Storyline: Bulgaria with Alex
Concluding our “Bulgaria with Alex” storyline with journeys through a few more cities we visited over the years. Way back when, in 2007, we visited the must-see Plovdiv, the second largest Bulgarian city, and the picturesque historic town of Koprivshtitsa.
Plovdiv is 145 km from Sofia and traffic-dependent is about a 2-hour bus ride. At the time, hourly buses served the Sofia-Plovdiv route. As in many countries in this part of the world, air-conditioned, fast and cheap buses in Bulgaria are plenty. We bought return tickets and spent a day in the old part of the city. This ancient city saddling seven hills in southern Bulgaria is probably one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe. Riva Maritsa flows through the city plain situated between the Balkan Range to the north and Rhodope Mountains to the south.
The name of the city has changed throughout the centuries from Eumolpias (with Thracian settlers around 600BC) through Philippopoulis (“the city of Philip”, father of Alexander the Great) and a few others, to nowadays Plovdiv. We strolled through the Old city, visited a few museums and the famous Roman Amphitheatre (The Theater of Philippopolis), which in the past seated about 6,000 and is still functioning today. There was a rehearsal for an opera in the evening, which we could not attend because our bus tickets were for an earlier time.
Before we boarded the bus back to Sofia, we had a nice dinner at restaurant Diana. There is still a napkin with the restaurant’s name (and mine) kept somewhere in our house.
We wanted to also visit the beautiful town of Koprivshtitsa, nested in the foothills of the Sredna Gora mountain range, running in parallel south of the Balkan range. River Topolnitsa (from topola – poplar) runs through the town, which name comes from kopriva (nettles). It is one of the most authentic Bulgarian towns that still preserves the atmosphere of the Bulgarian National Revival period of the 19th century.
We went to the central bus station which is next to the central train station in Sofia, just to learn that there was no convenient public transport that would take us there and back in a day. And it is only about 100km away from Sofia.
We looked around and asked a yellow taxi driver, who seemed trustworthy, how much it would cost to take us there and back. The driver told us that he’d take us there, wait for us the whole day and drive us back for an amount that at the time translated to about $35 CAN. We hopped in the car and there you go: in just over an hour we were in the middle of the town.
Agreed on a return time with the driver and off we went exploring. Just don’t expect such a deal today. Gone are the times when everything was incredibly cheap for a western visitor. Taxis are now regulated and there is a fare for intercity travel.
We loved it! Fresh mountain air, tourism industry in its infancy, mostly authentic old houses, some little restaurants in their yards, a few trying to run as a hotel or B&B. We dreamed to come back and settle in this mountain town (hmmm. I don’t remember that part – A). Even run a B&B. But that was then. Now (before Covid of course) as everywhere, the town is overrun by the tourism industry catering to the hungry visitor.
Our last stop in Bulgaria is the small but magical Black Sea coastal town and fishing port Balchik, in northeastern Bulgaria. It is perched on white hills descending to the sea and is mostly know for its Palace that hosts the University Botanical Gardens.
We visited Balchik during our stay in the Black Sea resort Albena, south of it. At the end of September 2012, after visiting my parents, we wanted to go spend some time on Black Sea coast. A bus from V. Tarnovo would take us to Varna.
From there we could easily reach either The Golden Sands or Albena to the north of Varna. Both resorts were built during communism and at the time were not affordable to the ordinary Bulgarian citizen. They catered to West Europeans, mainly Germans, who were paying hard currency and secondly to preferred tourists from the Eastern Bloc, mainly Russians and Poles, who also would pay a lot more than a Bulgarian would even be able to.
Our friends recommended Albena as more authentic than The Golden Sands which according to them after the communism is overbuilt and crowded. They also recommended a hotel. It was my first use of Booking.com, methinks.
Upon arrival in the hotel our pre-booked room was taken as part of a group booking. We were upgraded to a luxurious room with great views in a quieter section of the hotel.
It was an all-inclusive resort, my first and only in Bulgaria. We were happy with the service and enjoyed our time there. It was the end of the season, and hotel was full of German and Russian groups.
Nothing had changed. The resort looked run down but authentic and even the vacationers were the same nationalities.
Balchik is only about 10km from Albena, so one afternoon we took a cab that dropped us off in front of the Palace. We strolled through its (out-of-season) gardens, took some photos, looked around the souvenir shops and walked on the seafront promenade before cabbing it back to our hotel.
We didn’t have time to visit Varna during this or any other trip, so Alex is yet to visit it. My idea is to drive the Black Sea coast starting from the most northern point, probably crossing from Romania, all the way south to the Turkish border. Health and time permitting. But of course, there are so many other places in the world to visit when Covid-19 is brought under control.
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