Had one night stopover in Sofia as the bus arrived at 7pm. Went for a walk to get breakfast and saw the inner city which was clean and not many people around for 1.3 million population. Must have been holed up in the numerous apartment blocks we saw on the outskirts as we drove in. Unlike Tirana, they have not made any attempts to brighten them up, very grey.
2 hour bus trip to Plovdiv, 730,000 people (more than we expected). We had been looking forward to this destination because of its Thracian history and all the other conquerors that followed. Stayed just outside the old town in the centre of Plovdiv, really good location for exploring. Visited the old town and saw Roman ruins close to their original form. We've seen a few ruins now, but it still gives us a thrill walking up the aisle steps of an arena or theatre, where you can see the grooves worn in the marble by centuries of footsteps just like ours. Also an 'Odeon' dating back to 2nd century blocked your walk down the main street of the city. This seems to still be used for outdoor movies, it has a screen hanging in front of the seating area. We were really impressed by the civic pride in the central city, lots of buildings have been freshened up and a large pedestrian area, which is constantly being cleaned, makes it a pleasure to wander around.
Short bus hop to Hisar which is home to Bulgaria's mineral waters and associated health spas, plus the most extensive ruins in Bulgaria, including 7 metre high city walls. Great little guest house where the host could speak Russian, German, Bulgarian, but very little English. When we had dinner in his restaurant, he drove up the road to get a girl to interpret.
We were going to head to Turkey and Gallipoli next but because of the current riots etc have reluctantly taken it off our itinerary. We are staying in Bulgaria for another few days instead. We are really enjoying the country (they cook up nice chicken livers!)
Have just arrived in Burgas. 8.30 pm so not much exploring tonight. Will do a final Bulgarian blog in a weeks time....
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