Day 9 of 19 – Plovdiv then on to Veliko Tarnovo

I thought I only had a short journey to Plovdiv however once we’ve been around there we head off to Veliko Tarnovo which is a 4.5 hour journey😪

So last night’s dinner went like a military operation yet still quite amusing. So the four travellers that don’t have cheese have been identified!

Liz pointed out the NO CHEESE table of four with starters already on so we sat somewhere else. And she did likewise for everyone else that came to dinner. However, a not NO CHEESE person wanted to sit with three of the NO CHEESE people so the one NO CHEESE starter was moved to a table for five not NO CHEESE table (hope you’re keeping up). Liz kept guard over this NO CHEESE starter. Before the NO CHEESE person came to the table two not NO CHEESE people came to join the other two not NO CHEESE people already sat there. So in order for them to sit next to each other Liz had to move the NO CHEESE starter to the next seat. Finally the last NO CHEESE person arrived and Liz could at last sit down. It was funnier than it might seem. 🤣. Bet Ronnie Barker could have made a sketch of that☺️

Okay I’ll be back later with more photos🤣

Okay so because you know I have time in my hands I’ve looked back at yesterday’s itinerary to see if it gives me any other information.

So this lovely building was a Russian church

We should have gone past an equestrian monument for Tsar Liberator erected in honour of the Russian emperor Alexander II who liberated Bulgaria of Ottoman rule. We didn’t, however by chance I think I caught it in the distance. I’ve had to use my eraser again🤣

The yellow streets denote the administrative centre of Sofia. The pavement was laid at the beginning of the 20th century and was a present to the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand for his wedding from the Austrian Hungarian Royal family. Now that last sentence was a separate sentence in the itinerary so not sure if it relates to the yellow street. I assume so🤣

We should have gone past the Levski monument that commemorates the hanging of the Bulgarian national hero and major revolutionary figure, Vasal Levski however I don’t recall that so won’t know till I get google if I took a photo inadvertently 🤣

Okay… update I believe I did inadvertently take a picture of the monument. I don’t recall the guide mentioning this. Makes you wonder why and also who hanged him if he was a hero🤔

Also going back to the Nevski cathedral yesterday the guide mentioned something about the St Sava Church in Belgrade and how there’s friendly rivalry about which is the nicest🤔☺️. I have to say I prefer the cathedral 😊

So we have another Liz ism. Liz said “did you see that church at the side of the motorway”. Of course we hadn’t because it was 2 miles past! Anyway she went on to say that “they used to build them every so often along motorways if people wanted to stop off on route”. She then said “you know Mr Benz who invented the Mercedes-Benz named the car after his daughter, Mercedes, but we don’t call it a Benz do we, we call it a Mercedes. Anyway that’s got nothing to do with Bulgaria I thought I’d mention it as we are on the motorway “🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

I don’t know if I’ve already said this or whether I was waiting for my last blog page when I reflect on the whole holiday however, as I’m talking about Liz…. so Liz says quite a lot “do you understand what I’m saying” hmm. Not sure if it’s the vacant look on my face that prompts that or she says it to everyone or she genuinely thinks I/we can’t understand her Welsh accent or perhaps decipher the information she’s giving me/us. 🙄😆. I used to work with someone that used to say “do you get me” after every sentence 🤦🏻‍♀️

So we’ve been to another place, Plovdiv which like Mostar we’ve not had nearly enough time to appreciate. The old town from what we saw was so nice with proper cobbles and old buildings. We aimed for the Roman amphitheatre and wasn’t disappointed.