Out of Bulgaria

Thought I’d take a few moments to do a little blog, while Al’s on the laptop…

We’re in Melnik, in the south-west of Bulgaria, staying in a nice little guesthouse right in town. We were washed out on our attempt to camp just out of town, but this place only cost 30 levs so we decided to stay two nights – our last in Bulgaria.

This is a “must stay” place. It’s the smallest town in Bulgaria and in the middle of the best wine region. The food is good; we just ate “bob” for lunch (bean, tomato and spice soup) and Al had a big fat sausage in the middle of his soup for extra protein! (See photo) We’ve managed to taste some of the Melnik wines here and wandered through some of the subterranean cellars. The largest barrel we’ve seen was 12.5 tons!

We also hiked to the top of the surrounding escarpment, to see the scenery and visit the remnants of the old fortress, the Church of St. Nicola, and the rebuild of a monastery that fell over the cliff during an earthquake!

The Bulgarian history’s fascinating, with old fortresses, churches, monasteries and private homes restored and preserved and open to the public. We’ve only been here about a week, but have seen lots, talked to quite a few Bulgarians, French and Portuguese, loved the incredible greenness of this country and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Tomorrow we may visit a monastery up the road (we were told we must see it), then cross the border into Macedonia. According to Lonely Planet, our trusty tour guide, driving into Macedonia is simple. We’ll see… Al may have mentioned in his blog the Turkish fine we paid at the border, so who knows what’s in store for us tomorrow.

We’re missing our travel buddies, but surviving. Al said to to tell you all the tree I’m leaning on is as old as me… 800 years, so local legend goes!

Bye for now!