Monday 30 January 2012

A couple of days in Bulgaria

Hello,

During our May 2011 adventure we decided to continue from Belgrade to Istanbul, we left on a Wednesday. Bulgaria is on the route. There was the overnight train from Belgrade to Sofia, which turned out to be an endurance test, as the train didn't have sleeping accommodation. We travelled in a compartment with some scruffy men, although we had booked our own compartment, the reserved seats had not materialised.

So after a sleepless night we arrived into Sofia station at about 8.45. As we got off the train, several men offered their "help", and took us to a coffee bar, but then insisted the tip we offered (2Lev about ,£1) wasn't enough. So after that we didn't accept any help offered to us. We found the station grey and unwelcoming. There was a train to Plovdiv in about an hour after we had arrived, About 3 hours we had arrived at Plovdiv station which was more welcoming. There were plenty of places to buy drinks and food and no-one pestering us.

Our first priority was to have a drink (beer) and then to find somewhere for the night. Almost opposite the station was the Trakia Hotel, but we could only stay for one night. There was a festival that weekend and, as we found out later, all the accommodation was fully booked.

After a brief (and much needed) sleep and shower we started to explore Plovdiv, which we found very pleasant as the streets from Trakia to Stefan Stambolov Square were tree lined, here we stopped for a drink in one of the pavement cafes, before moving into the old town, a hilly part of Plovdiv complete with Ottoman style houses, Orthodox churches, museums, souvenir shops and art galleries.






We found an interesting Bulgarian restaurant, where we had our dinner (local beer and Bulgarian chicken and vegetables (served in ceramic bowls)).

We returned to our hotel at about 10pm. The following day we had more time to explore this interesting area

On Friday 13th May, we had enjoyed the much needed sleep at the Trakia Hotel, and after checking out we needed to sort out a ticket reservation for the train to Istanbul. Fortunately there was a ticket issuing office opposite the railway station, where the staff spoke English, and were more helpful than the staff at the railway station.

Back at Trakia we had a breakfast at the hotel balcony restaurant of omelette, chips, coffee and beer, and then we continued our exploring of the Old town. Mira from Virtual Tourist, had sent me a walking tour guide, which we used to explore Plovdiv.

Hinsilijan House, Djamaja Square, and Saborna Street. We visited an art gallery where the artists was present and had some very interesting paintings on view.

As the weather had turned out to be very warm, we spent the afternoon outside the Arena bar, which overlooks the Roman Amphitheatre.




We returned to the station and had some coffee and a roll at the station cafe and then waited for the train to Istanbul, which arrived at the station some 40 minutes late. We met an American (Saraja) and had an interesting conversation. We settled into our sleeping compartment and had supper and read.

2 comments:

  1. Jon, I'm sooooo happy you liked it here and you had a nice weather for walking around Plovdiv as Plovdv is a city to be descovered outside around the streets. And also I'm very glad i've been your guide even not alive but with notes.
    Just a mark - the square is called Stefan Stambolov, we have difficult names :)
    I'll read your other articles with pleasure and waiting for new ones :D

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  2. Bulgaria is more cheaper than Romania and I believe that the services are more good than ours. Still, I don't know much about it, but you should do a round trip there for minimum 2-3 weeks...:) I think it has something special!

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