{"id":49,"date":"2001-12-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-12-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2001\/12\/27\/bulgaria-by-sandra-from-the-united-states\/"},"modified":"2001-12-27T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2001-12-27T23:00:00","slug":"bulgaria-by-sandra-from-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/bulgaria-by-sandra-from-the-united-states.html","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria by Sandra from the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. This is a very ancient<br \/>\n and honourable culture that disappeared from the history books for longer<br \/>\n than my own country has been in existence. There are wonderful ruins,<br \/>\n great churches and interesting people. <\/p>\n<p> My trip began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and a major city. I<br \/>\n was able to stay with a Servas host that gave me a totally different perspective<br \/>\n of the city. Sofia offered two highlights for me: the first was an evening<br \/>\n at the opera. Tickets were 15 BGL (about $7 USD). The opera was Don Carlos<br \/>\n with glorious singing and acting and a set too large for the stage. The<br \/>\n second highlight was a day excursion to Rila Monastery. This is an ancient<br \/>\n monastery, with monks still living there. I chose an English language<br \/>\n day trip from Sophia with an English speaking guide and lunch. It cost<br \/>\n ($65 USD) and I&#8217;m certain it could be done less expensive than that. But<br \/>\n I chose to go with convenience. Behind Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which<br \/>\n was under restoration while I was there, women come to sell their handwork.<br \/>\n The quality was good and the prices were very reasonable. You can negotiate.\n <\/p>\n<p> Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet that was difficult for me. I carried<br \/>\n the alphabet with me, but even then I had difficulty. Languages are not<br \/>\n my forte, normally I was able to find English speakers and to make my<br \/>\n needs and wants known. I found that many Bulgarians spoke both French<br \/>\n and German so those languages would help. <\/p>\n<p> From Sofia, I preceded to Plovdiv. Throughout the country I used local<br \/>\n busses. They were inexpensive, had good equipment, and were normally on<br \/>\n time. Bulgarian drivers are very aggressive. There is also a railroad<br \/>\n system, but it was just easier to use the busses. <\/p>\n<p> Plovdiv is another ancient city that has a Roman amphitheatre, which<br \/>\n was fascinating to see. There my Servas host family took me to Bachkovo<br \/>\n Monastery. It has not been restored like Rila and is darker and more mysterious.<br \/>\n I liked it a lot. While I was there the Spring International Trade Fair<br \/>\n was going on. I attended one morning. It was fascinating to see the various<br \/>\n vendors from all over Europe and what they were offering. <\/p>\n<p> From Plovdiv I continued to Veliko Turnovo &#8211; a medieval city in the<br \/>\n mountains. I highly recommend this. It has a beautiful setting with interesting<br \/>\n craft shops. While I was there the folk festival was going on near my<br \/>\n hotel. I couldn&#8217;t understand a word of the songs, but the dancing was<br \/>\n interesting, the costumes colourful and the people a joy to watch. <\/p>\n<p> Then it was on to the Black Sea. This was probably my favourite part<br \/>\n of the trip. I began in Varna &#8211; which has one of the most beautiful Cathedral<br \/>\n churches, I have ever seen. Then I spent a night in Nessebar &#8211; a coast<br \/>\n city and ended in Burgas, a large port. From there I took the bus to Istanbul,<br \/>\n Turkey for another week. <\/p>\n<p> One last note &#8211; wherever I went in the country I was able to find computer<br \/>\n cafes. For the most part, the prices were good and the equipment was fast.<br \/>\n I sent e-mails on a regular basis. <\/p>\n<p> <i>Thank you Sandra &#8211; this is so inspiring! You have given the Beetle<br \/>\n an idea for a European holiday! If you would like to contact her, she<br \/>\n can be reached on:<\/i> <a href=\"&#109;&#x61;i&#108;&#x74;o&#58;&#x73;m&#105;&#x6e;g&#117;&#x61;3&#50;&#x40;m&#115;&#x6e;&#46;&#99;&#x6f;m\">&#115;m&#x69;n&#x67;u&#x61;3&#x32;&#64;&#x6d;s&#x6e;&#46;&#x63;&#111;&#x6d;<\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <a name=\"_pto\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. This is a very ancient and honourable culture that disappeared from the history books for longer than my own country&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-december-2001"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bulgaria by Sandra from the United States - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/bulgaria-by-sandra-from-the-united-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bulgaria by Sandra from the United States - eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. 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