Our July 2018 trip is to Bulgaria and Romania for the first time. This time, I plan to introduce them in a straightforward order of visit. I don’t know when I will finish writing, so here is the schedule
number | section | title | contents |
|---|---|---|---|
one | Departure | Plan your trip, get to Bulgaria via Istanbul, rent a car | We’ll show you how we always plan in advance, what it’s like to fly in, and the rental car situation at the airport. |
two | Bulgaria | World Heritage Site, Rila Monastery | Directly from the airport, we went to the most popular world heritage site to Bulgaria. |
three | Bulgaria | World Heritage Site, Boyana Church | The frescoes inside the church were beautiful and worth seeing even though it was a modest church in the suburbs of Sofia. |
four | Bulgaria | Capital city Sofia | It is a capital of a former communist country. It seems that they are going to put more effort into tourism. We stayed here for one night. |
five | Bulgaria | Koprivshtitsa and the History of Bulgarian Independence | This beautiful village in central Bulgaria is located in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the village had a lot to do with the country’s independence from Turkey in the 19th century. |
six | Bulgaria | Plovdiv Old Town, buy a prepaid SIM | Stay overnight in Bulgaria’s second largest city. Stayed in the quaint old town and went sightseeing the next day in the morning. It was a very cultural city. Stay one night here. |
seven | Bulgaria | Batsigovo Monastery | A monastery in the suburbs of Plovdiv. It’s not as fancy as Rila, but the frescoes inside the historic church were magnificent. |
eight | Bulgaria | Kazanlak and Sveshtari, Thracian Tombs | A tour of the ancient tombs of the Thracians, Bulgaria’s distant ancestors. It was a simple but interesting experience. Highly recreated! Here is a replica of Kazanlak, the Sveshtari tomb, surrounded by a magnificent preservation facility that reminds me of an RPG. |
nine | Bulgaria | Black Sea City of Sozopol, First Time on the Black Sea | At once, we went to the Black Sea in eastern Bulgaria. The terrain in the east is flat! It was my first time in the Black Sea. |
10 | Bulgaria | World Heritage Site, Ancient City of Nessebar | Nessebar is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bulgaria, located on the Black Sea coast. The atmosphere of the ancient city is enough, but there are too many souvenir shops, too many tourists… Stay here for one night. |
11 | Bulgaria | World Heritage Site, Madara Knight | A relief of an unidentified knight from over 1000 years ago that has become a symbol of Bulgaria. How hard can it be to find without a landmark? |
12 | Bulgaria | Rock Churches of Ivanovo, World Heritage Site | The church is located in a natural cave, and the beautiful frescoes on its shoes were worth seeing. |
13 | Bulgaria | Overnight stay in the border town of Ruse, crossing the Danube into Romania | We stayed here for one night just before going to Romania. The town is very different from the other Bulgarian towns I’ve seen, it’s very baroque and European. |
14 | Bulgaria | Bulgaria – summary, cuisine, hotels, driving and parking | This is a summary of the Bulgaria section and driving related information. |
15 | Romania Edition | Capital city Bucharest | The first stop after crossing the Danube River was the capital of Romania, located in the middle of the Wallachian Plain. It was a city that was developing in a modern way, although it showed glimpses of a former communist country. |
16 | Romania Edition | Braşov | Over the Carpathian Mountains to the Transylvania region. |
17 | Romania Edition | Bran Castle is not worth going to. | The so-called Dracula Castle. Too many tourists, too crowded, and the appearance is dull. I didn’t want to go inside and just bought a souvenir and left. |
18 | Romania Edition | Tour of the World Heritage Site of the Fortress-Cathedral Villages of Transylvania | Transylvania was under constant threat from the Turks and Tatars. The small settlements, which could not be surrounded by walls like the larger cities, decided to fortify the churches on the hills and prepare for the threat of foreign enemies. |
19 | Romania Edition | World Heritage Site, Historic Centre of Sighişoara | The ancient capital of Transylvania. The old town is very beautiful. We stayed here for one night. |
20 | Romania Edition | Romania Chapter Summary, Cuisine, Hotels, Driving and Parking Conditions | Finally, I’ll summarize Romania and the food and driving conditions. |
21 | Extra story Istanbul | Istanbul for a bit in transit. | This is my third visit to Istanbul in three years. It was raining right after we arrived, but it stopped raining while we were having dinner and it became clear and cloudless. |
I hope to finish writing it by the end of the year. I will do my best.
