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This week, I wrote about my travels through Bulgaria last fall.  I loved Bulgaria for the amazing history and gorgeous outdoors. Sofia was a surprisingly interesting capital city and I loved being able to get outside and hike in Bansko. If I visit Bulgaria again, I would love to go in winter and see Sofia, the Rila Mountains [...]

My first experience traveling abroad was to France in 2006 (when I officially got the travel bug). Since then, I’ve wanted to go back and see more of Europe. However, with the euro and dollar exchange rate at $1.60 this summer, I decided to stick to the outer edges of the EU that don’t use [...]

I spent my last Lev on snacks and baklava, changed into my comfiest outfit and headed to the train station to catch the overnight sleeper train to Istanbul. It’s kind of neat to be on the Orient Express to Constantinople. ;)  Our train was, of course, late so we ended up leaving two hours later [...]

Bulgarians don’t do breakfast. I went into town and ordered a cappuccino (while eating muesli and yogurt from the market). I sat outside, writing in my journal and enjoying my coffee, while everyone else was smoking and drinking coffee. So very Coffee & Cigarettes. I’m wondering if Bulgaria has a higher smoking rate than other [...]

Hiking day! I’ve been itching to get outside since I was in Bucharest. Thankfully, Bansko has a lot of hiking opportunities since the mountain is used for skiing in the winter. We drove up to the last lodge area where the road ends and hiked for a few hours alongside the creek. Incredible views! It [...]

I went back to the “California” smoothie shop for breakfast, grabbed some lunch items at the supermarket and we left Sofia around 11am.  We drove south through gorgeous scenery into the Rila mountains, to the Rila Monastery. It was all very Pacific Northwest-y. The Rila Monastery was founded in the 10 century and acted as [...]

I read that Veliko Tarnovo was good for rock climbing. So yesterday, after searching for the climbing office, which was closed with no signs of re-opening, I decided to just relax for a day. Today, we took an early morning bus to Sofia. At first glance, it appears to be a big, rundown city, which is [...]

Our train left Bucharest at noon, crossing the Friendship Bridge into Bulgaria in the afternoon and arrived in Veliko Tarnovo around 6pm. Although the trip was long and hot, with six people to a cabin, it was nice to have a breeze from the window. We listened to music, read, chatted, snacked and played celebrity [...]