Blogs from Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria, Europe - page 6

Yes Bulgaria is cheap and nice. Two litre beer in a plastic bottle for one euro is just good!! I seem to have come back on the backpacker trail. Which is quite nice actually. The hostels in Sofia are really nice and cheap. I stayed in one hostel first but after two days had to leave as it was fully booked during the weekend, but the hostel I went to was just as fun and met lots of interesting people and had a few good parties. The first hostel had free breakfast, which is normal for all hostel here, but had a free pasta with beer in the evening too, which of course drew my attention. The other one had free dinner, but not the free beer... But since the beer is so cheap it didn't ... read more

Dig down a few feet anwhere in Plovdiv and you're bound to find something. History oozes from every corner of this town. With ruins dating back 7000 years to 5000bc, the area has been continually inhabited, invaded, destroyed, rebuilt, re-invaded and so on since that time. Walking around Plovdiv you can see Roman Ruins, Thracian Ruins (from 5000bc), Churches from the 13th Century through to the 17th Century and Mosques from the Turkish occupation. Highlights of our time in Plovdiv Watching Van Helsing in the Roman Ampitheater at night. Silly film but a fantastic place to watch anything. Climbing one of the seven hills for each sunset. Chatting to locals who haven't had the novelty of tourists spoilt yet. Learning to read the cyrillic alphabet and making random orders from the lunch menu, eg. Mish-Mash - ... read more

Heaven had no ski lifts. Heaven had no piste maps, queues or cafes. But Heaven did have a dull, groaning, grinding Bulgarian Army Tank. It was a roaring metal dragon that broke the silence of the dark green forest with its black smoke fumes and crunching tracks that clunked and bashed through the foot-deep snow. Perelik Mountain - March 1997 (part I - ) (part II - ) Heaven lies on the border of Bulgaria and Greece in the Rodopi mountain range, once a part of the Iron Curtain and a strategic point for the former communist countries. This is why there is an army base on the highest of the mountains, known as Golyam Perelik (2,191 m) with large guns pointing at the neighbours, Greece. These mountains have been worn away by the elements over ... read more

The shiny, silver metal drill bit pushed against my right leg, pressing into the skin just below my knee, and the burly Bulgarian doctor turned his face to me and cheerfully said: 'Radio, Musica? Yes?' Bulgaria - March 1997 Looking around the room at the cracked paint, the box of tools of on the floor and its wide window with a view of the crisp blue sky and the tops of the dusty mountains, i was suprised to see a small radio next to me. 'Why not? OK.' i agreed. You dont argue with a man built like this guy, especially when he has a drill positioned against your shinbone and is ready to drill a hole through your leg. The nurse walked around and clicked on the tiny plastic brown box that was the radio. ... read more