Not even worth sleeping in this town! Some have said that Bucharest is the Paris of the east. I think it depends on your perspective. If you are from the east, it is big time, but if you are from anywhere else this place has tractors downtown. Need I say more. The communist era apartment blocks seem to dominate the skyline. Bucharest replaces Madrid officially at the bottom of the list of favorite major cities.

The last I will see of the sea for a while! Time to head west!

Dirt Roads in the main city and not much to see. Bulgaria got much poorer the farther north you go. Next stop Romania

02.24.08 Varna, Bulgaria The Black sea, all but Black! Turkey to Bulgaria, snow to sand, tense to relax!Hotel Relax to be more precise!As I sit here in my basement bedroom in Varna, Bulgaria on the Black sea, I am reminded of my time in both Croatia and Albania.I had absolutely no expectations of Bulgaria and am pleasantly surprised.Istanbul on the other hand was out of hand and now I feel as though I have sipped a little of what the east has to offer and ...

I love towns on a peninsula and this is a more historic sort of place. Very different cobbled streets and architecture. Nothing profound, but nice and comfortable.