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 For such a small country, Bulgaria has quite a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites and we hit as many as we could. I’ve already told you about Rila Monastery, Nessebar, and the Madara Rider. The other two we were able to visit were the Thracian tomb in Kazanluk and the Boyana Church outside of Sophia. The [... Two UNESCO Sites and Sophia to Boot]  The fortress overlooking Velinko Turnovo. Bulgaria is full of quaint little charasmatic towns and Velinko Turnovo might just be the cutest. As we drove in, we stopped to talk to a shepherd with a small goat flock. He was right on the edge of town, and as we chatted with him, we could also view the [... The Best Restaurant in the Cutest Town]  Chicken wrapped around pork…something to cluck about! I really didn’t know what to expect as far as Bulgarian food goes. Maybe a cross between borsht, gyros, and kofte. To be honest, even though I was looking forward to trying it, I really didn’t have high expectations. After living in the Turkey, where the food is never, [... Who Let the Cows Out?!]  The walls of the fortress hide the massive size that it is. Leaving the coast, we headed north towards Varna, then inland towards Shumen. We had heard about Shumen over and over, because it produces one of the best beers in the country and it seemed like a good place to spend the night, but first [... A Shumen and a Horseman]  One of the many churches found in this quaint fishing village. After leaving Plovdiv, the roads were noticeably better, not good, but better. Our first stop on the Black Sea was Sozopol. We parked for free near the church, and just walked around. Since it’s completely off-season it was so quiet. We may have seen a total [... Black Sea Beauties] After Melnick we wanted to drive north to Plovdiv. Eveline communicated to us not to go all the way back up the road and then cut over, but to go through the woods. According to her, we would have to go very slow over a very bad road with lots of potholes in it, but then [... Potholes to Plovdiv] Rozhen Monastery After we had experienced the hustle and bustle of Bulgaria’s number one tourist sight, the Rila monastery, we were in for a pleasant surprise upon entering the grounds of Rozhen. It was clear from the outside that it would not hold the splendor and expansiveness of its larger brother, but Rozhen still sported the [... Serenity in Rozhen] The locked church in Melnik. We kept driving south to almost the border of Greece to a small town, known for its wines, Melnik. It was touted in the guidebook as a quaint little getaway town for urban Sofia-ites. No, it’s not a Unesco World Heritage Site, but it’s actually on the tentative list, so the [... Meeting our Match in Melnik] The courtyard at Rila. Rila Monastery, the number one tourist sight in all of Bulgaria is located 117 km. south of Sofia. There are plenty of tours that will take you there, but we rented a car to see the country and this was just our first stop. It is a really easy and beautiful [... The Rila Romp and A Trout to Boot] |
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