Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Veliko Tarnovo Day 2

In spite of the rain we were determined to go out exploring in Veliko Tarnovo on Monday. We started at the history museum just 2 minutes up the road from our hotel.

Duke outside the Regional History Museum
During the 17th and 18th century Tarnovo was an important commercial center. There were lots of exhibits about the various guilds. These are goldsmithing tools.

I decided that I wasn’t dressed warmly enough. But when we went back to the hotel they were making up our room so we went across the street and had coffee and lemonade.

Our break

Next we went to the fortress. It an interesting and beautiful place to explore.

Walking up to the fortress
The Yantra River almost completely surrounds Tsarevets Fortress
With all the rain they have had, the river is high.
Duke wanted to sign up to help defend the fortress

When we got back to the hotel we made an appointment to use the Turkish Bath.

In the steam room
The personal sauna. I think we should have one installed
at home!

We had a wonderful dinner to end our day.

My honey cake. Mmmmm!

Sladka Voda to Veliko Tarnovo

It rained all day today. Luckily our rooms in both Carpe Diem where we stayed the last two nights and the Bey House Royal Hotel in Veliko Tarnovo where we are tonight are big and very welcoming. So we were happy staying in our room, reading and enjoying the ambiance.

Our room at Carpe Diem

Today we drove just over three hours west towards Sofia. We stayed in Veliko Tarnovo the last time we came to Bulgaria too. Wikipedia describes it as the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria. The center of the old town has the castle complex where the Bulgarian Emperors lived. Tomorrow we will explore it rain or shine.

The sitting area of our room at the Bey House Royal Hotel.
Duke’s lamb shank
My honey cake.

If you would like to see our blog post about us exploring Veliko Tarnovo you can click here.

Sladka Voda Day 2

The beginning of our breakfast this morning. We also had crepes and scrambled eggs.

Carpe Diem where we are staying is an absolutely wonderful retreat deep in the Bulgarian countryside. We have had great food and our room is very comfortable.

The preserves under the stairs are a work of art!

Today after it stopped raining we went for a walk into the tiny village of Sladka Voda.

Sladka Voda

Then we used the spa. The hot tub, spa and saunas are all heated by wood stoves.

This sauna was really hot. We only stayed in here for a very short time. I don’t think I’ve been in a sauna with windows before.

As I said the food has all been great. Dinner tonight was even better than last night.

Salad with roasted pears and cheese
Beef liver is not always great in restaurants. This was tender juicy and so good.

If you would like to continue to follow our travels, you can click here to read our next blog post.

Burgas to Sladka Voda

We spent 4 nights in Burgas. The Primoretz Grand Hotel and the town of Burgas are really nice. That’s all it takes to enjoy a place. I really liked Burgas. Of course it helped that we had two days of sunshine. Today is grey again but today is a travel day.

Before leaving Burgas this morning we used the spa. It was lovely.

The hotel indoor pool was really nice.

Just before noon we checked out and drove about an hour and a half north and inland to a hotel spa outside of Sladka Voda. Duke booked Carpe Diem because it has excellent reviews. I think it was an excellent choice. It is a wonderful hotel and spa. Even though the weather is back to rainy, cold and grey we had a wonderful relaxing afternoon.

Our room at Carpe Diem

We checked out the spa which we will use tomorrow and relaxed and read this afternoon.

The pool and spa at Carpe Diem

We had an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant.

My ribs

To read about our second day at Carpe Diem click here.

Burgas Day 4

Today we went out exploring. We drove 45 minutes up the coast to the old town of Nessebar. The following is taken from the UNESCO World Heritage Site web page.

the more than 3,000-year-old site of Nessebar was originally a Thracian settlement (Menebria). At the beginning of the 6th century BC, the city became a Greek colony.

We walked all around the town, went to the Archaeological Museum, and stopped for coffee.

There are several Byzantine churches in Nessebar. This one was built in the 13th century.
Another one of the old churches
Inside the Archaeological Museum. This pottery is from the 5th millennium BC
Our coffee break

For dinner we went back to Restaurant Ziatna Ribka. Duke had Rapana and I had mussels. It wasn’t until after we ordered that we figured out that Rapana is a kind of invasive sea snail. It was all very good.

Dinner

If you would like to read our next blog post when we leave Burgas click here.