25th July- Spent the morning walking around Sofia. Walked up to the ladies market. It was mostly fruit and veggies for sale with some clothes and other random produce in stalls on the side. They looked to be cheap Asian imports so didn't bother to buy anything. Walked along till I reached another pedestrian mall and then strolled through there. As it was before 10am many of the shops were still closed. Walked back to the main centre and then down another pedestr...

24th July- Had an interesting sleep in the communists hotel. I think the mattress maybe original as you can feel the springs coming through.... They made up for it was a nice breakfast. Then on the bus as we headed towards nis, the second larger city in Serbia. Drove for a couple of hours before a quick break and then another hour till we reached Nis. Once there we walked up to the skull tower. This tower was built in 1809 and had the skulls of around 950 Serbia...

May 22nd Was woken at 3am by a small earth quake. The hotel shock for about a minute and then settled again. Was possible and after affect from on the day before in Italy. No damage was reported and they were vary accounts of the scale but around 5 magnatidue. Was in a deep sleep so just rolled over and went back to sleep. Had an early start to the day, not sure why because it is going to be a long day with the overnight bus to Istanbul turkey. Enjoyed a large l...

May 21st, Up early to try and wash my hair but there was only cold water so tried as best I could in the sink. Breakfast was better this morning with eggs with toast and jam. Then it was on the bus to head towards Plovdiv. We drove through picturesque countryside leaving the mountains behinds and wound our way through a valley. Was disappointing to see all the rubbish on the edges of the streams. The country is trying to introduce rubbish collection and recycl...

May 20th Had a good sleep with my second night in a single room. Breakfast was donuts with jam and cheese and side of thick sheep yoghurt.... I like donuts but at breakfast it is a bit much. The host was funny he called it special bread... But it is just batter that has been deep fried. Not sure if I have mentioned this yet but one of the odd things about Bulgaria is they shake their head for yes and nod there head for no. It is so confusing. Today is a free d...