Adventure Abroad: Bulgaria

My next stop was Varna Bulgaria, located on the Black Sea coast. The bus ride from Istanbul to Varna took 9 hours. Bulgaria's landscape goes from coastline vineyards to farmland and then mountains within 300 miles.

A warm welcome of attack dogs and machine guns at the Bulgarian border.

St. Nick in the off season.

The Bulgarian countryside. Every 30 minutes we would pass a herd of goats and their loyal herder.

After the 9 hour trip all 7 passengers and I got off in Varna. I quickly noticed that my camera case on my backpack was empty and remembered leaving it on the seat next to me. 20 seconds after getting out of my seat I came back to find my camera gone. I knew that only two people went past my seat on their way out, but I knew they would have found me if they were looking for the owner. As soon as my heart sank thinking it was a lost cause, I heard the sound of something hit the ground to my right. I couldn't believe it!....it was my camera.....and also the women who was trying to stash it in her purse. I ran over to her and ripped it out of her hands and she tried playing dumb like she didn't know how that could have ended up in her hands. Oh how I wish I could have spoke Bulgarian to to tell her that "well you see miss, when you picked it up off my seat and carried it off the bus and then were too clumsy to hold on to such a squirmy device and dropped it....that's how that happened" Oh well, instead I gave her the stink eye and then secured the perimeter around my stuff. (STRIKE ONE BULGARIA)
Moments later a "friendly" cab driver was more than happy to tell me my hostel was 4 km away and would gladly take me there for 10 Leva. Being on guard I tried to get my bearings, and eventually stalled long enough to realize my hostel was 1 block away. (STRIKE ONE and a HALF BULGARIA) Why just a half strike you ask? Because any traveller should expect that from a cabbie.

After reaching my hostel I was quickly befriended by Iska and Boyco who were locals that were meeting friends. They were more than happy to invite me out with them for some beers. I then found myself hanging out with a group of 20 locals in the park and felt completely accepted and had a fully redeemed view of Bulgarians.

A short stop to the beach.

The hardest part about getting around Bulgaria is not being able to read Cyrillic. It is like a puzzle trying to decode each word and then you still have to translate.

The next morning I headed to the beach for a relaxing lunch and some Bulgarian beer.

This not a good place for people that get soft when seeing a lot of stray dogs and cats because they are everywhere. This one asked for a picture and then insisted I take another one because he blinked.

Three takes later he was satisfied with this one.

Apparently it is customary to play strip poker on the beach.......with all men. Guess who is losing.

Free hot springs on the beach, but I don't think I you could pay me to jump in with the guy in the g-string at the bottom of the pic. Your welcome.....for intentionally cutting out the rest of him.

Everyone talking a Sunday stroll in the park.

After Varna, I hopped a bus to the city of Velik Tarnovo, which use to be the capital of Bulgaria up until 700 years ago.

My hostel in VT

The pride and joy of Veliko Tarnovo is the Tsarevets Fortress. It was the medieval stronghold for the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1393, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman empire after a three month battle.

I felt like I was in a Braveheart movie with all the castle walls and stone streets.

A view of Veliko Tarnovo from the fortress.

The white marble ruins is where the kings quarters were.

Standing on Execution Rock. This is were traitors were thrown to their death. Lovely isn't it?

A re-created drawing of the fortress.

The wall ruins.

So yeah....I got a little sidetracked and lost track of time and found the gates locked when I went to leave.......huh?....yep.

I tried scaling the ledge around the gate but came to my senses that this wouldn't be the best place to die. These Bulgarian teens also told me to go back around to the gate. I thought that meant they had a key or knew how to get out, but then only laughed and then said "see you in the morning". I thought I heard some voices back toward the castle so I walked around until finding some maintenance workers who spoke no English. I tried to motion that I needed out, but they didn't care to really assure me that I would get out. After contemplating the possibility of sleeping there for the night, I was finally motioned to start walking to the gate. They let me out and I instantly had the urge to yell FREEDOM like William Wallace, but I figured I already made enough of an ass of myself for the day.