Plovdiv in Bulgaria, the Perfect side trip from Sofia, For Photos, Wine Tasting,

The pictures of Plovdiv's old town houses and museums look gorgeous. Plovdiv is a European city of culture in 2019 so lots of events are organized. Trips to Plovdiv are offered from Sofia and other cities, but cheaper if you share a trip with three or more, and start early in the morning.

We hired a car and drove from Borovets, mountainside ski and walking centre, to Plovdiv city and back in a day.

Just outside Borovets is a village with an army tank on the main square, and what looks like a small plane in a front garden.

Our first stop was a detour to a winery on the outskirts of Plovdiv. We saw the oak wood barrels and stainless steel vats and were given a free taste of three wines. If we had given them warning, they would have ordered in some snacks to go with the wine.

We then drove to the centre of Plovdiv and parked buying a three hour parking coupon from the strolling warden.

The tourist office in the centre gave us a map and suggested a restaurant.Right in the centre is an excavated Roman ruin, with a balcony restaurant facing it. Our friends sent us a picture of themselves drinking strawberry milkshakes overlooking the Roman ruin.

Beside the sunken Roman is a modern mosque. Walk on uphill on the cobbled narrow streets thought the craft quarter. The old houses are painted in bright colours and some have overhanging balconies. Many walls are painted with giant murals, or graffiti.

We had lunch. The toilets had a sign saying put your toilet paper in the bin, not down the toilet. (Same as in Greece.)

At the top is a small cathedral, free to enter, like all the Orthodox Christian buildings. No photos! Inside it was highly ornate, and dark.

We had lunch at Smokini.

Travel and tour tips:
TOURS
Free Plovdiv tour at 2 pm Oct to April and 6 pm May to September. No need to book. Just show up.
www.freeplovdivtour.com

VITISTOUR
Wine tour of Bulgaria, Plovdiv tours by car, bike or scoot; Plovdiv Communist tours.
facebook.com/vitistour

VISITS
Free visits: First Thursday of the month for students and retired people.

HOTELS
Hotel Rila, 2010 Borovets, Bulgaria, reception tel:+359 750 32441
www.rilaborovets.com

Winery estate DRAGOMIR
Moving from near Plovdiv to another nearby address between June and September.

WINE TASTING
The House of Distillation, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

www.bulgariawinetours.com
Half day and full day wine tours from European 65 per person.

Facebook: street.of.crafts.plovdiv

Welcomemaps.eu plovdiv

Walking tour of Plovdiv from !2 euros, every day at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 hours, lasting around 3 hours, includes map and a coupon for 15% offPyldin restaurant, 3 entrance  tickets to Small Basilica, Amenian museum trakart. Starting point
1 Rayko Daskalov st (tourist info centre).

Maps
Large free map from
Official Tourism Portal:
visitplovdiv.com

Wine Map Bulgaria

Useful Phrases Card from
365 Culture Tour Of Sophia (Costs about 22 Leva)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv_Synagogue

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Some more odd things about Bulgaria, Budget, Bargains, Bargaining, and Sofia

First you need an international driving license to drive. A Singaporean license was not accepted by Hertz/Thrifty. However, another friend from Singapore and Indonesia said he had no trouble getting his non European non International license accepted by a different hire car company.

At the aiport you can see the OK taxis which seem to have a monopoly, and yellow cabs are lined up outside stations and main buildings.

No Tipping
Bulgaria, being a former communist country, has a no tipping culture, so what you lose on being cheated you gain on not giving a tip.

Try Bargaining
Taxis tend to ask for double the fare instead of turning on the meter. Try quering the price or asking them to set the meter. You never know.

In Borovets, south of Sofia, a ski area in winter, a walking area in summer, many of the shops and hotels were boarded up and closed in summer. I looked at a hat on a rack of summer hats outside the doorway. The assistant came to help. The hat rack was labelled 12 leva. I turned over the ticket and read aloud, Twelve leva. I stepped back.

She quickly said, "Ten leva!"

Breakfast Buns
The breakfast offerings are strange. What looks like a straightened out croissant, or a muffin, turns out to have a white cream cheese filling.



Juices
A plus is the freshly squeezed juices. My favourite was grapefruit.

In Borovets outside a restaurant I stopped to look at the pictures and translations, chicken soup, as well as omelette, and local specialities. The owner came out to chat me up.
"Where are you from? You want lunch?"
I prevaricated, "Not yet. I'm waiting for a group who went walking."
She beckoned me in, "Just look. Just look." She enthused, "For your group, I offer ten per cent reduction!"

In the capital, Sofia, I had asked if there were any budget stores. In London we have Poundland. And charity shops such as Oxfam, Barnados, St Luke's, selling mostly second hand goods donated.

In Asia in Japan and Singapore you have the Japanese Daeso, everything two dollars, as well as Value Store.

"No such things in Bulgaria," I was told.

However, Lidl offered good prices. Lidl is everywhere in Bulgaria. We saw several in Sofia and more in Plovdiv.

Another bargain shop is Mercari. We found them in Sofia and Plovdiv.

Useful Websites
www.mercari.bg


About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 

Hiking, Staying and Eating In Bulgaria, Enjoying beaches, Romans and Romantic Churches

Bulgaria (/bʌlˈɡɛəriə, bʊl-/ ( listen); Bulgarian: България, tr. Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria(Bulgarian: Република България, tr. Republika Bǎlgariya, IPA: [rɛˈpublikɐ bɐɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. 
The capital and largest city is Sofia; other major cities are Plovdiv in the middle of the south, and Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea coast in the east.

I SOFIA, capital, in the west.
See the eagle and lion bridges.

73 Miles south is Rila monastery, a UNESCO protected site in the Rila national park, one of Bulgaria's most visited buildings.

Rila monastery

Rock-hewn churches near Rousse.

BLACK SEA COAST:
2  SUNNY BEACH, 3 BOURGAS, 4 VARNA

Sunny Beach, as you see on the map, around the bay, the next headland south is Nessebar. 
Sunny beach, as you might imagine, is a family resort and if you look at hotels on the web they are flashing deals for children.
Attractions in Sunny Beach include a camel park.

Sunny Beach has a church in a cliff.

Go to Pomorie Lake and see the salt museum, then take a free to dip in black mud, supposed to cure ailments (arthritis?). To wash off, you need to take your own bucket and sponge.

3 Bourgas

4 Varna

HOTELS
Magic Castle Hotel
Tripadvisor's number 1 hotel, gives you a 15-minute magic show on arrival.

Cost £62 a night in July 2018. 3 star. Only 17 rooms, so fine for a couple, such as when you are flying out to join a group and wanting an extra day in the capital, Sofia, before or after being with the others, but not for me when helping to research and organize a hotel for my hiking group of 30 people, mostly couples, needing about 15 rooms.

Try group booking hotels. Larger hotels.

WALKING
5 RILA and 
6 PIRIN  mountain ranges.
7 STRANDJA

8 PLOVDIV , the south
You could fly into Plovdiv.





















Old Plovdiv
Pedestrianised old Plovdiv has lots of Roman remains. 
You can visit the Roman theatre and four other attractions with a shuttle ticket.

......................

In Ploviv, a bright orange museum, the phrase 'you can't miss it' comes to mind, you see the history museum.



Plovdiv's Roman amphitheatre.

Plovdiv's regional Natural History museum contains an aquarium.

Familiar Foods
Moussaka.
Baklava.

Novelty Foods To Try

A walnut cake with chocolate icing called Garash. Makes me want to gnash my teeth. I'll have two, and a fork, please.


Getting There
You can fly to the capital, Sofia, to the west, or Burgas on the black sea coast. Looking at the little plane symbols, you could also fly Ryanair from Stansted to Plovdiv in the middle of the south.
Other options are combining your Bulgaria trip with a day in the capital of Macedonia.

To Sofia with Tui from Gatwick.
To Burgas Airport BOJ
Balkan Holidays flights to Burgas airport from Gatwick; Wizzair to Burgas airport from Luton.
Bulgaria Air from Sofia to Burgas
Varna airport has a free shuttle bus from Varna airport to Varna city centre and Burgas airport.

Useful Websites
BULGARIA
See Wikipedia, Wikitravel, Wikivoyage, plus your government's up-to-date advice on safety (from the UK, USA and Canada). 
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bulgaria

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bulgaria

SOFIA
https://www.visitsofia.bg/en/cityinfrastructure/what-to-see/monasteries/menuid486

PLOVDIV
www.archaeologicalmuseumplovdiv.org, archmusplovdiv@abv.bg
www.ethnograph.info,
www.historymuseumplovdiv.org , hm_plovdiv@mail.bg
http://www.plovdiv.bg/en/туристи-2/планирай-своето-пътуване/карти-и-брошури/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rila_Monastery

ORGANIZED TOURS

Balkan Holidays say they organise speciality holidays for groups including walking.

Purple Travel also organize group bookings. Tel:0203 728 0078.

https://www.andantetravels.co.uk/tour/583/Bulgaria/Bulgaria--Thracians--Churches.html
(Fab tour if you've got £2.595 to spare and can afford to pay a single supplement of £250. If you can't afford it, read all about it, recommend it to your boss, rich family and friends - and buy a lottery ticket!)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

TripAdvisor offers to Plovdiv and Denpasar? Where are they? Why go there?

Problem
Tripadvisor keeps sending me offers of cheap flights from London to places I don't know. However often I do those quizzes on Duolingo on the capitals of Europe, up comes another offer. By the time I get around to checking the country, two days later, the offer will be gone. Anyway, let's check out today's offers. If they sent me a feedback form, I would tell them to add the country.

Answers
Plovdiv - second city of Bulgaria.
BULGARIA  - WELCOMING!




Here's the flag, horizontal stripes of white, green and red.

On the map of Europe, it is East of Italy, beyond Greece, bordering the Black Sea, south of Russia.

Plovdiv - BULGARIA
Plovdiv is the second largest city. Bulgaria is on my list. I like to add a new country. I am working on learning the Cyrillic alphabet through Duolingo.

You can see from the map of Europe that Bulgaria is on the inland sea so it has beaches.

The Ethnographic Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 

The Synagogue, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

PLOVDIV
1 Greek Names
Originally Philip's town, in Greek Philippolis (Philip - polis meaning city, as in the modern English words politics and political - matters affecting the governing of the entire city). Incidentally, the name Philip comes from Philos, as in Philadelphia, meaning love, and lipos meaning horse. A lover of horses would have been a wealthy nobleman. When you look at the map and see Greece is close by, and so is Macedonia, the invasion by Philip of Macedonia is not so surprising. Plovdiv is in the south west of the country, not terribly near those beaches on the East coast, more of a cultural trip unless you have time for a two-centre trip or some travelling.

Meanwhile, what's to see nowadays in Plovdiv?

2 Roman Ruins
After the Greeks came to Bulgaria alon came the Romans and the city has major Roman remains to see.
 Wiki says: preserved ruins such as the ancient 
Plovdiv Roman theatre, 
a Roman odeon, 
a Roman aqueduct, 
the Plovdiv Roman Stadium.

3 Russian Alphabet
The Russians up north brought the Cyrillic alphabet, which two priestly brothers, one called Cyril, created using letters from the Hebrew and Greek alphabets. From the Bulgarian point of view, creating a script using the alphabet from nearby neighbour Greece seemed a handy, obvious idea, good for travelling or if you already spoke the neighbouring language.

Catch up on the Cyrillic alphabet using Duolingo, and you can use it again later if you ever go to Russia, as well as reading captions on monuments and railway stations in photos of Bulgaria and Russia.

4 Bulgarian Balkan Backdrop
The city is surrounded by seven hills. Plovdiv in Bulgaria is called The City of Seven Hills. You can see that in photos.

5 Modern

For Denpasar in Bali see next post.

These offers have probably gone already. But next time around, I'll be in the know and ready to click on the link.

I am adding a top one, three, five, seven or ten sights or types of sights to see in each country:

Useful Websites:
GENERAL TOURISM
http://tripadvisor.com.sg

BULGARIA
http://bulgariantouristboard.com

BALI, INDONESIA (See next post.)
http://balitourismboard.or.id

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.