We caught a pretty rickety train from Romania to Bulgaria. We passed a large area where there were 'nodding donkeys' pumping oil from the wells and barges carrying coal along the river.
It was pretty hot the whole trip and the train stopped at the border for ages and at one point we sat for an hour with no engine and it was stifling.
Bulgaria is famous for monasteries and yoghurt. Now it is a part of the EU it has attracted a lot of middle-aged Brits who are buying up Black Sea properties and mountain villas and making real estate too expensive for the locals. Recently we heard that Bulgaria had had its EU funds stopped because of corruption and there are now many projects on hold as these funds were for them. The farmers are unhappy as they now have no subsidies.
We arrived at Veliko Tarnovo and were met by George from the guest house we had booked into. That was a treat as it was a long uphill walk to the guest house otherwise.
The guest house had a fantastic view of the town below. 1 in 6 residents of the town is a student but once they are on holiday I'm sure they are replaced by the same number of tourists.
We met Tara from Brighton, England and got up at 6.30 to do a 4 hour walk to the Dryanovo Monastery. We took a long time getting out of the city as there were many trails left by the locals walking their dogs and the shepherds grazing their animals.
The monastery was being renovated and the nuns lived nearby in a run down 3 storey building. It was possible to rent a simple room there if anyone wanted to. We had a lot of difficulty returning from the walk and tried hitching but were lucky enough to flag down a bus.
We visited the Tsarevets Fortress overlooking the city. It had a sound and light show but only happened if there were enough tourists in town to pay for the electricity for it.
We found a wonderful restaurant in town with 80 types of salads and diet pizzas made with rye flour. It has been difficult to find some fresh tasty food in the last few countries we have visited so it was a delight. Not only were the local dishes tasty but they were also cheap. The markets were full of summer fruits as well so we ate peaches, nectarines and watermelon everyday.
John has had toothache since Hungary but no amount of nagging on my part got him to see a dentist there so we had to visit a local dentist in the town as he was in pain. The dentist did not use gloves and the equipment was old and dirty. I don't think she had updated her practice since learning under the communist system and didn't know how to preventing cross- infection to her patients. She didn't speak English so we had to take Maria from the guest house to translate for us.
She didn't have an x-ray machine so we had to go to a lab in the city the next day and then we decided that we would not go back but find another dentist in the next town we would go to. The pain had subsided so at least John was able to sleep and eat properly.
In the town there were many of these wall murals on the end walls of some of the buildings. There were also many Soviet style statues in small squares scattered around the town.
We saw these red and white cords tied onto several trees about the city and discovered that they are worn on your wrist and on March the first you tie them to a tree with blossom when you see a stork. It is for good luck and good health.
We also saw many of these A4 sized posters tacked to trees, nailed to front doors and pasted to walls. They give information about loved ones who have died and some people post them on the anniversary each year. These were along the post office walls.
These eggs are painted for Easter.
