• We traveled so much – two big trips around Bulgaria, many small ones too, one trip to Turkey (Istanbul), some trips in Romania, one big trip Bulgaria-Germany, a trip weekend in France….
• We moved to Germany – at some time we decided that it would be a good thing to continue living together in Germany… so it was done
• I found a new job in Berlin – again Software Quality Assurance. A very good company, great team, wonderful colleagues. So far, so good. I am very happy with this luck
• We found a great apartment in Berlin – honestly, this is a hell rental-market here. For one apartment so many people apply with documents. And in the center the prices are extremely high, but the noise… well.
• Mü got accepted to study what she wanted on first place.
• I finally started doing something about myself – a bit of running, conscious eating, etc. So far I’m down 10 kg. Not too much – I got a long way to be back in the shape I was. But at least it’s a start.

What do I want in 2012 (Alex)?

• Lose at least 10 more kg – nothing more to say here.
• Get running seriously – hopefully I will be able to attend a couple of run events… nothing much 5k, 10k maybe. A thing to give some adrenaline, some belief in myself.
• Do some hiking – that’s a funny thing to say in flat Berlin. But if situation allows – travel is OK
• As I said travel – in the TODO list should be at least some new countries and people. I don’t yet know what – Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Czech republic… all countries I haven’t seen yet. Hope Mü wants to do these with me
• Mountains – I’m afraid to make big plans here. And small mountains are included in the hiking. But I still dream about high peaks, crampons in the summer, fresh, thin air. No words here, just wishes. Alps are nearby, that is a good thing.

Here I am in Frankfurt, actually. That’s near where Muriels parents live:

So, I hope soon I’ll have things and travels to share from this country and the surrounding ones. Hold on Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, France…. etc.

Greetings from Berlin,

Alex

Sunday, early morning in Dragalevtsi, Sofia. Only one crazy person is walking around, looking at the houses, going to a 24/7 store to buy a newspaper and Pepsi. Yeah, that’s me – I like to wake up in the mornings

A little bit after that the group is ready and we all go to Boyana church (Боянска църква) – one of the Bulgarian UNESCO World Heritage objects. The orthodox church is famous for the paintings (frescos or whatever they are called) from 13th century – absolutely preserved. A bad fact is that you can only enter for 10 minutes and no more than 8 people at a time – after all it’s relatively small church. The park around the church, however is absolutely great. Many trees, paths, some preserved gravestones. Next to the church is the grave of Queen Eleonora – the wife of the Bulgarian king Ferdinand I.

Around 10AM we are already on the road E79 south of Sofia. Our direction – Rilski monastery. Well, not exactly. First we had to attack the first gas station that had something like a bakery

Rilski monastery welcomes us with a crowd….literally. Hundreds of people have decided to use this beautiful day for going to the Biggest Bulgarian monastery – built in the 10th century, another UNESCO World Heritage object. The interesting facts – from the original monastery only the defending tower has been preserved (just behind the dome of the main church on the picture below). The monastery itself has been burned many times – the last one in 1833.

Somewhere in the afternoon already we continue to Melnik. We are not in a hurry like last time – we have reservation in Melnik, we can take our time. So we decide why not go to Rupite, in Petrich, again. It’s a special, lovely place for me – kind of recharges me. Both the nature there, the views, everything makes you just better. The place is famous for the Bulgarian foreseer Vanga (Баба Ванга) who lived there all her life – in a small house, helping people with her visions. The phenomena Vanga, by the way, is specifically admired in Russia. Many books have been published about her there. Next to the house there’s a thermal spring, nearby you can see the hill of an ex-volcano – Kozhuh planina (Kozhuh mountain).

As we arrived in Melnik and registered in the hotel, we had some more time. So a walk around this cute small town will be a great thing before dinner. Melnik is the smallest Bulgarian town with just 208 registered settlers. Known for the great wine, the sand pyramids there, the warm weather Melnik has been a favorite of mine for a while.

Hmmm…. I think this pretty much sums all for the second day. Or general overall description I am not that good at it. But I’ll try to continue with the third day tomorrow.

On Saturday we started very early – I knew there’s a lot of driving this day.

Krushuna waterfalls (Крушунски водопади in Bulgarian) were the first one of our sights. They form an eco-trail from many waterfalls, each bigger and bigger than the previous. Each waterfall lays on a karst terrace, thus has an interesting color of the water.

Around some of the final and highest waterfalls there are some rock monasteries of monks-isihasts from 13-14th century. Not much is left from them, though – still you have the witness in the rock holes, and human-made carvings inside.

Next was the Devetaki cave (Деветашка пещера in Bulgarian). This cave has the biggest entry hall amongst the caves in Bulgaria. Looks like a whole football stadium, if you ask me. It was discovered around 1920 and in the communism years it was used to store the government reserve for petrol and food. Nowadays you can still see parts of the bridge that was built for this purpose (with train trails on it too) and the foundations for the petrol tanks. The cave itself is not available for direct entrance, because it’s protected by small waterfalls and the entrance in it can be done with a boat and a bit of climbing (or so I’ve heard).

After the cave we visited a small village – Kykrina (Къкрина). Famous for the inn that’s in it and the capture of Vasil Levski – the organizer and the soul of the Bulgarian revolution against Osman slavery in 19th century. In 1872, around Christmas Vasil Levski was captured by the Osman ‘police’ and on 18th of February, 1873 was hanged in the surroundings of Sofia.

Lovech (Ловеч), our next stop has a long story. The fortress above the city is the place where peace treaty between Bulgaria and Byzantium has been signed in 1187. During Otoman slavery the city has been an important trade and craft center. The places we visited and worth visiting there:

• The Lovech fortress
• The covered bridge
• The etnographic museum and the old city of Lovech

And it was getting pretty late for this day, already, so we decided we should sleep somewhere near Sofia. Dragalevtsi, a neighborhood beneath Vitosha was a nice place to sleep and dine.

Well, let’s see – 6 day autotrip with about 2000 km. around Bulgaria

The route was something like that

1. Day 1 – Ruse, Sofia, Rila monastery, Sandanski (where we slept because Melnik was fully reserved for the night)
2. Day 2 – Sandanski, Petrich (Rupite), Samuilova fortress, Melnik, Rozhen monastery, Pazardzhik (where we slept in an awful hotel, named with the great name Elbrus)
3. Day 3 – Pazardzhik, via a small curvy road with some dams, Trigrad gorge and the two caves nearby (Yagodinska cave, Dyavolsko gyrlo cave), Shiroka lyka (where we almost got to see the  traditional Bulgarian kukeri festival – something like westerners Helloween ), Bachkovo monastery
4. Day 4 – Bachkovo monastery, Asenova fortress (which was closed due to the snowstorm that started previous night), Plovdiv (the old city and the Amphitheater), Panagyurishte (where we initially intended to sleep, but didn’t find appealing), Strelcha (where we stumbled on a Thracian tomb and took a look at), Koprivshtitsa
5. Day 5 – Koprivshtitsa, Klisura, Sopot, Karlovo, Kalofer, Koprivshtitsa – all revival Bulgarian cities. And we decided to stay in Koprivshtitsa because the hotel we were staying was so great, and the city itself is lovely.
6. Day 6 (Final) – Koprivshtitsa, Kazanlyk (where we saw the Unesco thracian tomb), The ‘Hainboaz’ mountain pass (due to Shipka pass being closed from sliding trucks and snow), Veliko Tyrnovo, Ruse

In other words – 6 great days with all kinds of weather, but mostly funny. I’ll allow myself to post a link to the Picasa Web Galleries again…. ~HERE~

Edit: I’m uploading a map of the trip:

So we did it. Spent some marvelous days in Istanbul. Got to know the non-tourist Istanbul too. Got some bad experience with noise, street merchants and stuff. But in the end this was good. Istanbul still remains a favourite of mine.