Bulgaria, the Rila Monastery I am going to Serbia today. My route from Blagoevgrad is via Sofia. At the bus station in Blagoevgrad while waiting for the bus I made a mistake of waving my hand in front of my nose because a woman was blowing cigarette smoke into my face. Seeing my gesture, the […]
Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria – Niš, Serbia Read More »
Blagoevgrad The Cardinal hotel in Blagoevgrad was my home for 2 nights. The room was worth its rate of 40 lv ($24) per night. In the morning I tried to have a long shower which is hardly possible in Bulgaria. Water heaters do not have large tanks for that. Hot water lasted long enough to
Bulgaria 2017 (The Rila Monastery) Read More »
Stara Zagora The heavy rain stopped during the night and the sun broke through the clouds. The weather was definitely improving. Today was going to be a traveling day, no sightseeing. My goal was to get from Stara Zagora to Blagoevgrad via the shortest route, i.e. without going to Sofia. I was in Sofia before,
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It was sad to leave Byala. The past few days were sunny. The Black sea calmed down after a storm; its waters became clear and inviting again and everyone in the city headed for the beach to use perhaps the last chance to have a swim this year. The weather changed overnight. It was drizzling
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Day 1, Munich Day 2, Füssen The jet lag caught up with me and I only slept until 3 am. After a blissful sleep on the previous night in Füssen,” I thought that my body clock already switched to the local time. Well, it did not. I tossed and turned hoping to get another hour
Three days in Bavaria: Augsburg Read More »
Day 1, Munich Day 2 I opened my eyes with a start. My phone showed 6.58 am, time to get up. Füssen is the home base for visiting two castles that were built by the royal Bavarian family. After reading travel reports about people standing for hours in line to buy tickets to the castles
Three days in Bavaria: Füssen Read More »
As it often happens before a trip I did not want to leave home. It was a little over one month since I returned from my last trip to Bulgaria and I was flying to Europe again, this time to Munich. The night before the departure I checked if everything was packed. The backpack felt
Three days in Bavaria: Munich Read More »
Trip 1 Trip 2 Hurrah, I was going to Bulgaria again! The flights were the same: Denver – Washington, D.C. – Vienna – Varna. The airport in Varna is small with only a few regular international flights. During the high season there are dozens of charter flights from European cities, but I fly from America
My flight home from Varna was via Istanbul with a 9-hour layover. I never was in Turkey before and instead of sitting at the airport decided to see a little bit of Istanbul. The flight to Istanbul was scheduled to arrive at 5 am. Tourist attractions open at 9 am. The boarding for the flight
Half a day in Istanbul, July 2017 Read More »
The underrated country Bulgaria is one of the most underrated countries in Europe. I am not the first person to say this and may not be the last. By the time I am writing this I have been to 73 countries and territories. When I go to a new place I often ask myself the
