Central Bulgaria, Plovdiv, an old Roman city, & one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of Europe.

It is quite a place.  I have never been in a place with such ankle-breaking cobblestones !
Huge granite small boulders - it was fun watching a dolly-bird on the toes of her high-healed stilettos...

One man was a key player in the city's restoration.
His name was Atanas Krastev,
    also known as Nacho Kulturata...  !!

We visited his house, full of paintings by other folks, of the man himself !

The architecture was from 100 years ago - in wood : as at right !

Sandra liked the nails in the doors to his compound, large ones, driven through to prevent it being hacked open !

They were very security conscious in those days !


Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) was one of the founders.

But the Romans followed about 300 years later.
We saw a Roman Wedding and then a re-enacted Gladiator fight.  The one that was wounded & so had 'lost' (but he was not dead) - was despatched by the man in black with his mallet !  Life was cheap !  

Decorated Houses..              City walls & Gates....                   Cobbled places...

Later Ottoman influences are still strong -

even the chimneys suggest it, too !


But it is very arty, as Sandra found.


Tomorrow we take our second train to beside the Black Sea, & hope to see some birds...

      
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May 26, a sunny morning in Plovdiv.

The weather has been damp with downpours, none of which we needed to be out in. Locals are complaining and we have been wearing our lace-up shoes and leather jackets.

Leaving Kerkini Lake at 6.30, we had a taxi to Lethotopos, where we waited in the wrong spot for the bus. Another bus driver set us right. We actually needed to be going the other way! So to Iraklia and another bus to Serres. The taxi driver took us to the station (the bus to Bulgaria is a substitute for a train), BUT the bus doesn't go on Tuesdays. I had paid him, but asked him to wait till we got establish with the bus. He was a useful back-up in the negotiations. So the we asked him to take us to a small hotel, and wait while we were sure of a booking. Not only did he then carry our bags in up the steps, but he wasn't going to charge us another fare! This was typical of the help we received in Greece. Of course Neil paid him again. So an unexcpected night in Serres. Got a haircut and hairdresser warned us of seismos and Richter 6. Apparently near Sofia there was an earthquake.
Visited the local museum, an old church, seeing stones and statues from 12th C back to 4&5 C BC, all locally found and all seen when the old guy put the lights on for us!

Long damp bus ride. Danielle of the hotel (spelt XOTE and anothe character for L not on this keyboard) was very helpful. Next day, the duty lady heard we had come from Greece. In effect she said, "Waht did you want to go there for? Greeks are no good, always thinking, scheming how to get the better of you. Not like us open-hearted Bulgarians." So there you go!

Neil among the big soviet style buildings of government.

Guards, not as fancy as Athens, but very Ruritanian.












And statues that reminded us of the Burgers of Calais.              

Morning in a square. People going in and out of Church. National Celebration Day of the Cyrillic Alphabet.

                                                                         
Michail. When we established that we were not Austrian but Australian, he said he'd pay a French waltz!  We get that Austrian thing a lot and responses in Deutch.

Ah Mah, with personally chosen name Lampros after an interest in Greek History. Solar panel salesman for Europe from Shanghai. Met id delightful Chinese restaurant.

Neil says...
Surprised to hear a steam chime whistle as I waited for Sandra to come back from the Ladies. Just time to run up the platform before it pulled out. But what a start to our train journey Eurail 2012! Wonderful!

Old way. Seen from the train.




Today, the Roman ruins of Plovdiv. Last night, at the excavated end of the stadium, saw enacted a Roman wedding. The stadium runs under the full length of the main street.

Our Greece time is almost spent.  We have come onto the mainland in North East Greece, near Thessalonica.  Kavala, with its harbour, Castle & Aqueduct, got us a base..

...to see the ruins of Philip of Macedon's city, & where Alexander the Great started his life. The Apostle Paul reached into Europe for the first time with the Gospel in this very place.  So much history - European & World, has followed from those few small steps...

Sandra stood in the middle of the theatre (but did not sing).

The location of Philippi is beautiful, just inland from Kavala beside a huge plain, where the conspirators against Julius Caesar, Brutus & Cassius, also met their end against Mark Anthony & Octavian.  All from Rome, much about their destinies was settled here.

The first early churches were... octagonal in shape, as the one on the site.  

 So we went just along the coast to the Nestos River Delta to see more birds.  Yes, it was wet - very wet at times.  But a chance to change plans & see the Nestos Gorge instead !

Travelling on a Saturday is not such a good idea in Greece unless you start very early in the day (not our style).  Connections tend to run into "Siesta Schedule".  But we hung out at Drama, & passed through some wonderful farmland, full of  rich & abundant production.  The picture does not lie.  This is a rich land.  Who then is trying to make it otherwise, & why ?  That is a question many here are asking.  They sense there are bigger issues at stake... for them, Europe, & the Western World.

We managed to reach a special place, Kerkini Lake.  Our first surprise was to be greeted by many storks, high on there nests in the village.

 This was special for us because we missed them in Strasbourg when we last visited Europe.  So we clicked away :

The place is called "Eco-peri-gitis" in Greek = "Eco-Walk-About" in our language ( 'sta'in ). 

Sandra & I actually hired a couple of bikes to trundle along the lakeside doing more bird-spotting.

They say travel changes your mind, but I never realised how good this country, Greece, is, - & how good this part of this country is.

Today we took a boat trip onto the lake & saw more of those birds that excite us.
But tomorrow we start early & should be into Bulgaria by 10.30am, en route to Sofia.... 

Ferry was a little longer than one enjoyed apart from the views of Lemnos

and the Holy Greek Mountain of Athos :

Sandra's blue fitted in marvellously for Greek's perception of colours - any shade - of it...

Kavala's greeting to us was Dimitrios the Tugboat, below the Castle :

The Aqueduct still strides across the valley to the Old (Turkish) Town, which in the last century grew wealthy on ... tobacco !

A short bust trip to Philippi (Paul had to walk on his 1st visit), an amazing place, with its theatre (met Londoners) : acoustics interesting !

Forum was a huge area - 20m longer than any soccer pitch & a bit wider, too, & a lot of marketting could  have been done...

 Looking over the nearby plains to the hills was so atmospheric..

 Today, in the rain, birds & the River Nestos Gorge absorbed our time in Hyundai fotografia hire car - we are getting the hang of them driving alternatively...

A Balkan Yellow Wagtail !

Tonight's Greek Ferry - From Where to Where ?

Mytilini, the red island, leaving 2.20am, following the dotted line. In more detail :-

Mytilini is the island in the bottom right corner. Heading to the top left corner.
Gallipoli, Turkey, is at the end of the Peninsula at the Upper Right edge.
Stopping at the island in the middle (Limnos).
Passing the Greek holy peninsula of Athos on our left,
Samothrace, with its very high peak 5,284 feet, on our far right, in the morning,
then round Thassos Island,
& to Kavala 1.30pm on the mainland, about 120 kms east of Thessalonica.
We will stay a couple of nights in Kavala, before, hopefully travelling to the north west where there is a birding site called Kerkini.  More Later.

Monday's grand day out in the Kia picanto. Climbing over the hills looking back to the saltpans. Later we drove down hair pins to the sea.

On the way, we passed other transport.

Some birds of the day.