Arrived in Sofia around 11pm and upon reaching the hostel we went straight to sleep as we were quite tired. The next morning we walked from the hostel to the train station to get our tickets for the train to Athens and just missed our bus at 11am to Yambol by minutes. This meant we had to wait 3 hours at the bus station for the next bus! Hey, its Bulgaria! At the other end we were met by David and Eleanor (My Uncle and Aunt) and drove back to their village of Tenevo. We had a nap and that night we went down to the local pub / restaurant for dinner where we tried some Bulgarian cuisine which was rather nice, especially the spices. Met some of David and Eleanors friends and had a Bulgarian beer or two.

The next day we were invited round to the neighbours to use their swimming pool as the one here has leakage problems at the moment. Took our time getting in the water as it was quite cold! But once we were in we had a lot of fun. When we got back to the house we chilled out in the back garden with a cold beer and lunch, which consisted of plenty of vegetables as is commonplace here because so many people grow their own. That night we had drinks in the next town with some different friends.

Visited the Black Sea after an early breakfast and walked around the town of Sozopol after having a morning on the beach. Took me quite a while to go in the water as it was cold to start with, but was soon in swimming around with Adrienne. David almost had the car towed away but saw them just in time to get away with a 25 Lev fine (13 Euro). We managed to find a shot glass to add to our collection which looked like a Bulgarian pot. Which was nice. It was a good day but got pretty burnt so I had quite the red belly later on!

We went into Yambol the following day and wandered around the shops. It is a fairly decent size town especially compared to the village, it has all you could want or need. Luckily we avoided the rain although it remained humid. Found a post office so we could post our souvenirs, then went to a nice pizza place for lunch. We enjoyed a very relaxing day.

Today we saw the ruins at Kabyle, which is an old Thracian site, now a national archaeological park. Found this a very interesting settlement with great views all around us.

We have found Bulgaria to be a relaxing place where time seems to have little meaning. I can see why Brits move here. It has all the availability of our western ways although many Bulgarians have decided to keep with old traditions. It is so interesting to see the herdsmen in the fields with the animals and people using a horse and buggy as their main form of transport. Gardens (front and back) are full of tomatoes, corn and grapes. The people seem happy and nice. It has been a great experience, thanks David and Eleanor...