We woke up and had a relaxed morning at the campsite. We planned to meet Neil and Sarah - our new hosts - after lunch. We had no food left in the van so we thought we'd leave a bit before lunch and get some food in town before finding them. This plan didn't work out very well as after we'd left the campsite and it's free internet we realised we didn't exactly know the address or how to get there. So after circling the one way systems through Veliko Tarnovo for a while we finally found a parking space where we hoped we wouldn't get towed away and got a coffee in a cafe to use their free wifi. We found the village of Ledenik on the map, memorized the way there and after a few u-turns found the village centre. It should have taken about half an hour but it took almost two! Oh well. We were just buying a snack to eat in the shop when a big Land Rover pulled up and Sarah got out and said hello. We followed her down the track to the house and met Neil and their two adorable little boys, Matty and Ryan. Neil and Sarah are originally from Birmingham but have lived in Bulgaria nearly seven years. They are lovely and we instantly felt at home and we played with the kids and had dinner out in the garden in the sunshine. We also have a really nice room with an ensuite bathroom, which makes a welcome change from the van. They had plans with friends in the evening so were left in the hous, where we sat back and watched loads of English TV! We actually did manage to drag ourselves off the sofa to go and find the village river they had told us about, which was really wide and shallow over rocks so there were a few people who had driven over it to wash their cars. Went back home and when Neil and Sarah came back we chatted a bit and then had an early night, ready for some gardening in the morning.
5th - 9th August
They have a good sized garden with a lawn and flower and veg beds around the edge, which had become really over grown. We spent the first week clearing all the weeds and chopping back/down some of the trees and just generally making the garden look better. It was really fun and we made a huge difference and it looks great. Getting used to working in nearly forty degree heat was tough but luckily they have a huge paddeling pool which was perfect for dunking in every hour or so! We were generally left to our own devices but Neil and Sarah work from home so we had lunch together in the garden every day, which was lovely.
They boys are absolutely adorable, they are six and three, and we have played with them alot in the pool or doing colouring. Pete got out his guitar, ukelele and harmonica which they absolutely loved and we had a few jam sessions together.
We had one afternoon off and we drove to Kapinovo Waterfall which they had told us about. We found it easily but were a bit confused when all we could see was a big outdoor swimming pool. We eventually realised we had to go through the pool, luckily without paying, and found an amazing river with a big waterfall and very deep pool. Pete joined all the Bulgarian lads and climbed up the waterfall to jump off and we chilled there for a few hours. We then got a beer up at the pool which was about 50p for a half litre and we decided we might have to move here with those prices! We ate our picnic for dinner and then drove home and stopped for another beer in Ledenik (the village we're living in) and watched the gypsy kids filling their water barrels and riding off on their horse and cart.
Another night we had a barbeque in the garden with some friends of Neil and Sarahs and we ended up getting the guitar out and having a sing a long for a few hours very loudly!
We also both got to drive the Land Rover around the village, which was very cool.
We also both got to drive the Land Rover around the village, which was very cool.
Pete cooked meatballs for everyone. ^
Some pictures of the garden. (Note: the small patio.)
Night drinking and singing. ^
Pete jumping in. ^
Afternoon out at the waterfall. ^
Jamming. ^
Around the house with the cats. ^
10th August
We had the weekend off so we had a little bit of a lie in and then got lift with Neil into Veliko Tarnovo. We had a wander through the town, which is the old Medieval capital of Bulgaria and is really very pretty. It runs around a river and has an old fort on top of the hill and is surrounded by greenery and mountains. We walked to the top of the hill and got a coffee in a bar with an amazing view. We found the fruit market and had a look around there and then got a beer whilst we waited for our bus to get home. We didn't know if it was because we were in a city but it definitely felt like the hottest day so far and we needed to lie down under the fan as soon as we got home! In the evening Neil and Sarah got a babysitter and we drove back into Veliko Tarnovo to go out for dinner. We went to a lovely restaurant on a terrace, called Staslivetsha, which served amazing Bulgarian food and we got chicken liver and an array of other meats served on hot plates which was delicious. Great day.
There is loads of really cool street art around Veliko Tarnovo. ^
Out for dinner. ^
11th August
Today we had a family day out. We packed a picnic and headed of early to a monastery, which I don't know the name of, but it was set on the side of a mountain with huge boulders that had fallen down around it. It was covered in paintings, like the one in Romania, and was very pretty. Next we drove to Nicopolis ad Istrum, which is a site of Roman ruins. We arrived and asked the man if we could have a ticket. He looked a bit confused that we wanted to pay and when Sarah said 'if we don't have to pay we won't' he said okay and let us in for free! The site was amazing. It was a town and it had roads and a theatre and loads of columns and carvings everywhere and you could walk all over it. We couldn't believe that the boys were allowed to climb over the two thousand year old door ways, but it was really cool. On the way out we saw that they were still excavating a large area and there were a few bits of pottery that they had just found lying on a wall. We were having a look at these when the guy working there, who'd let us in for free, came over and said that Matty and Ryan could have a piece each to take home! Well good. So they were very happy to have some real treasure and we set off in the car again to Hotnitser Waterfall, another very beautiful waterfall. It was the weekend so it was quite busy with Bulgarians blaring out crap music, but really nice all the same and we ate our picnic by the water. Usually people swim but it was getting a bit over cast and chilly and hearing the story about the guy drowing there some years ago put us off a bit. What you could do though was follow a trail up the rock to the top of the waterfall. It was quite steep steps which led through a crevice in the rock to the top, where there were some big holes in the floor heading straight down, which was quite scary. Me, Pete and Neil went up and followed the bridges over the water and along the river. The heights and the dodgy looking structure of the bridges put me off a bit but Pete and Neil went a bit further to find that the path faded out and they got scared themselves. Back down at the bottom we all headed home and had a very relaxing afternoon as we were all quite tired after the days activities and it was back to work tomorrow!
The monastery. ^
Nicopolis ad Istrum. ^
Hotnitser waterfall. ^
12th - 14th August
We had a new project starting Monday which was to build a concrete patio joining the small terrace coming out from the back doors. It was to be seven and a half metres wide, two and half metres long by seventy centimetres tall - so not a small task. Obviously Pete and I didn't know how to do this and even Neil and Sarah hadn't done anything like this before, but through talking to friends and the wonders of the internet we could find out what to do. Thankfully they were both there to help this week and we all did three days of very hard work in incredibly hot sun to make it. We had to build a wooden frame, create a drystone wall type thing, smash up several hundred tiles with a sledge hammer, shift six tonnes of hardcore and lots of other bits and bobs before the concrete man arrived and lifted a crane over the whole house to spray the concrete in. It was bloody hard work but really fun and really good because now we know how to build a concrete structure!
Bikini building! ^
Dunking.^
Ready for the concrete. ^
Done! ^
15th - 16th August
The concrete dried quite quickly so we had breakfast on our new terrace the next day and could take off the wooden frame in the afternoon. It was a complete success except from a hole in the front where the concrete hadn't quite got in! But we filled that up with extra concrete and it looks great. Thursday and Friday were a bit more relaxed as we had all worked so hard to build the patio. Sarah is a Bowen therapist and to soothe our aches and pains we all had a Bowen treatment from her which was great!
Pete made the boys wooden shields and swords which they won't put down and all weekend haven't stopped asking us to fight with them.
Pete shaved off his beard completely - first time he's been clean shaven in seven years - and he hates it.
Having a BBQ (note the table and chairs on the new patio!)
Trying out a new look. ^
Shields and swords! ^
17th August
This weekend there was the Motorbike Rock Festival in Veliko Tarnovo. Neil and Sarah had been a few times in previous years and at midday we all headed into the town to watch the biker parade. The internet told us about three different times it would start so we weren't sure and no one in any shops knew anything about it. After about an hour it hadn't come and we gave up and went home which was a bit disappointing. We had a chilled out afternoon and for dinner we had a proper Indian curry ordered from a company run by some other expats. It was great - curry is something we haven't had since home! After dinner we got glammed up, left the boys with the babysitter and went back into town to the rock gig, also part of the festival. The gig was on an island in the middle of the city around the art gallery and was a great setting for a gig! There were loads of old bikers in leather and the first band was a Serbian Iron Maiden cover band. We drank beer and rocked out to Iron Maiden and the next band which covered a selection of heavy metal. It was really fun. Much later, after a fire show, were the heading liners - Uriah Heep. They weren't a cover, they were the real deal and they were really quite old. We were having a great time moshing and on Uriah Heeps last song they invited ladies on the stage to come and dance with them. Me and Sarah ran to the front and got up on stage and danced along with the band to a song that I have no idea what it is! It was really funny and on our way down we even got a hug off the lead singer. After all the excitement we headed home, but first we had to wait to cross the bridge because apparently it was a bit 'dodgy' and they couldn't have more than about twenty people cross at once. Which was comforting. We made it home in one piece anyway and went to bed after eating left over curry.
Daytime in VT. ^
On stage! ^
18th August
Today we went out in the car again with the boys to an old Communist building called Buzledzha - a kind of parliament building set on top of a mountain. It was abandoned in the eighties and is all boarded up but Sarah had heard some friends had climbed in through a hole in the wall so we thought we'd give it a go. We drove the couple of hour drive there and climbed the top of the mountain to get to it. Even from far away it looked incredible, like something out of James Bond or a UFO landing. It was a huge circular building with a massive tower with a huge red star at the top. Up close it was even more impressive and after we'd eaten a picnic looking over the amazing view we went to climb in. The hole was a bit dodgy looking - it was quite high up and you had to climb over a two metre drop - so the boys couldn't go in. Sarah and Neil went in first and then me and Pete went in. Oh my god it was so cool. It was completely derelict but there was a huge circular room, we guess for meetings and stuff, but the walls were covered in mosaic communist pictures in incredible colours. As usual I can't explain it properly at all but there are some quite good photos below. You could also walk around the edge and look out the windows over the mountains. It was one of the best things we've seen so far and Pete even got a mosaic tile from Karl Marx' beard! We made our way down the hill and on the way back home we also stopped at Shipka monument on the opposite mountain which had some good climbing rocks and great views around. We all dozed on the car journey home and for dinner Pete cooked us a lovely roast dinner. Another thing we have missed from home! We were all knackered after a long day so we watched some more TV, read the boys bedtime stories and went to bed. We are sad to be leaving here, we couldn't have imagined a more perfect helpx in such a great place. We have made two great friends, who we hope to see again and we will miss little Matty and Ryan lots and lots.
Walk up to and outside of Buzledzha. ^
Inside Buzledzha. Wow! ^
Buzledzha from afar! ^
Shipka. ^
