Handy Quick Links to our Blog Highlights
How We Got Started | How We Do It | Countries and Territories Visited | USA Adventure | Iceland The UK Adventure | Our Travel Club Arrives in Paris | Capitols of N. Europe and Scandinavia | Russia and the Trans-Siberian Railway | South Korea | Japan | Australia | Bali & Indonesia | Malaysia | Singapore | Macau-Hong Kong | Southern China | Zhangjiaije National Park | Central China | Terracotta Warriors | Pandas | Tibet | Nepal | India | Uzbekistan | Kazakhstan | Georgia | The Balkans
We departed Plovdiv and took the back roads to Sofia. Along the way we stopped off at the Thracian Cult Tomb. It was a bit of a hike to the top of the hill but the site was great. There we realized that this was only one of over 30 magnificent ancient sites and there was not enough time...another trip.
We fantasized about fixing up this old camper. Ha-ha.
Once back in Sofia we found our Airbnb, an apartment in a heavily inhabited tenement block. From the outside we thought maybe we might have made a major mistake in booking. Once inside we were pleasantly surprised.
We returned our car to the airport, just a few minutes away, took the metro back to the apartment and stopped at the grocery store for a few additional supplies to last us the next four days. Our plans for the balance of our stay in Sofia were simple.
On our second day we visited the National History Museum. It was a cold snowy day and we used public transport...first the metro to downtown, and the the local Trolleybus to the museum. We got sidetracked by a well-meaning local who gave us directions to the wrong museum and we ended up taking a taxi the rest of the way. By the time we had paid the taxi and the museum admission, we were out of cash. The museum was not busy...obviously because of the heavy snowfall and we toured the two huge floors for an hour. The best part of the museum was the building itself. The Roman and Thracian artifacts were interesting...but we have seem much the same MANY times over.
This collection of royal gold drinking utensils was made in the 3rd millennium BC...that's almost 6000 years ago...wow, what amazing craftsmanship from such a "primitive" society. We are certainly only just beginning to understand the past!
At the end of the day a nice lady in one of the shops helped us call a taxi, stop at an ATM for cash, and then back into town. A short metro ride got us back to our apartment. We made a Southern dinner tonight...fried chicken, cornbread and potatoes.
We spent a whole day waiting out the snowstorm at home...working on some art, catching up on trip planning, and writing this blog. We headed downtown late in the afternoon for the 4PM Communist Walking Tour by our friends at the 365 Organization. The tour was amazingly good with over three hours of commentary about the 48 years of communist control of Bulgaria. We got home late to carnitas baking in the oven...so tasty.
Our last day was spend hibernating as we prepared to depart Bulgaria the next morning.
The tomb was built on top of a hill, the then site was surrounded by a stone wall, and then the whole site was filled in and the toumb covered by a huge mound. It raised the height of the original hill by another 150 feet. The entrance was long closed and covered over and was discovered in the late 80's.
Once back in Sofia we found our Airbnb, an apartment in a heavily inhabited tenement block. From the outside we thought maybe we might have made a major mistake in booking. Once inside we were pleasantly surprised.
We returned our car to the airport, just a few minutes away, took the metro back to the apartment and stopped at the grocery store for a few additional supplies to last us the next four days. Our plans for the balance of our stay in Sofia were simple.
On our second day we visited the National History Museum. It was a cold snowy day and we used public transport...first the metro to downtown, and the the local Trolleybus to the museum. We got sidetracked by a well-meaning local who gave us directions to the wrong museum and we ended up taking a taxi the rest of the way. By the time we had paid the taxi and the museum admission, we were out of cash. The museum was not busy...obviously because of the heavy snowfall and we toured the two huge floors for an hour. The best part of the museum was the building itself. The Roman and Thracian artifacts were interesting...but we have seem much the same MANY times over.
At the end of the day a nice lady in one of the shops helped us call a taxi, stop at an ATM for cash, and then back into town. A short metro ride got us back to our apartment. We made a Southern dinner tonight...fried chicken, cornbread and potatoes.
We spent a whole day waiting out the snowstorm at home...working on some art, catching up on trip planning, and writing this blog. We headed downtown late in the afternoon for the 4PM Communist Walking Tour by our friends at the 365 Organization. The tour was amazingly good with over three hours of commentary about the 48 years of communist control of Bulgaria. We got home late to carnitas baking in the oven...so tasty.
Our last day was spend hibernating as we prepared to depart Bulgaria the next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment