Tag: Bulgaria

Pravets, Bulgaria to Madrid, Spain

We had to set an alarm for 6:30 this morning so that we could have breakfast, checkout, drive an hour to Sofia, fill the car with gas, return the rental car and catch the 10:40 plane to Madrid.

A combination of confusing car return instructions and Google Maps suggesting ‘shortcuts’ put us on some very bad roads as we tried to find the right place to return the car but we finally did it.
It was interesting to see a lot of American Air Force planes parked on the tarmac as we taxied to the take of runway.

We had so many grey and chilly days in Bulgaria that it was fantastic to see the sun when we got to Madrid. It was also really nice to be able to read the street signs and understand some of the language. We’ve been to Madrid so many times that it almost feels like home.

Looking down Gran Via from our hotel
We had jamon, sangria and wonderful bread and olive oil at Museo de Jamon.
Then we had cañas, olives, and patatas bravas at Cervecería Alemana

To read our blog post about our second day in Madrid, our first full day click here.

Veliko Tarnovo to Pravets

Tomorrow we leave Bulgaria and fly to Spain so tonight we wanted to stay not too far from the Sofia airport. Today turned out to be a pretty nice day weather wise. There hasn’t been any rain and we even saw some patches of sunshine.

We had a great breakfast at Bey House. Before we left Veliko Tarnovo we went to the post office so I could mail some birthday cards.

Duke’s crepes this morning
At the post office.

Tonight we are at the Hyatt Regency Pravets Resort. It’s a beautiful resort on the lake. And the Hotel Director of Operations personally welcomed us when we checked in. We took a two mile walk around the lake and then had dinner in the hotel bar.

On our walk we had a really nice view of the hotel across the lake
We were told that the nearby golf course is one of the best in Bulgaria.

I could certainly see staying here again. They seem to have some interesting sites nearby and the large indoor pool overlooking the lake looks inviting.

Tomorrow we fly to Madrid. If you would like to see that blog post click here.

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 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.