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So, my friend decided she wanted to go to Istanbul, Turkey for the food and adventure. After much discussion and persuasion, her boyfriend decided to go, as well as our high school friend and sister. With five of us we decided to start making plans. We started with just Turkey, but then decided we wanted to knock off another wonder of the world and added Petra, Jordan to the list. Then, after everyone's schedules conflicted and we realized we would be arriving in Istanbul at different times, I decided to go to Bulgaria by myself. My roommate in college was Bulgarian, and it was close to Istanbul so I said what the hell.
Collectively, we took an absurd amount of pictures that won't fit in any one blog. So, I will break up the blogs by country. Without further ado....
BULGARIA
I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below:
http://www.freesofiatour.com/
+ Show Spoiler +They had lions everywhere: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404047_10151054658861924_421029647_n.jpg) One of the oldest churches in Europe: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/394253_10151054658916924_448258511_n.jpg) An opera house with a child with a golden penis: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/483078_10151054658991924_364449504_n.jpg) ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/542050_10151054659046924_1785846115_n.jpg) A Russian church (notice the difference with the cross; its a Russian thing): ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/399168_10151054659116924_314145159_n.jpg) The Hagya Sofia chuch, from which the city gets its name: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/199319_10151054659176924_356005989_n.jpg) St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/548737_10151054659216924_1288819467_n.jpg) Dudes who invented Cyrillic: ![[image loading]](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/60237_10151054659276924_1232164437_n.jpg)
From Sofia, I took two day trips. The first to Veliko Tarnovo, an old walled city, and a nearby old Bulgarian village, and the second to Rila Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in the world (with some crazy ass murals on it).
Veliko Tarnovo
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Rila Monastery
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After the two day trips, I traveled to Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. Plovdiv is interesting in that the Romans considered using it as a capital, but eventually decided on Constantinople (Istanbul) instead.
The first thing I did was meet my old Bulgarian roommate's mother for some traditional Bulgarian food. Yummy.
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Then, once again, I did the Free Plovdiv Tour (also highly recommend!).
http://www.facebook.com/FreePlovdivTour
Some interesting things about Plovdiv. It is a city built on a city built on a city. So, every once in awhile when they are doing public works projects, they find Roman ruins under the city. This includes a hippodrome (think colosseum for horse races, chariot races, etc.), a Roman theatre, temples, etc. Its quite amazing to walk down the main drag and see a hippodrome in the middle of everything.
Plovdiv
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Finally, some awesome chips!
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The remarkable thing about Bulgaria is that I went there expecting a former communist country with communist architecture (think square buildings, depressing as fuck), but was surprised to find that Bulgaria looked a lot like France. Walking down the main drag in Plovdiv was like walking down the streets of Paris and Nice. Also, Bulgarian women are incredibly attractive and fashionable. It reminded me of women I saw while I was in Paris.
Bulgaria was quite amazing, and I am glad I made the trip there. I would recommend it to anyone.
Here are my other two blogs for this trip (still in construction):
Turkey
Jordan
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Looks awesome, glad you decided to post it phreak.
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Whoaaa awesome :D thanks~!
Though facebook pictures don't seem load for others unless we click to them etc, but it's no biggie.
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I frequently eat the stuffed grape leaf rolls at home myself. You happen to know what they're called in bulgarian?
It's a common dish in turkish cuisine. Called "Yaprak sarması" (wrapped by/in leaf). Although we just call it "sarma" (to wrap/roll).
Looking forward to your two future blogs.
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On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:
Also, Bulgarian women are incredibly attractive and fashionable.
Now why didn't you have pictures to showcase this travel oddity...
Nice pics, good blog.
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Hmm I never really though of Bulgaria as being a paradise unknown but it does seem interesting ^_^
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On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:
Bulgarian women are incredibly attractive and fashionable
I just came back from a 3 days trip in Sofia and I have to agree with this statement
Nice pics!
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Nice pics!
On November 08 2012 12:58 LaLuSh wrote:
I frequently eat the stuffed grape leaf rolls at home myself. You happen to know what they're called in bulgarian?
It's a common dish in turkish cuisine. Called "Yaprak sarması" (wrapped by/in leaf). Although we just call it "sarma" (to wrap/roll).
Looking forward to your two future blogs.
My Romanian friends cook it sometimes (and invite me to enjoy them  ). They call those sarmale, it's usually eaten with polenta and sour cream. It can be made from grape leaves or pickled cabbage.
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The Greeks also have these stuffed grape leafs. There they are called Dolmades. Really nice with a thickish lemonsauce.
Also Bulgaria looks really nice from what you have shown. Sofia was always on my still to visit list but I think I´ll have to add Plovdiv and a few other things.
Is there somebody who can tell me what the best time is to visit? e.g. not too crowded with tourists but with nice weather (about 20-23 degrees).
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awesome pix, i too went to rila, sofia, plovdiv too.
if you look at the major cities then bg seems quite normal, but travelling between the cities you can see all the endless hundreds of little towns which are extremely poor. people in those use horses + carts instead of cars and tractors and grow their own food in their gardens. they earn next to nothing. and that is not the city gypsies, but the rural bulgarians
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Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O
On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/
priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D
I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria...
hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that?
Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O
oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha
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man I wish I had gotten the chance to go to Rila when I was there! Mostly I stayed in Sofia, and got out to Sozopol for a few days. Also, Nevsky was gorgeous (and big), though I wish they allowed photography inside. iirc the Bulgarians called them (grape leaves) dolmas, spot on with the women though. ^_^
The things that stayed with me were going to the black sea (the old quarter in sozopol was super neat), yogurt for breakfast (cause holy shit it was amazing (bulgaria invented yogurt btw)) and I finally developed a taste for fresh tomatoes bc I ate quite a lot of shopska while there.
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Beautiful pictures, thanks for posting!
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Cool stuff man !
Bulgaria looks like a nice place to visit sometime
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On November 08 2012 20:21 Golden Ghost wrote:
The Greeks also have these stuffed grape leafs. There they are called Dolmades. Really nice with a thickish lemonsauce.
Also Bulgaria looks really nice from what you have shown. Sofia was always on my still to visit list but I think I´ll have to add Plovdiv and a few other things.
Is there somebody who can tell me what the best time is to visit? e.g. not too crowded with tourists but with nice weather (about 20-23 degrees).
I was there in late August, and it was a little hot. I would recommend early September. Bulgaria is working on their tourism industry. It is not a popular destination as of yet. I hear its different for the east coast though (around the Black Sea). A lot of European teenagers/young adults go there for "alcohol" vacations (or so I heard).
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On November 08 2012 21:15 JieXian wrote:Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O Show nested quote +On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/ priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria... hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that? Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha
my russian friend said the russians invented cyrillic, lol. there may be a backstory there, but i only know what i was told during the tour. i just like the picture because the flowers were beautiful.
also, its a "free" tour, but most people gave large tips so it was a great deal for the college students.
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On November 08 2012 22:13 wo1fwood wrote:
man I wish I had gotten the chance to go to Rila when I was there! Mostly I stayed in Sofia, and got out to Sozopol for a few days. Also, Nevsky was gorgeous (and big), though I wish they allowed photography inside. iirc the Bulgarians called them (grape leaves) dolmas, spot on with the women though. ^_^
The things that stayed with me were going to the black sea (the old quarter in sozopol was super neat), yogurt for breakfast (cause holy shit it was amazing (bulgaria invented yogurt btw)) and I finally developed a taste for fresh tomatoes bc I ate quite a lot of shopska while there.
i believe you are correct on the "dolmas." i ate cucumbers and tomatoes for three weeks straight.... they were popular in bulgaria, turkey and jordan. i can honestly say that i got sick of them to no end. i had quite a bit of the bulgarian yogurt too. unlike american yogurt (think sugar), it was sour and not so sweet. i always ate it with melon to give it a sweeter taste.
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On November 08 2012 20:28 FFGenerations wrote:
awesome pix, i too went to rila, sofia, plovdiv too.
if you look at the major cities then bg seems quite normal, but travelling between the cities you can see all the endless hundreds of little towns which are extremely poor. people in those use horses + carts instead of cars and tractors and grow their own food in their gardens. they earn next to nothing. and that is not the city gypsies, but the rural bulgarians
this trip was only five days so i only saw the big cities. during my lunch with my roommate's mother, she said something similar to what you are saying. she also said that her life was better under communist rule because she had a better job and a better income (she is not part of the communist party).
oh, and i did see a gypsy camp while traveling from sogia to veliko tarnovo. man, bulgarians do not like gypsies. the tour guide was swearing at them, insulting them and then justifying his attitude to all the people in the tour van. it was quite uncomfortable.
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On November 08 2012 12:58 LaLuSh wrote:
I frequently eat the stuffed grape leaf rolls at home myself. You happen to know what they're called in bulgarian?
It's a common dish in turkish cuisine. Called "Yaprak sarması" (wrapped by/in leaf). Although we just call it "sarma" (to wrap/roll).
Looking forward to your two future blogs.
Yes in Bulgarian they are also called "sarma"
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A short story about the cyrillic
+ Show Spoiler +On November 08 2012 21:15 JieXian wrote:Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O Show nested quote +On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/ priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria... hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that? Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha The inventors of the cyrillic (Kiril and Metodii) were actually both Bulgarian and Greek. They were handed this "mission" by the Byzantine emperor of that time. But later the project was forsaken and they became a bit of public enemies because they didn't want to abandon their work. Bulgaria offered them shelter and resourses for their work (at that time Bulgaria was a very rich and powerful country). When they arrived in Bulgaria they were separated so they can lead two "schools" of knowage. After their death their students perfected the alphabet and is later spread around all slavic countries.
And about your trip - I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. It's aways nice to see how forgeigners appreciate things that we have started to feel as granted. Reminds us to cherish what we have. And there are plenty of other sites to be seen. You should make a trip to the whole Rodopi mountains some time. They have plenty of antique villages, cave systems, interesting kitchen, fresh air and really beautiful scenery.
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On November 09 2012 06:16 TealHorseman wrote:A short story about the cyrillic + Show Spoiler +On November 08 2012 21:15 JieXian wrote:Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O Show nested quote +On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/ priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria... hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that? Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha The inventors of the cyrillic (Kiril and Metodii) were actually both Bulgarian and Greek. They were handed this "mission" by the Byzantine emperor of that time. But later the project was forsaken and they became a bit of public enemies because they didn't want to abandon their work. Bulgaria offered them shelter and resourses for their work (at that time Bulgaria was a very rich and powerful country). When they arrived in Bulgaria they were separated so they can lead two "schools" of knowage. After their death their students perfected the alphabet and is later spread around all slavic countries. And about your trip - I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. It's aways nice to see how forgeigners appreciate things that we have started to feel as granted. Reminds us to cherish what we have. And there are plenty of other sites to be seen. You should make a trip to the whole Rodopi mountains some time. They have plenty of antique villages, cave systems, interesting kitchen, fresh air and really beautiful scenery.
its a nice country with friendly people (except for certain cab drivers in sofia (they are assholes; 75 levs to go to the hotel from airport my ass!! when i refused to pay and waved over another cabbie, the cab driver drove away, luckily i took my luggage out first)).
i considered going to the rodopi mountains, down south for the cave wineries and the east coast for the black sea, but because i was only there five days, i couldnt fit it all in. sometimes its hard to decide between short trips to major sites in a country and multiple countries, or only one country but see all you can see in that country. my plane ticket was $1500 and the flight was like 18+ hours so you kind of want to see as many places as possible.
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On November 09 2012 01:59 dAPhREAk wrote:Show nested quote +On November 08 2012 21:15 JieXian wrote:Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/ priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria... hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that? Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha my russian friend said the russians invented cyrillic, lol. there may be a backstory there, but i only know what i was told during the tour. i just like the picture because the flowers were beautiful. also, its a "free" tour, but most people gave large tips so it was a great deal for the college students.
Ahh, got some useless intel to share, lol.
The cyrillic alphabet was based on the glagolitic(?) alphabet, that greek saints Cirillos and Methodios invented to translate the bible and other christian books into the slabic language.
God I feel like wikipedia.
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On November 09 2012 06:16 TealHorseman wrote:A short story about the cyrillic + Show Spoiler +On November 08 2012 21:15 JieXian wrote:Wow! looks really nice, it's making my want to go there too :O Show nested quote +On November 08 2012 12:13 dAPhREAk wrote:I started in Sofia and took the Free Sofia Tour, which is awesome if you ever go to Bulgaria. It is basically college students who take tourists around downtown Sofia. Link below: http://www.freesofiatour.com/ priceless tip there >:D I heard Paris has retirees being free tour guides. That's nice but this is waaay better :D I find it really surprising that the guy who invented cyrillic is from Bulgaria... hmm however I don't think the triangle/delta is cyrillic (at least it's not used in Russian). Anyone know about that? Edit: Googled "haroden theatre" as a guess from your picture and I realised it is now written as "Д". Very interesting how "Д" was the same as the Greek "Δ" in the past :O oh ya and petra reminded me of dialo 2 act 2 hahaha The inventors of the cyrillic (Kiril and Metodii) were actually both Bulgarian and Greek. They were handed this "mission" by the Byzantine emperor of that time. But later the project was forsaken and they became a bit of public enemies because they didn't want to abandon their work. Bulgaria offered them shelter and resourses for their work (at that time Bulgaria was a very rich and powerful country). When they arrived in Bulgaria they were separated so they can lead two "schools" of knowage. After their death their students perfected the alphabet and is later spread around all slavic countries. And about your trip - I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. It's aways nice to see how forgeigners appreciate things that we have started to feel as granted. Reminds us to cherish what we have. And there are plenty of other sites to be seen. You should make a trip to the whole Rodopi mountains some time. They have plenty of antique villages, cave systems, interesting kitchen, fresh air and really beautiful scenery.
ah that explains it the delta thing, thanks. Just skimmed on Bulgaria and cyrillic on wikipedia too, I guess it was powerful enough to have influenced Russia. Haha before this whenever I hear Bulgaria all I picture is "poor ex soviet colony in Eastern Europe" :x
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