Plovdiv

On weekends during my internship I’m planning to take trips to different cities in Bulgaria. For the 4 weekends I have left I’ve planned on going to Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna or Burgas, and then a weekend going to a nearby monetary or if that does not workout, then maybe a weekend to Ruse which is right on the Danube & the border of Romania.

           

            Last weekend we started off with going to Plovidv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv  I thought it would be a relatively easy ride getting there since it’s only 2 hours from Sofia, but alas no. We started off on Saturday after working in the morning at the orphanage. I thought that the bus came through Razliv 3 times an hour so we got to the bus stop at 1:45 and did not leave until 3:30. Apparently buses only go trough the village every 2 hours on weekends. All the waiting was pretty depressing. We even tried to call 3 different taxis because it’s only around 1,50 more to take a taxi into the town. But for different reason they were not available. Once we got to Botevgrad instead of Pravets we waited 30 minuets for the bus to Sofia. Half way to Sofia the bus overheated which made the trip an hour longer while we were waiting for another bus. Then we ended up in a small bus station on the other side of Sofia, not the main one. So, then we took another bus to the main station and had to wait another half hour for a bus to Plovdiv. We left at 1:45 and did not make it to Plovdiv until 9PM. Normally the trip would have taken 2 ½ hours with a car, or around 3 to 4 with a bus (and that includes a bit of waiting) between all of this, a flat tire on another bus trip this week, and also that we keep on missing the bus to town I’m afraid we don’t have luck with the buses.

            Once we got checked into Hostel Mostel, which is located in the city center we went out for dinner in a nice authentic restaurant. I’m sure going to miss Bulgarian wine for 1 Euro! That evening we went to bed around 12am, and at 3ish we were awakened by a group of Dutch guys. A bit later we were again woke up by the most unnatural snoring I’ve ever heard of my life. Let’s just say it was not a smooth night, but the next night was much better! If you really want to know the details, check out Nathalie's, my fellow intern, and travel companion's blog, she gives a perfect description: http://nathalieinbulgaria.tumblr.com/ . 
In the morning we toured around the old city and I have to say that I was highly impressed by how well kept, and how touristy the old city was. I would definitely recommended going to Plovdiv. We were just there for one full day but I definitely feel like we covered all the main attractions. On our way back we stopped in Sofia, I met up with Valya (my roommate from AUBG) and we had coffee. Then we all headed back to Razliv.