In Sofia I kept hearing about a free walking tour from some of the people on the bus to Rila yesterday. At my hotel was a flyer for the Plovdiv free walking tour so I wanted to join this

I could have done it all myself but its good to have a guide show you first with explanation then do it again myself since I had the whole day.

At first I thought I'd be the only one. Then suddenly a group of about 30 people assembled at 2pm from out of nowhere. Our guide spoke perfect English and is a high school graduate hoping to attend university in the UK

Plovdiv is older than Rome, Athens, and Istanbul, and on the ancient road to Constantinople. First we came to the ancient stadium ruins located under the pedestrian street. It was only discovered in the 1970s hence all the buildings above

We then made our way to the ancient theatre. Again this was discovered in the 1970s when people were doing work in their basement and found marble slaps. Unfortunately now their homes have also been destroyed to open up the site.

We passed by some churches and old houses coming more into the old heart with cobbled streets. We saw one of the old arched stone gate entrances into the old town. Houses were built with arched windows so ladies could watch passers by

Finally we ended at the Thracian Fortress ruins from where you can see the whole city. You could also see a Turkish Bath House (hammam) now used as a gallery but I didn't want to climb down or walk all the way there.

The tour ended and I made my way back slowly exploring places again. I was on my last 10 Lev ($6) and couldn't exchange more money as the smallest note I had was 20 Euro ($25) so I wasn't paying to go into any of the museums.

I went inside the churches and made my way back to the Mosque. The front entrance has a Turkish café outside and the Mosque was open for visitors.

It was larger and more rectangular than most mosques which were more round in design. Also it was too dark to take pics.

Finally I found a supermarket and spent 4.85 Lev ($3.20) stocking up on food for the 7 hour bus ride to Istanbul tomorrow. Since Budapest you have to weigh your own produce and put the price sticker on it before going to the cashier. Not knowing the language I've been labelling some things wrong matching the wrong picture.

Back at the hotel the wifi signal was good. Outside a band was playing in the square with a singer performing oldies and show tunes. I hoped they'd do that for the rest of the evening as I had a perfect spot overlooking the square

I enjoyed my time in Plovdiv and it was much nicer and relaxing than Sofia which was quite creepy. Maybe in the future I will explore some of the smaller towns in Bulgaria if I ever come back,

Also I've been enjoying the music. Bulgarian music is very much influenced by Hindi/Bollywood due to the large gypsy population that originated from there. A lot of it is either hybrid or has hindi backing tracks.