forget to mention that the 400M was vertical!! Down I went and just as I arrived so did the bus of English tourists from the morning. I could have cried but I pulled myself up, decided to listen to their guide again and learn a bit! Which I did then I pulled myself back from whence I had come and they sailed past me in their bloody bus!! They then went up to the Tsarevets Fortress and I was so glad I’d been there the night before. I must say although painfully British (when did you do your finals at Oxford, oh I was rather before you, but did you have Professor xx for history, so did I !!) some of them were so plucky, quite elderly and disabled but getting themselves around, I did admire them. As I was heading off for the uphill trek I thanked their tour guide for a very informative free tour…he said it was OK because it was accidental and I wasn’t freeloading…oh truly, certainly didn’t get the Aussie sense of humour!!

Now, finally, you know how I’m always whinging about the Nanny state in Victoria. Well one aspect of that I have to say I will appreciate when I get home…that is the amount of dog shit in the streets. One other hazard I have to look out for ( and there are many) and which prevent me from having any idea of the scenery around me as I walk around with eyes firmly on the footpath)