Blog 131

After bypassing Kazalat, a town reminiscent of post-war Beirut, we smashed it down to Plovdiv, which turned out to be a pretty good call because Plovdiv was utterly awesome.

Plovdiv's cobbled streets are lit by Victorian lanterns and surrounded by wood panelled Tudor houses, fit for any Dickensian novel. The sight was made more magical by the fact that we'd arrived on day 1 of a 3 day wine festival. The streets and courtyards were littered by ladies offering cups of local wine for absolutely bargain prices (10p). So as you can imagine this made for a merry start to the weekend.

With plenty of Ottoman and Byzantine history to uncover, we couldn't pass the chance of learning it from a Bulgarian on a free waking tour. Today we found out about the delights of communist rule, centuries of tobacco trade, the city of syphillis, grand amphitheatres from the Roman rule and good old Mylo, the city sex pest, whose remembered dearly with a statue in the main square (now the most photographed attraction in Plovdiv!

We spent an evening in the Art News Cafe, on my birthday eve and were served drinks by a famous Bulgarian actress, who introduced us to the Plovdiv cocktail, which is now in the cook book.

Hot choccied up on the morning of her birthday and the last day in Plovdiv. She sat in bed and opened her pressies, which consisted of, an outfit from Benetton, makeshift advent calendar (25 posh choccies individually wrapped in tissue paper), a pair of festive socks and a home made 'happy birthday fiancée' card.

Love Jo and Bryn x