May 2024. Gjirokastër. Albania. You left us sitting on piles of sand on the side of the SH72 road on the edge of Lushnje, where we’d now been for 3 hours. praying silently for the 13:38 to turn up to take us to our third Albanian city of the trip in what sounded like Gyropasta.… Continue reading “No current ! No current !”. Dramas in Gjirokastër
Tag: Balkans
THE CHURCH OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, VELIKO TARNOVO (NCSS 4.5)
April 2024. Veliko Tarnovo. Our third Bulgarian city, a third characterful hotel under £40, the snappily titled HiStory INN unique guest house (Houses of Olden Times) in Veliko Tarnovo was a cracker, at the end of the ancient houses of cobbled Gurko Street. A smiley face above Mrs RM’s name on the room door, a… Continue reading THE CHURCH OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, VELIKO TARNOVO (NCSS 4.5)
KAVARMA
April 2024. Veliko Turnovo. Our third and final stop on our whirlwind wizz (actually with Ryanair) round Bulgaria, as we arrive at a bus stop 2 miles west of Veliko Tarnovo* (pop. 71,502), perhaps the Shrewsbury of Bulgaria. Reader, I did allow Mrs RM a taxi to the centre (£2.50). One slight problem, the driver… Continue reading KAVARMA
OUR BIG FAT BULGARIAN CRAFT NIGHT
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… Continue reading OUR BIG FAT BULGARIAN CRAFT NIGHT
PLOVDIV OLD TOWN
April 2024. Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Mrs RM was a bit knackered by the time we got back from the northern bus station, a half hour walk resulting in a Bulgarian lady scribbling down the time of the next day’s bus to Veliko Tarnovo (which I’d already told her) but ignoring the request for tickets. Because they… Continue reading PLOVDIV OLD TOWN
BULGARIAN CASK – NBBSS 2
April 2024. Sofia. Day 1 of 4. Plenty of graffiti in Sofia, but some of it was art; with an excellent “Who’s that next to the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa ?” game on Saborna St. But enough of that; let’s find a church and a pub. After an ice cream from Sladoledŭ in the… Continue reading BULGARIAN CASK – NBBSS 2
TOP 100 COMMUNIST APARTMENTS – THE RED FLAT, SOFIA
April 2024. Sofia. We seem to have left our first trip to Bulgaria till nearly last of all the European countries (still need Albania, the 3 micro nations, Moldova and Belarus, the last of which I guess is a bit inadvisable at the moment). If you’re as young as me you may know Bulgaria chiefly… Continue reading TOP 100 COMMUNIST APARTMENTS – THE RED FLAT, SOFIA
BULGARIA HAS FALLEN
April 2024. Bulgaria. If 2022 was the year of completing the Beer Guide, then 2023-24 is a race to complete Europe. Talk about men being tickers, it’s Mrs RM’s who been the obsessive since buying that wooden wall chart from Ukraine with its lovely pin badges. These are the ones we still need to do,… Continue reading BULGARIA HAS FALLEN
FINALLY, THE CRAFT PLACE IN SARAJEVO
October 2023. Sarajevo. Bosnia & Herzegovina. The penultimate Bosnia post, which is a relief for me as much as you as I keep forgetting whether it’s Bosnia Herzegovina, or “&” or “and”. Wars start over these things; on Discourse anyway. These days I prefer overseas tours to be less than a week as by the… Continue reading FINALLY, THE CRAFT PLACE IN SARAJEVO
DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS (OR WE’LL MISS MOSTAR)
October 2023. Waterfalls, somewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A reminder of the route for our day trip from Sarajevo. Seven of us; Mrs RM and me, a couple from Marseille, and three ladies from Haifa, Seattle and Cambridge (wherever that is) travelling alone. Quite a mixed crowd, and we got to learn quite a bit… Continue reading DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS (OR WE’LL MISS MOSTAR)
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