Plovdiv, Bulgaria

I had felt a longing to get back to Bulgaria and it was a great feeling to be heading back to the country again with Plovdiv as my next destination. After a long drive beginning on expensive Greek motorway and ending in steep Bulgarian cobbled streets, I parked up outside the Hikers Hostel in the city's old town area and settled into the empty house with the only other occupant, an American guy called John, before having a rather messy challenge to empty the hostel fridge of beer by the end of the night. Challenge completed, hangover completed.

The next day I took a stroll around Bulgaria's great second city. The narrow streets of the old town are lined with some beautiful little angular houses, or "Kashta", with wooden beams and overhanging first floor levels. Combine this with the countless trees, parked cars and ridiculous cobbles and it is amazing the van made it here at all. The pick of the houses also doubles as the Ethnography Museum with well preserved rooms and interesting Bulgarian "Kukeri" folk costumes which look as they come from a morris-dancing Slipknot cover band.

The old town also has a great Roman hillside theatre at one end while, at the other end, the old ruined settlement of Eumolpias is unfortunately a bit graffiti covered and rubbish strewn. Poking up right in the middle of the hill is the Sveta Bogoroditsa church and it's huge pink clock (that's "clock") tower.  

As for the modern town centre, it is surprisingly nice too with plenty of sculptures, fountains, park areas, pretty squares and baroque buildings. There is also a couple of bronze statues of a guy called "Milyu", a sort of wandering local storyteller from the seventies. On the whole, it is more like a laid-back town than a bustling city and the place still has a very local vibe about it.

West of the city centre, Plovdiv shows the more soviet side of it's history. Here, on top of the typically named "Hill Of The Liberators" and at the highest point in the city is the monument to the Red-Army which seems obligatory for every old soviet town. This huge stone Russian fellow is complete with stern gaze, chiselled jaw and bayonet rifle - much like all the others. It is worth the steep climb though and the view of the city centre below isn't bad either.

By the evening, me and John were joined by two other American travellers, Amanda and Yen. As it was Saturday night, we decided to go out on the town for a few drinks. It involved some friendly locals, some opportune bull-riding, some shady Bulgarian mafia types, a basement jazz bar with a giant piano, plenty of beer and another hangover. Still, It was a great way to bring to an end a great time in a fun and friendly city. More of the same please.