Sorry it is been a while since the last update and we have had a few adventures. Firstly we went to Bucharest which is really dull. The second largest building in the world is there and worth missing. Also we had a typical travel inccident! I will let Scott tell you the story (please dont laugh at him too much!)... .......Scott is to embarrased. Some guy, an egyptian asked if they use euros here. Scott explained about the Leve and gets his wallet out to show a few notes. At that the guy grabs hold of the money "to look at [View Full Entry]

---

---

Veliko Tarnovo After the festival in Bourgas, we were just about recovered enough the next morning to dawdle down to the train station and head on to Veliko Tarnovo (the medieval capital of Bulgaria). The idea of our next destination was some mountain based recuperation. The journey we took required one change, and we were rather dubious as to whether we would know when due to most signs being in cyrillic. Anyway, we did succeed in our change, which was in the middle of nowhere!! So basically, we were standing on a platform in the middle of Bulgaria, just waiting for [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi Everyone! First off let me say that Anne and I are well. We have moved into our new home, and found that our builder is not a builder, and the people he deployed to build our house were unskilled laborors (well, most of them - I think we had one master carpenter, but that's all that I can recognize. The builder has not provided any proof of any skilled workers). Every room has issues, and almost every installed component has been completed poorly. Anne and I will be performing recovery actions for at least the next year. Many of you [View Full Entry]

---

---

Veliko Tarnovo day 13-14 (June 19-20) A fairly long and hot train ride to our next destination. The border crossing again was fairly painless, just a bit time consuming and always hotter when the train is not moving. I was glad when our leader sourced some cold water for us at a rather long train stop. I had a brief conversation with an older man who got into the cabin I was stretched out in. He asked where I was from. I asked if he was from here. He indicated that this was a big crossroads, and that the announcements that [View Full Entry]

---

---

I have had some trouble starting this entry. As I write, I watch the goat herders with their flock pass outside my window. I hear my neighbors’ roosters crowing. The sun is shining, yet there is snow on the not so distant Stara Planina ranges. The air is cool, and is mixed with the unmistakable smell of livestock and the sweet smoke of wood burning stoves. The bees are pollinating the beautiful cherry blossoms; I can hear their collective buzz outside my window. We arrived in the small village of Dzhulyunitsa outside Veliko Tarnovo about two weeks ago. This was our [View Full Entry]

---

---

I stayed in Bulgaria in September 2008. I went to Albena. It is a resort on the Black Sea at 40 km from Varna. The first day it was sunny. I went along the beach. I walked in the sea. The water's temperature was pleasant. There was little stream. The second day the weather was beautiful. I walked in the sea. The water was a little colder than the day before. There was more stream. The third day it rained. It rained in the morning. The rain stopped in the afternoon. I went to the coach station of Albena. I took [View Full Entry]

---

---

As I've got time and everyone raved about this place I decided to do a mini detour to Veliko Tarnovo in North Central Bulgaria so I joined Sarah from Sofia and we headed up on the afternoon train on Friday thinking 2 days would be enough. I'm currently up to my 4th night and have to tear myself away as this is a great little place which seems to trap you into the 'just one more day' syndrome. Veliko Tarnovo is spread out along a river and was once (another) capital of Bulgaria. The fortress was built at one end of [View Full Entry]

---

---

I kind of hopped in and out of Bulgaria on my way to and from Romania. I spent 3 days in Sophia just playing tourist then I headed up to Romania for a week. On my way to Istanbul I made a stop in Vielko Tarnovo. Vielko Tarnovo is one of those places you hear through the grape vine and when you get there you end up falling in love. It's such a beautifull city and there was so much to see. Every night there was a sound and light show at the fortress which was amazing and lasted for 30 [View Full Entry]

---

---

Veliko Turnovo is an beautiful little slice of central Bulgaria. It's a town of about 80,000, and relatively touristy, but it really doesn't feel that way. It's actually also the original capital of Bulgaria, from the first independence from the Ottomans to the relocation of the capital to Sofia in the 20th Century. Wednesday, May 14th: Up early to get out of Sofia this morning as I hoofed it to the train station for my ride to Veliko Turnovo, which was easy enough, if a bit long. I did sit across for the whole way from 2 little old Bulgarian ladies [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, this was an interesting few days... We left Plovdiv intending to head to Macedonia, via Sofia as there is no direct bus. Which meant getting up at 4.30 to get to the bus station to make the early bus so we could connect early in Sofia, which we did. And we quietly congratulated ourselves on making the connections with no issues and having things go so smoothly. Just before the Macedonian border however, reading the ever referred to Lonely Planet, we discovered that while Tania and I, as Kiwis, didn't need visas to get into Macedonia (which we'd carefully checked [View Full Entry]

---

---