blogging around the world bulgaria

7/28/2019 Blogging Around the World Bulgaria

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Blogging AroundThe World

Cover Design: Cara WilliamsPhotography: Cara WilliamsCopyright 2006 by Cara WilliamsAll rights reserved

By Cara Williams1


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CONTENTSChapter 1: 3Chapter 2: 4Chapter 3: 6

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Chapter One

1st September 2009

I had no idea what to expect from Bulgaria, except wombles.

And after going, I still dont know if I liked it or not.

We had flown into the capital city of Sofia and got a bus to Veliko (a 3

hour journey).

We decided to do a part all inclusive/part backpacking trip and

seemd to travel back in time to our first destination; Veliko Taranovo.

We stayed at the Hotel Concordia, which was overpriced, but did the

job.

The next morning we went for a walk to find Tsarevets Fortress, which is

a castle on a hill bearing the same name in Veliko

Tarnovo. The

Tsarevets Hill was the

main fortress of the

medieval Bulgarian

capital Veliko

Tarnovo. We wanted

to go for the view

and to see the

Church on top of the

hill. It was worth the trek. It was beautiful (as far as

Churches go) and very different to any Church I

have seen before. It costs 6LV (3) to get in.

After a couple of hours walking up hill and back down, we headed to

the bus station to move on to Varna (on the coast). We couldnt make

any sense of the bus timetable or language. Nothing was written in

English and no one spoke English. We managed to miss one bus while

trying to decide if it was ours or not and then got on another bus,

which we were told was heading back to the airport in Sofia and not to

the coast where we were heading. Three and a half hours later we

were on the 409 bus and somehow got off at the right stop. The journey

cost 6LV/ 1.50.

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We were about to start the all inclusive part of the holiday and had

booked the Magnolia Prima Sol & Spa for a few nights.

The all inclusive part was not that exciting, as we wanted to relax. We

went for a long walk out of town to find the Acropolis Water Park, but

after a two hour walk, (during which Jon got bitten by fire ants and I

witnessed a car crash), we couldnt find it and headed back to the

hotel.

I have never done an all inclusive holiday before and I dont think I will

again. I found it quite depressing.

2nd & 3rd September 2010

Lazy pool days...

4th September 2010

We decided to visit Golden Sands today (the most popular resort in

Varna) and got a bus, (75p each) for the

20 minute journey to the town centre,

which was a cluster of stalls which form

an open air market alongside the beach.

It felt very Bournemouth pier. There was a

huge swimming pool in the middle of the

town, which was linked to the DolphinBar. We thought it would be rude to miss

out on happy hour cocktails so drank,

and swan for a couple of hours.

I really wanted to find the water park, so we headed off to look for it

again. Amazingly, Jon and his internal compass led us to the water

park...but it was closed.

We got the bus back to Varna after stopping for a drink at Hurry

Ramsdens, where, apparently they sell great fish and ships.

Chapter Two

5th September 2010

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Nothing to report, other than my rant about all inclusive package

holidays has come back to bite me. We ventured out of our Hotel to try

a local restaurant this evening. It was on the beach front and looked

quite primitive. There was no one else in there, and the menu was very

basic. We fancied some wine, but all they had was Muskat which we

tried, but didnt like. I ordered a chicken fillet and thats exactly what I

got. It sat on a single piece of lettuce. I didnt like it and started feeling

sick almost immediately after eating it. I was having stomach cramps

so we left for the hotel, where I got progressively worse during the night.

6th& 7th September 2010

I was ill but it rained all day both days, which took the edge off my

pain.

8th September 2010

We got the bus to Varna again and wondered around the stalls. We

wanted to visit some other places, (but they were too far away for a

day trip). We got off the bus back at our hotel and I stopped to take a

photo and as I turned back to put my camera back in my bag, there

was a tiny tortoise shell kitten looking

back at me. I fell in love with it.

9th September 2010

Lazy day. Again.

10th September 2010

We were very glad to be moving on

from Varna today. After bartering for

a taxi (they really rip you of in Bulgaria) - where we were quoted 30LV

from one driver and10LV from another, to get to Varna Train Station (a

couple of miles away). As we drove, I saw a much nicer party of

Bulgaria. We passed the Aquarium and university, and reached thetrain station about 15 minutes later.

The next challenge was to work out where the ticket office was. It

turned out to be at the end of a corridor inside an area labelled

waiting room. We finally found the ticket office but the staff did not

understand or speak English, so we left the queue to find someone to

translate for us. Luckily, we found someone, who helped us buy our

tickets to Plovdiv (10 each).

The station is really confusing and we cant find any of the Cyrillicphrases in our guide book. Once again, somehow we ended up on

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the right train and Jon rightly guessed where we got off at Plovdiv, 7

hours after leaving Varna this morning. Plovdiv is a lot more

cosmopolitan than anywhere we have been so far and it had a nice

vibe.

We got a taxi from the train station to Hotel Elite, which was based right

in the heart of the city.There is a Roman Amphitheater at one end ofthe pedestrian zone, and a Roman

stadium, which dates back to the late 1st

century. At the other end of the

pedestrianised zone is the entrance into

the old town, which is run down and

neglected. Cobbled streets lead up to St

Marinas Church, which the guide book

said was worth a visit.We ended up in a nice bar called

Chocolate where we had some

cocktails and tried the local beer, Zagorka.

Chapter Three

11th September 2010

The next day we headed back to the train station; this time to try and

find a train to Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria).

We fluked it and arrived at Sofia train station, and after being quoted a

ridiculous amount by cab to Hotel Lion, we decided to take our

chances with the tram. Our hotelwas on Maria Luiza Blvd we asked

the lady for a ticket to take us to

that road and she charged us 1LV

each and said, tram 1 and 7. A

number 7 tram arrived and we

jumped on, but a few minutes into

our journey, a ticket inspector

asked to see our tickets. We

showed him and he started

screaming at us in Bulgarian, you

owe me 10LV. Jon was getting really angry, as the inspector was right

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in his face, screaming and making threats. Eventually, the inspector

accompanies us off the tram, where he called his supervisor and the

police.

The police turned up, but they did not speak or understand English,

which really annoyed me, as we couldnt explain our side o the story.

The inspector told them that our tram tickets were invalid as we had

not stamped them as we got on the tram (we didnt see a machine

on board). After a heated discussion between Jon and the policeman,

they made a compromise and only fined Jon for his mistake and let

me off.

We were both a bit shaken by the journey so far and decided to walk

the rest of the way to our hotel. After dropping our stuff in our room, we

headed back out to look around.

I was surprised to see so many familiar brand names on the High Street

they had a Benetton, TK Maxx and Costa Coffee. We also noticed an

Imax cinema and decided to book tickets to see Final Destination IV in

3D. A bit of cheesy horror and some girlie screams from Jon, on a

Sunday night.

After the film, we walked back to the hotel. It is strange but there are

no bars in the city centre. It seems that you can only buy alcohol in a

hotel here.

12th September 2010

We spent the day walking idly through the city. We saw the Presidents

Palace and wandered through the Saturday market, which was

packed with people, buying

their fresh fruit and veg.

We had seen a nice looking

jazz bar which we attempted

to get into. I felt like I was in amafia film as Jon asked the

bouncer if we could come in.

He looked us up and down

and grunted something, which

I could tell from his face,

meant no.

13th September 2010

After a two mile walk in search of a Dunkin Donuts for Jon, wediscovered that there was actually one right round the corner from the

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hotel. Jon was happy. We then got our last cab of the holiday to Sofia

airport and for once, the cab driver didnt try to rip us off.

Bulgaria isnt top on my list of places to visit again, but Plovdiv is a nice

place to visit. We could have seen so much more if we hadnt booked

that all inclusive week, which is a lesson I have learnt from this holiday.

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