Day 5 Back to Plovdiv

From the Black Sea back to Plovdiv

I didn't get much sleep in Sveti Vlast to be honest. Mind buzzing. Jet lag churning. Phil and me snoring! The positive there was that it made it a no brainer to get up and go down to the beach for an early morning dip.

We're all here today, gone tommorrow

More then just another advert (look at the ad closely)

Some money here

The sea wasn't as cold as I was expecting and once in it soon felt very pleasant and refreshing. As I put my head under the water I couldn't help thinking about poor Colleen in Perth who I'd just heard had been killed in another WA shark attack the day before. Last year, when I was having severe SCUBA doubts, Colleen had asked my wife, Lesley, if she'd wanted to buddy up with her and her partner as they regularly go diving off the Mindarie coast. Luckily for me (and perhaps Leb) I eventually overcame some of my SCUBA fear and got my PADI ticket so that Leb didn't have such a need for a diving buddy. This incredible year continues to throw up nasty surprises like this.

Anyway, after a very quick swim, I had a stroll along the beach and passed by a small cliff with its millions of layers of sedimented rock, some flakes of which could be easily pulled away from the face. How many years had it taken for this sediment to turn into rock and then get eroded by the sea to form a cliff face? Who on earth could see this and still cling to the belief that the world was 6,000 years old. What a reminder of how insignificant our short time on this planet is.

I continued along the sea front by the new marina, which looks very plush and not too distasteful. We all appreciate old, tastefully done, architecture and places that are aesthetically easy on the eye, but I have no problem with a bit of loud, commercially driven, capitalistic driven resorts, in moderation. 

Anyway, I then headed back to the appartment where I imagined Phil was still sleeping. I managed to buy us both a takeway coffee - in ridiculously thin plastic cups, such that you had to precariously hold onto them at the very rim to avoid burning yourself. By the time I got back, though, Phil was already up and supping his own coffee with the hotel owner and his friend. 

After a nice shower we were off. I filled up the tank and put the music on. Phil made sure I took the right directions as we made our way back to the A1 motorway. We were going to pop into Stara Zagorska on the way but a fearfully looking set of black clouds seem to be hovering over the town so we carried on back to Plovidiv.

Not wasting any time, we parked, dumped the bags and set off for a sight seeing tour of Plovdiv's fascinating old town. It really is a remarkable city. All over Europe there are Roman remains which attract a lot of tourist attention. Apart from major exceptions such as Athens and Rome, you usually have to drive some distance to find them, often in the middle of nowhere. 

Plovdiv is one of these exceptions. A fantastic Roman amphitheater is situated right ion the middle of the Old Town and is still used today. You have a magnificent view over the city and have majestic mountains as a scenic backdrop too. Stunning. Phil showed me where he and Toni had had their wedding reception just a couple of weeks earlier - a lovely hall in the old town again with a magnificent view. 

Roman ruins everywhere

Phil then took me on a surprise trip to two sites on the No 37 bus. The first was an impressive old stadium, which I can only imagine is the old Lokomotive Plovdiv stadium. I assume this only because it is next to the Lokomotive Plovdiv tennis club. Anyway, then, Phil directed me to a non-descript looking functional building. "Go up to the top of those stairs" he said. So I did. At the top was indeed an amazing site. The end point of a massive (perhaps 2km long) water-course stadium for rowing competitions. Again there was a magnificent mountain backdrop. Wow.

Then it was back to the Old Town by taxi. Phil chatted to the driver in Bulgarian and try as I could, I couldn't understand a word. Finally, a beer! Phil is much more sensible than me when it comes to the golden nectar and went back to the flat to freshen up, while I stayed to have a couple more before having a mini tour on my own. 

I went to a place called the beer stop where the staff were very friendly. The main bar man was particularly keen to chat and, of course, it was only about 45 seconds before the subject of football came up. A big Botev Plovdiv fan. I cheekily asked him if he would agree to participate in my blog interviews. He agreed but we needed the lady, who I had assumed was his employee, who spoke great English, to translate for us. (More on the blog interviews later.)

B

Bulgarian Craft Beer

Beer Stop Pub - Great beer selection,. central location, friendly staff.

That all went very well. In return I promised to promote their bar as much as I could do and put in a good review on TripAdvisor. Embarrassingly, I then found out that the football fan I'd interviewed, Todor Hristev, was not manager of the business, as I'd assumed but the translator, Zabel Duzakyan. Shame on me for my male prejudices!

Anyway, apologies accepted, it was time to move on and rendezvous with Phil and Toni, where we picked up a taxi to take us to an impressive German restuarant where I had a nice Weissbier to wash down a delicious asparagus cream soup and pork, sauerkraut and potato dumpling.

Then it was back to their flat to watch some tely. Very popular, apparently, is a Turkish drama that has been going on. The plot was easy to follow, despite 7 minute ad breaks, but I think my lack of sleep was catching up with me and after three glasses of the lovely raspberry wine Toni had bought on Saturday night I started to nod off.

So ended another great day.

Aljice

Service station Burger King on the A1 on the way back to Sofia.