On leaving Veliko Tarnovo - and sadly having to say goodbye to the captivating Liliana (who is studying finance at the university in Veliko Tarnovo and working in the Hotel Yantra during the holidays) (and who kindly chatted to me & answered my daft questions about life in Bulgaria) - we set off for the rather unlikely sounding city of Plovdiv - Bularia's second-largest city...

Plovdiv reminds me of the Central Asian rice-based dish "plov" - and it sounds like an abbreviation of a corporate division or government department: "Oh yeah, he's transferred to PlovDiv - fast-tracked - obviously destined for the top.." or "Oh yeah, she's heading up PlovDiv - the hot new ministry."

We drove through Gabrovo - which has a museum of humour & satire - sadly we didn't stop - so it was either a good joke ruined or...........

Anyway, shortly after that we stopped at the open air village museum at Etar - which is very sweet and though a bit touristy it is well - and quite cleverly - done in a lovely setting. After that we wound our way up through the forests and over the Balkan Mountains - stopping at a monument on the way. Actually there are two monuments up here - one looks a bit like a UFO or a space station (but on the top of a mountain) (obviously) and the one we stopped at - i'll have to add the name of it later as i left my Lonely Planet Guide in my hotel room ("Lonely Planet" no longer rings true, does it?)..........

Anyway, over the hill to - Shipka - twinned with Shipley (not really) - where there is a stunning Russian Orthodox church - with gleaming golden domes........ - after Shipka we stopped at Kazanlak to visit a Thracian Tomb - well, you can see where the Thracian tomb is but what you actually visit is a replica - sensibly so - and neatly done.........

On arriving in Plovdiv i checked-in to the Novotel - a huge Soviet-era monolith. Initially it seems to be in a poor location but nearby there is a covered bridge / walk-way complete with shops (several empty) that leads into the pedestrianised area in the city centre - so not such a bad location but not terribly easy to drive to...........

We visited the Old Town with winding, cobbled streets - well, they aren't cobblestones - just rough & ready lumps of rock ground down over time to become uneven & challenging to walk along - which adds to the charm, of course - the architecture of the houses in this area is Bulgarian Revival - and some of the houses have been colourfully restored. Intriguing. There's a very good ethnography museum in one of the houses, too. We couldn't visit the church as there was a wedding in progress with another one lined-up ready to go - you can see why as it is such a lovely setting.....

Sadly there are some houses that have been left to disintegrate & others have simply been pulled down - what should be a conservation area is in danger of being taken over by zealous property developers........

There is a Roman amphitheatre - parts of which have been restored and is used for concerts - which is quite enterprising. We visited the church of St Konstantine & Elena and the city centre mosque. The centre of Plovdiv is a very nice place to walk around & explore - as i was wandering around i came across a guy playing the clarinet - a sort of jazz thing but quite good (i know "jazz / good" - possible contradiction in terms) - but what was amazing was his daughter who was playing the tambourine with such enthusiasm - she could only have been about 8 or 9 but was clearly having great fun - very sweet to watch them & obviously gave them some money - the father had clearly marked me out as a foreigner because he told his daughter to say "thank you"......

Talking of buskers - anyone know who the girl was, playing guitar & singing in Green Park tube on the way from the Jubilee to the Piccadilly Line about 10.15 on Thursday 22nd of July? Absolutely brilliant - beautiful voice......

One thing that is worth remembering about Bulgaria - well, two things - one is they use the Cyrillic alphabet (which i think everyone knows) - the other thing is that they shake their heads from side to side to indicate "yes" and nod to indicate "no" - it sounds like something you'd get the hang of pretty quickly - but because nodding for "yes" is so ingrained i just can't get the hang of it (luckily hanging your head in shame is the same) (tee hee).......

Apparently the Bulgarians implemented the reverse-nod'n'shake after the Ottoman Empire took control of the country:

Ottoman official: i say Bulgar - you will convert from Christian to Muslim, won't you?

Bulgarian - nods head while thinking "no chance"

We couldn't have done that in England:

Protestant: i say Catholic, now that Henry VIII is King, are you going to convert to Protestantism?

Catholic - nods head while thinking "no chance"

A few years later

Catholic: i say Protestant, now that Henry is dead & Mary is Queen, are you going to convert to Catholicism?

Protestant - nods head while thinking "no chance"

Catholic: oi - i know your game!

Anyway, if it helps, some Bulgarians who are widely travelled or in tourist areas nod & shake as we do so as - er, not to confuse..........

Hmmm....