retiredmartin

April 2024. Plovdiv.

For a city the size of Nottingham or Newcastle, Plovdiv seemed remarkably compact, bar the slog of a walk to the outer bus station in unseasonably hot weather.

Back in Kapana from the museum-heavy Old Town, we spent our lone night ticking the craft, because it’s what my readers expect.

Our £35 apartment was run by the Cat & Mouse, a co-working space/craft bar/guesthouse; we get the Mouse House, which comes complete with kitchenette and paint brushes.

There’s four (4) recommendable bars two minutes walk from the Mouse House, which sounds a bit like home.

We get a discount from the Cat & Mouse,

where I ask the barmaid what Котка и Мишка (the middle one) means and she says Cat and Mouse; it’s the only Bulgarian I learn all week, shamefully.

Bulgaria seemed heavy on craft can culture,

so Mrs RM gets the 6.6% Beer Bastards Opasen Char (top pic) to enjoy on the cobbles with the smokers. Bulgaria has the highest smoking rate in Europe, and that’s fags not vapes.

They enjoy their beer, and nicotine, and cats.

Across the road I finally found LOCAL, a bar Tony Lea had recommended that had eluded me by being also called Vinyl Bar on Google Maps.

This was a cracker, mainly because a great barman went across the road to the Cat & Mouse (they’re co-owned) to get Mrs RM a bottle of milk stout from the fridge when she didn’t fancy the sour.

Even more peanuts here, in a beautiful courtyard.

Then early tea and a break from beer in Aylyakria,

pork not horse,

and then a dash to buy socks. I’d somehow only packed one pair. On Mumsnet women pack their husband’s socks.

German supermarkets aplenty in Bulgaria, so I get 3 pairs for £3 that will last me 3 years at least (pics of socks for Patronised readers).

And then back to Kapana,

where the sponsored art is more impressive than the products they advertise.

My only real criticism of Bulgaria is that the hotels left those abominable 3-in-1 sachets (coffee, powdered milk, sugar) with the kettle. so you had to pop out in the morning to get a black coffee.

Plovdiv is lively enough on a Tuesday evening,

and as Duncan noted the bars don’t always open into the early hours, so we finished at Hopium,

a bit “craft bar by numbers” where the main item of interest was being asked if I could pay by cash, please, by the young barmaid.

Which makes a pleasant change.