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This was our
first day in Bulgaria. It was warm and sunny with a clear
blue sky – I liked it already.
We left Russe at 09:00 in a rather suspect-looking
bus with a very dodgy aircon system. Quite a few people
decided not to sit with their partners, just to ring the
changes I suppose, and I sat in the front with Sheri.
Our local Bulgarian guide, Albina, was
charming. She told us that today was "Bulgarian Culture
and Cyrillic Alphabet Day" and therefore a national
holiday. What more can I say?
It took 2 hours to get to Abanasi from
where we were due to visit a nunnery. But neither our local
Bulgarian guide nor the driver were sure how to get there.
There were some discussions in Bulgarian on the mobile phone
and after some reversing and driving down some very narrow
country lanes were arrived at a small but pretty looking
nunnery. There was only one loo in the whole place for the
whole coach, so Bruce and I found a quiet corner where we
closely inspected the stonework… The views of the
town were lovely.
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It soon became clear that we were the
only ones to have found the place as the other coaches never
turned up. |
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We left to visit the town
itself. It’s a medieval town with a number of old
houses where merchants lived in the 17th Century, trading
silver. There were many people willing to remove the burden
of wealth from the merchants, so the houses were heavily
fortified. We visited one house.
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The guide was
really sweet with excellent English and a charming accent.
The house itself was interesting, with beautiful decorated
plasterwork ceilings and massive couches which were clearly
influenced by the Ottoman Empire. The guide also told us
that the area was famous for growing roses and producing
attar of roses: in the souvenir shop I bought a small vial
for my Mother. |
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We then walked up the road
to a Bulgarian restaurant for lunch. It was very good indeed:
first, a cold soup made from cucumber, fennel, onion and
yoghurt; then a salad of tomato, cucumber, and a grated
white soft cheese. Next was a chicken and vegetable casserole,
and finally a baklava. As we were eating our last course
and wondering where the other two coaches were, the skies
opened and as thunder boomed and lighting flashed, our fellow
travellers dashed into the restaurant, dripping. As we left
the restaurant, we bumped into Steffi and Irina having a
quiet ciggie. They ran off in a fit of giggles like schoolgirls.
We asked them later what was wrong? They told us that they
must not smoke in front of guests as it is "unprofessional".
We assure them their secret is safe with us. Until now,
that is! |
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Luckily, the rain stopped
as suddenly as it started and we were off to visit Veliko
Tàrnovo, a town perched up in the hills with a castle
overlooking the beautiful countryside. |
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We returned to the town
in order to do some shopping, but there was little to buy,
although the artists' quarter was very attractive. |
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We got back on the coach
to get back to the ship which had moved on to Svistov, a
little upstream. But neither the driver not the tour guide
had been there before and we stopped several times asking
for directions before we finally found the river and our
ship. The access is very, very steep indeed and even the
captain is out helping people down. There are, rather surprisingly,
no accidents. Bruce was disappointed because he had set
the camera to video mode in order to take a picture of someone
bouncing down the steps and into the river. He intended
to send it to "Are you being framed?" There’s
a surprisingly evil side to Bruce, sometimes. The ship left
Svistov at 17:30 - half an hour late. Would we lose time
tomorrow for our short trip?
We had supper with Barbara and Doug and
Eileen and Peter. Andreas the chef produced a spectacular
dish with sparklers – very dramatic! |
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