Vic arrived around 10 am with his mother, Nelly, and drove us to Plovdiv.
It is “Flower Name Day” and the church is handing out the traditional wreaths for everyone to wear.
The Adventure begins...
27th April - Saturday. It was a 7 hour flight from Miami to
Amsterdam. Earl
& I lost our seats to a sick lady on the plane when we both got up in the
middle of the night. Had breakfast in the Amsterdam Schipol Airport. Earl
notes that even the fast food in Europe is better than in America. I tried
out the internet connection for the fun of it. Connected to the flight for Frankfurt
where we had a 3 hour layover, so we had some German beer there. Thus fortified,
we embarked on our 2 hour trip with Balkan Airlines. Earl says the old Russian
plane swayed side to side upon landing. Our friend and host, Vic was ready
for us and we get settled in at 10pm in the renovated Rodina Hotel in Sofia. We’re
all impressed with the girlie signs in the elevator.
28th April - Sunday. We slept fine and got up around
8
am to have the buffet breakfast. Rodina’s food is better than it was for our
last stay in 1999. The buffet had all types of cheeses, pastries, yogurt, fruit,
hard boiled and scrambled eggs, lunch meats, salamis, and Czech rollades – lunch
meat rolled with relishes and cheese inside. Earl invited the German lady who
was on our plane to Sofia to join us for breakfast.
Vic arrived around 10 am with his mother, Nelly, and drove us to Plovdiv.
It is “Flower Name Day” and the church is handing out the traditional wreaths
for everyone to wear.
 |
When in Rome...one of my names is Rose so I qualify for a wreath. |
There is a light rain and Nelly doesn’t like the
rain. It’s probably in the 50’s, quite comfortable.
I switch to my hiking boots and am quite happy that I brought them along as
it makes walking
the cobbled streets much easier.
Earl & Vic look at the antique stores while
I take some photographs.
Click
here for Scenes of Plovdiv
 |
Nazdrave "Cheers" Vic takes us to Janet Restaurant, Plovdiv. Earl had tomato/cuke/cheese salad, I had cream of mushroom soup which is made with the right kind of mushrooms, and palacinta (which Vic insists on calling pancakes) Nelly had a grilled pork chop and Vic had chicken with raisins. |
Vic
then drove us to Haskovo to meet his cousin Nikola.
Earl takes a nap while Vic teaches me a Bulgarian card game.
 Early evening, Nicola shows us the basins, which are prehistoric stomping grounds. Some folks think it was used for making wine. Earl jokes about virgin sacrifices. |
 The local hot springs/mineral water fountain. We all have a drink. Lots of kidding about the “effects” of the mineral water. It tastes fine, very hot and not sulfuric. |
 Nicola has prepared a large dinner—pickled fish,
chopche salata (cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese), grilled duck breast
cutlets, pate, and of course, homemade rakia. |
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Now imagine, we had several plates like this to eat. Nicola is a great cook! |