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Bulgaria


Okay, where next?<br><br>It seems that while the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were making a fuss ... I'm in the European Union again, for the third time on this trip, so calling home is cheap. Here I a... For quite a long way, this cobbled lane ran parallel to the main road. I used it going up a hill but... I don't know what that's about. Entering Sofia. Now this is a new one. The gear changing mechanism has rotated around the shaft so the chain won't g... A water feature near the station. Sofia Central Station. The view from my window. The welcome at this hotel was rather overwhelming. When I got here, I was w... View of Sofia. The shops in this road are like all the shops I have passed so far in Sofia. They all sell parts for... Another view. The hotel seems a bit grand for this road. A quite Sofia street. Downtown Sofia. A covered market. The mosque. I think people here must have quite a sweet tooth, judging by this ice cream... ...and this advert... ...and this tram. Months ago, before coming away, looked at quite a few pictures of where I might be going. Until seei... I was surprised that the department store which this arcade surround was still open after eight o'cl... Another view of the Presidency. It's a shame that the grand front of the opera house just faces a block of flats. The Alexander Nevski Cathedral. The Russian Church. Entering Sofia in the rain past all the car repair shops gave me a bad impression about the place. T... As an example of the smartness, here's a trendy wine shop. Sofia seems a rather pleasant place. The ... Opposite the National Assembly. This is apparently the National Assembly. It looks a bit small. The University, flying a Bulgarian flag. A man playing the bagpipes in the park. Another view of the cathedral, with the bagpiper in the bottom right. There's a lot of English in Sofia, although I was able to use a little bit of Bulgarian earlier when... For all his blustering last night, Jorge didn't actually seem to have done much about finding a bike... Jorge also said that there was a big bike shop here, on the other side of the city. I didn't find it... Like in Budapest, the pedestrian tunnels under major road junctions are mini shopping centres. Sofia airport. Yesterday, I thought I might have been flying home from here. Not much has changed, o... Last view of Sofia. There's not much to see here. I took the picture just because this town has the silly name of Elin P... Bulgarian landscape with factory. I saw a photograph of this on Google Earth last night. Geese in the village of Vakarel. Before the motorway was built, the road which I am using today woul... I passed two of these today, next to the motorway. Another landscape. It was quite wet in Kostenec. A few kilometres either side, the roads were completely dry but here i... It's common to see rows of stalls by the roadside all selling the same thing. That's understandable ... The open air pool next to the road surprised me. Sofia 63, Plovdiv 32. There is a rainbow but it's hard to see. The River Maritsa in Plovdiv. So far, I don't think I've seen Plovdiv's good side. I have seen more ... Today was my first 100 mile day of this trip, although of the 109 miles, about 8 were spent in my qu... I've been washing my clothes every day and using the tip which Tim Moore gives in one of his books, ... The view from my window of the Buddha Casino.<br><br>I asked the receptionists here about where to b... I think that's the Monument to the Soviet Army, on top of the Hill of the Liberators. The receptionist this morning phoned Metro and found that I wouldn't be able to go shopping there wi... Look what I've got! These are perfect. This shop sells bikes and also almost every bike accessory yo... I may have been thinking of abandoning a bike here but it looks like somebody from Kent doesn't want... All bridges and tunnels seem to be made much wider than necessary and filled with shops. This is the... A mosque. This is all that's currently visible of the Roman stadium. There is a larger amphitheatre elsewhere ... The stadium, featuring a statue of Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great's father, who extended ... Plovdiv's main shopping street. I don't know who Miljo is. City Hall. The low round seats on the right are funny. Plovdiv is twinned with all of these places. The Roman Forum. On the edge of the Forum. This is one of the hills. Trimontium got its neame because there were three of these hills, although... The hill, seen from the side. Plovdiv doesn't seem to have made much of its Roman remains but it has taken great care of these hou... The Virgin Mary Church. The old part of Plovdiv. Revival houses. The French poet Alphonse de Lamartine stayed here for three days in 1883 during his <i>Travels in th... Plovdiv, seen from one of the hills. Old Plovdiv. Another Revival house. Those tourists look as lost as I am. The International Fair ground. One of the cafés in my hotel. A petrol station disguised as a castle, although not very well. I don't think there is a parallel mo... No haystacks here then. I passed a lot of fields of sunflowers today. Pretty much every roadside stall I would pass today had signs like these advertising that they sold ... This view kept my spirits up while I mended another broken spoke. I was dismayed to break one only 5... Harmanli, sitting in a valley. This is where the motorway starts again. I have to turn left to Ljubimec, 16 km away. I think my roa... Donkey donkey donkey donkey donkey!<br><br>This one watched me while I checked my spokes, something ...