Bulgaria

  • Bulgaria

    The Black Sea

    July 13, 2016 - By 

    Silly me, I thought the Black Sea would be, you know, black.  Clearly, it’s not.  Its waters are crystal clear and warm, with low salinity to boot! I knew the Black Sea coast wouldn’t even compare to the glittering Mediterranean coast, but I couldn’t travel through Bulgaria without experiencing the locals’ favorite summer destination.  After all, a part of why I travel is to see how other people live. I read that the north coast was littered with uncreative beach resorts that offered little to the independent traveller, while on the other hand the southern coast was more beautiful.  Well,…

  • Bulgaria

    Sofia & Plovdiv

    July 11, 2016 - By 

    I find the major, capital cities of Europe (Paris, Rome, Madrid, Athens to name a few) to be chaotic and poisoned with large tour groups, but I had a slight feeling that Sofia and Plovdiv would be different.  I was right.  We loved Bulgaria’s largest, capital city of Sofia. The second largest city of Plovdiv wasn’t so bad either. Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana was adorable and quaint, but lacked the “big city life” feel. Due to drab reviews, we passed on Croatia’s capital Zagreb.  Montenegro’s capital Podgorica was simply depressing, playing on the stereotype of the gray and sterile post-Communist era of…

  • Bulgaria

    Rila – Our Intro to Bulgaria

    July 8, 2016 - By 

    Rila meant a few things for us: Our first day in Bulgaria Our return to the Balkans Rila Monastery, one of Bulgaria’s most visited sites Rila Seven Lakes, a justifiable popular hike I’d like to add more details to numbers 1 and 2.  Crossing a new border (into the Balkans) and entering a new country (into the Balkans) is not for people looking for a relaxing vacation.  Frustrating situations and uncommon instances unlike Western Europe are what make travel in Eastern Europe appealing anyway…we like to call this adventure!  Within our first several hours of arriving to Bulgaria we learned the following: If you…