Problem
If you are not confident in negotiating buses and taxis, how about a walking tour? But I'm scared even to step outside the hotel! Where do I start?
Answer
Easy peasy.
BULGARIA - SOFIA - FREE WALKING TOUR! THREE TIMES A DAY!
When else to go?
Bulgaria - first week in June is the Festival of the Roses. For a description see Rachel's travel blog.
Easy Language
Thank you is the French word merci (In Bulgaria and Romania).
Goodbye is ciao, the Italian word, (in Bulgaria and Romania).
Quick and Easy Travel Between Bulgaria, Bucharest and Moscow
The capital of Romania, Bucharest, is only an hour away by public transport.
The cross country train from Bulgaria's capital, Sofia to the beaches on the East is cheap.
You can catch a train from Sofia and Varna to Moscow and vice versa (and Kiev in Ukraine).
This is just a summary of what I found most useful. See Wikitravel for great details on all forms of transport.
Travel Tip - Bulgaria - Sofia
http://www.freesofiatour.com Free walking tour, three times a day. The map on their website shows the guides and places on the route (which you could walk on your own) including a synagogue and a mosque so a wide variety of both popular and minority interests are well covered.
Travel Tip - Russia - Moscow
Take a walking tour of statues and check out the captions and life stories on Wikipedia. See my blog post on Moscow statues and Kalashnikov.
Free Walking Tours - Are They Really Free?
Yes and no. Sometimes they seem completely free. Maybe they are sponsored by the government. Or students want to practise English. Other times they drop you off at a restaurant. Other times they end up asking for an entirely voluntary tip.
Sometimes they hope you will take a second trip with the same guide. Or the website which advertises the free trip - and the guide actually pays the website to advertise his free trip! Sometimes they hope the good days will subsidies the low tip days.
Sometimes they hope to get a job as a paid guide later. Sometimes they hope everybody will give a small tip and the big tippers will make up for the mean tippers. Sometimes they hope just one tip from a rich elderly American will make up for all the poor students who leave a pittance or nothing. If you want to know, ask the guide, or ask on TripAdvisor.
Useful Websites for Language Learning and Travel:
http://www.freesofiatour.com
http://thetravelbug.org/books-articles/articles-on-bulgaria/festival-of-the-roses/
http://www.bulgariantouristboard.com
https://wikitravel.org/en/Bulgarian_phrasebook
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/russian-alphabet-made-easy-b-v-go.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/learn-bulgarian-in-three-minutes.html
http://www.freesofiatour.com Free walking tour, three times a day. The map on their website shows the guides and places on the route (which you could walk on your own) including a synagogue and a mosque so a wide variety of both popular and minority interests are well covered.
Travel Tip - Russia - Moscow
Take a walking tour of statues and check out the captions and life stories on Wikipedia. See my blog post on Moscow statues and Kalashnikov.
Free Walking Tours - Are They Really Free?
Yes and no. Sometimes they seem completely free. Maybe they are sponsored by the government. Or students want to practise English. Other times they drop you off at a restaurant. Other times they end up asking for an entirely voluntary tip.
Sometimes they hope you will take a second trip with the same guide. Or the website which advertises the free trip - and the guide actually pays the website to advertise his free trip! Sometimes they hope the good days will subsidies the low tip days.
Sometimes they hope to get a job as a paid guide later. Sometimes they hope everybody will give a small tip and the big tippers will make up for the mean tippers. Sometimes they hope just one tip from a rich elderly American will make up for all the poor students who leave a pittance or nothing. If you want to know, ask the guide, or ask on TripAdvisor.
Useful Websites for Language Learning and Travel:
http://www.freesofiatour.com
http://thetravelbug.org/books-articles/articles-on-bulgaria/festival-of-the-roses/
http://www.bulgariantouristboard.com
https://wikitravel.org/en/Bulgarian_phrasebook
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/russian-alphabet-made-easy-b-v-go.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/learn-bulgarian-in-three-minutes.html
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. See my previous post on Bulgarian. Please bookmark and share your favourite posts.
Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher.
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