We have been to Bulgaria before - great ski resort of Borovets (in the Balkan mountains) and our failing rand still makes it an economic country for us to visit with food and other prices similar to here. I think the rand had fallen since our last visit but in the ski resort, it was summer and the slopes were grassed.. prices seemed to have been kept down to attract visitors compared to their winter ski-season prices, so we were on a par. Adventure sports.. quad bikes and mountain biking is popular in the summer.
We had a self-catering apartment there so we were able to maintain a healthier diet shopping at the Billa supermarket in the village of Samokov about 10kms down the road, and hiring a car here for the 4 days meant we could explore the region a little from our base in Borovets.
Plovdiv
This is the first time I have visited a place because I saw photos of it from an Instagram and Facebook friend. Plovdiv is about 120 km from Borovets but the roads through the mountains are incredibly windy and the trip there and back took us the whole day. The area formed part of the Roman Empire dating back nearly 3 000 years and there are well preserved antiquities and archaeological sites we took photos of.
We had a self-catering apartment there so we were able to maintain a healthier diet shopping at the Billa supermarket in the village of Samokov about 10kms down the road, and hiring a car here for the 4 days meant we could explore the region a little from our base in Borovets.
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| Our forest facing apartment in the ski resort |
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| One of the main ski slopes in summer.. you could still go up on the chairlift and walk or cycle down - there are numerous hiking and bike trails |
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| Big renovations were underway at the Rila Hotel at the heart of the resort due to open in time for the ski-season |
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| Without English you cannot make head or tail of the Bulgarian language with it's cyrillic alphabet |
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| Our Flora Apartment building 100m from the main ski slopes |
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| A Bulgarian national dish - baked in an earthenware pot |
This is the first time I have visited a place because I saw photos of it from an Instagram and Facebook friend. Plovdiv is about 120 km from Borovets but the roads through the mountains are incredibly windy and the trip there and back took us the whole day. The area formed part of the Roman Empire dating back nearly 3 000 years and there are well preserved antiquities and archaeological sites we took photos of.
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| Ruins of a Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv |
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| Archaeological site and viewpoint over Plovdiv, one of the world's oldest cities dating back some 3000 years |
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| Roman Theatre |
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| Our left-hand drive hired car and shopping from Billa |
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| Beautiful Bulgarian plates and dishes for sale everywhere |
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| Water to drink on the way to the monastery - we saw these drinking spouts all over Bulgaria |
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| Bachkovo Monastery near Plovdiv |
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| Asen's Fortress on a mountain near Plovdiv |
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| As you can see it was a roasting hot day, but a chance also to improve my tan |
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| Asen's Fortress |
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