After a really good nights sleep, we woke a little later than normal (it is 1 hr ahead here time wise to Belgrade) but we're ready to explore Plovdiv.
We had bought some breakfast the night before at the grocery store, so we ate in our apartment but en headed out for a coffee. We found the cutest cafe where the young girl who served us was so friendly and seemed more than happy to be able to practice her English, which was very good!
After a decent coffee, the day was ours! We walked over to the old town which was slightly hilly and paved with cobblestones, luckily the day was a little cooler so we'd both worn closed in shoes which made it easier for walking around.
The architecture in old town Plovdiv is really unique, so we had plenty of photo opportunities, and enjoyed wandering around and also the fact there were not many other tourists in the area. Bulgaria seems to be yet to take off as far as tourism goes, although I'm sure it is on the horizon as Plovdiv seems to be undergoing a bit of renovation in order to prepare for the next wave of tourists to visit this little future hot spot.
We met some unique characters in the old town, I had a lovely cat rub up against my leg, I gave him a little pat (hand sanitiser followed), then we went to small jewellery store where we met an artist who makes his own jewellery. He was simply lovely and showed us his coin collection which included a number of Australian coins, unfortunately I had none to give him, but I did buy a lovely necklace which is hand made and very colourful! His jewellery was very unique and I took his photo as a reminder of his friendly character.
We wandered further where we came across a church and a very excited local, named Georgi who wanted to show us about the church yards, we simply knew that he was after money as you could tell there was going to be a reason for him wanting to show us around! At the end he handed over a piece of paper which told his story, whether it was true or not, it was too hard to walk away as he had shown us about, so I gave him the equivalent of $3.00. Who knows, maybe it was simply a con, but I guess his approach seemed a bit more legit than the approach of beggars who simply shove their small child in your face whilst your trying to eat dinner.
After wandering around for a few hours we decided to grab a snack for lunch, and to our delight we found a cute little store selling bureks, so we had that for our lunch, a bargain at the rice of 2 lev, about $1.50.
Following lunch we took a few more photos around the old town, but noticed there was starting to be a shift in the weather with it getting a little warmer and feeling a bit stormy. So we headed back to near the hotel and found a small cafe to sit at for a couple of beers. Luckily we did as a small storm came through, although nothing major, it passed very quickly. It seemed to cool down a lot more after this and following our beers we headed back to the room.
For dinner tonight we decided another night in was in order, so off to the grocery store where we bought some chicken, baguettes, cheese and wine. We still had a few left overs from last night.
The wine was a local wine, a Pinot noir, and I have to say it was pretty good (as I take another mouthful).
We still have lots more exploring to do in Plovdiv tomorrow, there are some ancient ruins of an amphitheater which we deliberately chose not to see today so we can enjoy it tomorrow.
So far I'm really enjoying Bulgaria and have to say, once again I am surprised by the uniqueness of Plovdiv and the friendliness of the people. Although, I must mention the bad hairstyles here, it's like an 80's flashback!
Well, that's all for now folks, more wine is to be consumed. Enjoy your long weekend!
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