The Third Phase

As I previously wrote, in 1980 I traveled by train through Bulgaria to Romania, changing in the capital Sophia, but never got off. After we traveled with our friends Kate and Aaron to Albania in 2018, we discussed visiting this neighboring country, and nearby Thessaloniki in northern Greece. In 2025 our travel plans aligned. To meet them after Macedonia we took a taxi from our hotel in Skopje to the central bus station and boarded for the five hour ride to Sophia arriving at our Air BnB in the center of the city just after they checked in.

On the map below our AirBnB was located on the main thoroughfare Vasil Levski, meandering lower left to upper right just left of the green square near the lower center of the map (not the big park). The main city center with government and religious buildings is center left connected by a pedestrian avenue.

Our walks and tour was in central Sofia, left of center

Our apartment building on Vasil Levski Blvd.

Family apartment from parents of owner, still furnished from the 60s

Main pedestrian avenue to the heart of the city

When Robin and I travel we love to explore cities on foot. The slow place allows us to focus on what we are seeing and stop frequently to explore. We found on cycling tours we are focused on trying to avoid people and traffic. We have friends that love the pace of bicycle travel, we just never got into it. In Sofia we signed up for a walking food tour. Here we were introduced to some of Bulgaria's food traditions.

Our tour guide

Business man and chef preparing traditional food he learned in a remote valley from his grandmother.

Lyutenitsa - a tomato, red pepper, garlic, cumin and parsley type of chutney. What's not to like.

The second day in Sofia we explored the historic center of the city on our own. Besides their food, a dominant characteristic of Bulgaria is that it is predominantly Orthodox Christian, like Serbia and Greece, practiced by 80% of the inhabitants.

Patriarchal Cathedral St. Alexander Nevsky

Russian Orthodox: Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

Central Synagogue of Sofia. As in most European cities there is a Jewish community.

Council of Ministers Republic of Bulgaria.

In 2025 this plaza was filled with protestors against government corruption. If only!

Monument of St. Sofia (Wisdom)

Serdica - Sredets, Roman ruins with 4th century Byzantine Church

After two days in Sofia we rented a car for a clockwise loop around the country. On completing final paper work for the rental we were able to change our drop off location to Melnik, the last town we will visit near the Greek border, our next destination, rather than return the car back north to Sophia. This saved us increased transportation costs, and several hours going north then south again along the same road.

On map below we drove from Sofia, on the far left, northeast then east to stay in Veliko Tarnovo in the center, then south to the Stara Zagora on the main highway and then west to stay in Plovdiv. Finally we drove southwest through the mountains for lunch in the mountain ski resort of Bansko to stay in Melnik on the border with Greece.

Map of Bulgaria and our route description above

Our first stop was Veliko Tarnovo, often referred to as the City of Tsars. This was the capital of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. It is a very compact and walkable city/town in scale, but on three hills with the Yantra river meandering below there was a lot of up and down. A medieval fortress surmounts Tsarevets hill, and on another the streets and Jewish quarter follows the contour lines around the main hill, Trapezitsa.

"Turn right at pink building" were our driving instructions to reach our unit downhill.

Interior of AirBnB hand hewn columns and beams, and stone fireplace

suggest this was owner-built about eighty years go.

Tsarevets hill and fortress (at the bottom between the river bend) and Trapetiza hill and main town on the right.

Aaron, Kate and Bill at entrance to Tsarevets fortress

Looking down on entry arch from Cathedral on top of fortress

Bill and Robin with sweet diminutive walking guide.

Looking along roads and houses contouring Trapetiza hill and Yantra River below.

Monument to Assen Dynasty on right between river bend.

Monument to Assen Dynasty and Art Museum

Looking back to road traversing below town and our Air BnB, with several restaurants

From Veliko Tarnovo we drove south then west to Bulgaria's second largest city Plovdiv, considered Europe's oldest continuously inhabited city since 6000 BCE. It has been occupied by Thracian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Ottoman before today's independent state. And the layers are for all to see.

First night Robin and I took and evening stroll and stumbled on Roman ruins

Our first morning we walked again around the Roman ruins to their main pedestrian street, the longest in Europe. Plovdiv was named the European Cultural Capital of 2023 which helped finance much of the reconstruction.

Knyaz Alexander I (or Glavnata)

At the end of the promenade was an artifact I was fascinated by - despite having seen Roman ruins throughout Europe. Exposed twenty-five feet below the surface of the pedestrian street was the Cavea, or end seating, of a Roman Stadium. What impressed me about this was not only it's well preserved construction, but that the vast majority of the stadium still exists under the street and nearby buildings. Exposing all of it would be a monumental and destructive task as it would require demolishing existing historic buildings of a different era. Some how I felt satisfaction, knowing the entire facility still existed, and that other's disregard for it in the past by construction right on top preserved it for the future. Kind of like wilderness that you can't actually use, but you are glad it's there.

End seating of the stadium Cavea.

Model of the stadium with only the closest portion of the Cavea exposed.

Diagram of the extent of the stadium superimposed on map of current structures.

The red filled areas are the only portion exposed.

Layers of history exposed. Ancient stone walls at the bottom with large Greek foundation blocks,

surmounted by Roman brick and stone wall supporting nineteenth century buildings.

Ancient Roman theatre of Philippopolis still in use.

Modeled on Greek theaters

One complex we stumbled upon was the Bishops Basilica of Philippopolis. This was a highlight of our time here, in addition to the stadium. This immense basilica was built by the Romans shortly after adoption of Christianity as the official state religion in 300 BCE. It was over 2000 sm (20,000 sf!). and it has beautiful mosaic floors covered in symbolic geometric shapes acknowledging the recent pagan past, and dozens of different birds representing both nature and Christian symbols. Today it is still the largest basilica in the country. There are actually two layers of floor mosaics, one early from the Romans, and the other overlaying it during the Byzantine time. During the Ottoman era the building was ignored, demolished, covered over, and eventually forgotten, to be rediscovered only in the 1980s during road construction.

Plexiglass model of no longer existing superstructure.

Interior view of main floor of exhibition.

Detail of beautiful mosaic geometrics and birds

Plovdiv was by far and away Robin's and my favorite city in Bulgaria. It has a lively town center and great archeology finds and good restaurants. From Plovdiv we headed southwest through the mountains to our final destination Pyramids of Melnik. On the way we stopped at a road side market and were engaged by a tall, english speaking, hawker of bread, sausages, and cheeses he and his mother make. He was constantly upselling but in the most delightful way that we kept buying his product, knowing we might not eat it all.

Mother packing while son cuts another hunk of cheese in Yundola market

Another stop on the way to Melnik was for lunch at Bansko, a ski resort town. With no snow on the slopes yet, it was pretty quiet with many restaurants closed. But you could tell by the number and layout this was a busy place once the snow flies.

Ski base at Bansko on way to Melnik

Finally, we reached our AirBnB, which was outside the town by about fifteen minutes. The owner lived remotely so the facility is operated by his father, who spoke no english. The location was more isolated than we anticipated with no other buildings or services within walking distance. With many hand gestures we indicated we'd have dinner at their restaurant. Melnik appears to be a popular tourist destination in the summer and our location is probably popular for its quiet location. However, our first night we realized that it might not have traffic noise, but the "guard" dog felt the need to keep any intruders away for hours after midnight. Those intruders may have been only in his mind or the random squirrel or raccoon that crossed the road.

Before dinner, the father very proudly showed us his wine cellar containing many bottles and vintages of his home made wine. Robin and I agreed to try a glass. Without spitting it out in front of him, we indicated that it was not to our liking. He was surprised, hurt and disappointed. We were disgusted.

Our AirBnB facing the main road with open windows for fresh air

and confirmation the dog was on duty all night.

Our dining room

Their wine cellar and home made wine.

The next day was drizzly as we walked the historic town of Melnik. This is the smallest town in the country with a population of 300-500. It is nestled in the famous Sand Pyramids of the Pirin mountain range. The town's key landmarks are the 18th century Kordopulov House of a wine merchant, now a museum, the despot slav fortress and the St. Antony church; and nearby Rozhen Monastery.