Bulgaria
Are there beautiful countryside places to see in Bulgaria? I would love to see, green hills, waterfalls, lakes, rivers and maybe some greek ruins and hope to see the rila montasarey. Can someone reccommend some cites and town that have these things I have mentioned? Thanks!
Brendon
Auburn, Washington USA 10/16/12
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Bulgaria is one of my favorite places. Here you decide:
http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/bulgaria
http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/bul2
http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/bu3
If you decide yes, let me know if i can help.
Bulgaria has lots to offer: 2 mountain ranges, the Rhodope and Balkan mountains; riversthe Struma in Sofia, the Maritsa in historic and picturesque Plovdiv, and the Yantra in mountainous Veliko Tornovo. There's a Black Sea coast, with an airport at Varna. You'll find hot mineral baths in the area. The Rila monastary is south of Plovdiv. Plovdiv, formerly Phillipopolis (under the Greeks) and Trimontium (under the Romans)has a marvelous old town and a great ancient Greek amphitheater. The food is quite good, including the ubiquitous chopska salad. Bulgaria has a moderate climate, so fruits and vegetables are plentiful. There's even a humor capitalin Gabrovo (south of Valiko Tornovo). Unless things have changed, Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet (which was created by monks Cyril and Methodius for the Slavic people, based on the Greek alphabet).
I'm basing this post of experiences from 2001-2, so perhaps things have changed since then...
Bulgaria does have some very impressive mountain ranges, particularly on the border with Macedonia. My opinion of the countryside is limited to what I saw between the Macedonian border and the Sofia, but it was pretty forgettable. A lot of agriculture, rotting factories, concrete housing blocks, etc. Not too much that you would go out of your way to visit. I enjoyed Sofia very much, however, and really developed a hankering for shopska salata, especially when they use roasted red peppers.
We've been getting a lot of RS reruns on the cable lately. you might check your listings for the Bulgaria show. Probably a few years old but still relevant and interesting. You can buy it at the RS store as well.
We spent four days in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria last year and enjoyed it very much. There is a nice hotel there with good food. It would help if you are adept at using foreign languages as almost no English is spoken there.
I have been going to bulgaria since 1995, I would really recommend going. Go in september, the harvest will be in and the food will be freshest, the days will still be long but it won't be oppressively hot. There is a ton of stuff to do, I would recommend looking at http://bulgariatravel.org/, which is the official government tourism portal. That site is really good - I actually found some new places in the country due to that site. They have a bunch of routes and itineraries that you can string together.
One itinerary I have recently become enamored of is a clockwise loop through central, south central and south western bulgaria. Start in Sofia. I would recommend only the history museum and maybe boyana church, no more than one day is required despite what others tell you. Then head 90 mins east to a small town called koprivshtitsa. Spend the day there, tour the house museums, sleep there, then go east to Veliko Tarnovo. Stay a couple days there, take a side trip to Arbanassi.
cont'd...
Then south through the shipka pass, visit the shipka monument, visit the russian church, and visit the thracian tombs in Kazanlak. Then SW to Plovdiv, where you can stay for two more nights, visit the old town, the roman ruins, drink some beer, have some fun. Then, south from Plovdiv for a scenic drive through the rhopdopi mnts: visit Bachkovo Monestary, just drive around toward Smolyan, there are a ton of things to do on the way there, caves, hikes etc. Smolyan is kind of a town no one has ever heard of, but it is quite picturesque and makes a good overnight stop in the middle of the rhodopis. There is also a fantastic regional history and art museum there which I cannot recommend enough. Then west to trigrad gorge area, shiroka laka, kovachevitsa, there are a ton of other places. Eventually head NW or N (depending on where you come out of the rhodopis) to blagoevgrad, a small, pleasant college town and good base for side trips to the rila monestary and 7 rila lakes (two days).
Again, check the portal site, I am leaving out a ton of stuff. Go with an open mind, you won't be disappointed.
Matthew, your trip is very close to what we did a couple of years ago. We love Bulgaria and might pass on Croatia next year to return to Bulgaria. Too many great places and too little time!