I really enjoy winter in Bulgaria. It’s cold and crisp. I get to wear woolly hats every day. It rarely rains. And, best of all, everywhere seems so quiet.
We’ve had family staying for the past week, so, in between some epic Trivial Pursuit battles and eating mince pies, we’ve been indulging in a bit of gentle December sightseeing. Nothing strenuous, like. It is nearly Christmas, after all.
Embracing Etropole
We so rarely wander around Etropole. We usually just pay our bills, do some shopping and go for pizza at the excellent log cabin pizzeria. But it’s a lovely town, really. This week we spotted a monument that we’d never noticed before, high up on the hill by the Everest hotel (that’s another great thing about winter – with no leaves on the trees, new things are revealed that were previously shrouded in greenery). The views up there were great.
 |
| From up here, I was struck by how Etropole looks like a glacier, sliding down from the mountains. |
Lovech
As our visitor is more of a city-lover than a tramping-around-the-mountains-lover, we went for a day out in Lovech. It’s been years since we last went, but nothing much changes here in Bulgaria and it was just as we remembered. It’s a nice place to stroll around an old town and have lunch by the river, without having to schlep all the way to VT.
 |
| The covered bridge. |
 |
| Walking up through the old town to pay our respects to Levski. |
 |
| There he is! |
 |
| Another monument. |
 |
| Overlooking the river Osam. |
 |
| Fishing in the river. |
In an effort to stock up for Christmas and winter, we’ve also dragged our poor guest around Kaufland and Lidl in the space of one week. The less said about that the better.
Thanks for the tour. We'll be trailing around Lidl next week and hopefully find a few "foreign' treats for xmas