avatarJillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages

Summary

Jill and Chris, a Canadian couple who have been nomadic since 2017, share their experiences of returning to Bulgaria, where they reconnect with a friend, explore the countryside, and deepen their love for the country through its culture, food, and landscapes.

Abstract

In their recent visit to Bulgaria, Jill and Chris recount their journey through the country, highlighting their time in Gabrovo. They describe the beauty of the town, nestled along the Yantra River, and their travels by train to reach it. The couple stays in a traditional Bulgarian house, experiencing local life and the challenge of a language barrier, which leads to a humorous misunderstanding during the Queen's death. They enjoy the local cuisine, especially the cheese, and the hospitality of their host, despite the lack of modern conveniences like wifi. The couple spends their days exploring the area by bicycle, visiting the city's landmarks, and immersing themselves in the culture. Their love for Bulgaria grows as they discover more of its charm and the warmth of its people.

Opinions

  • The authors express a deep affection for Bulgaria, which has grown since their first visit in 2015.
  • They appreciate the affordability and charm of train travel within Bulgaria.
  • The couple values the authentic experience of staying in a traditional Bulgarian house, despite its basic amenities.
  • They find humor in the language barrier and cultural differences they encounter.
  • Jill and Chris are particularly fond of Bulgarian cheese and tomatoes, noting the quality and impact on their diet.
  • The lack of internet connectivity is seen as an opportunity to disconnect and explore rather

TRAVEL | WEEKLY WRAP-UP | NOMADIC

Bulgaria, How We Love Thee

My weeks in photos — Week 26— September 8 –14, 2022

Gabrovo sits along the Yantra River. Photo Credit: Author

We have been back in Bulgaria for 11 days now and we already feel like it has been a lifetime. As I mentioned in my last weekly wrap-up, this is the first country that we ever felt like we could live in, other than Canada, back when we visited in 2015.

We fell in love with it then, and that love has only grown deeper this time around.

On Wednesday we made our way up to Gabrovo by train. We had to take 3 different trains to get there, over the course of about 7 hours. We thoroughly enjoyed the journey and breaking it up into parts made it seem to go by quickly. Train travel is incredibly cheap in Bulgaria and we paid just the equivalent of $8 USD each to make the trip.

Just two tracks at the Gabrovo train station. Photo Credit: Author

Gabrovo is located in the north-center of Bulgaria. It is the longest town in the country and stretches 25km along the valley floor next to the Yantra River. Its population sits at about 45 000 people and we found that to be a very nice size.

Big enough that you don’t know everybody, but small enough that it is still peaceful and quiet.

Another view along the river. Photo Credit: Author

We arrived at an empty train station with no wifi and nobody there to pick us up, despite the fact that we were promised somebody would. After speaking with some men sitting in a nearby park, we were able to use their hotspot on their phone to access wifi and contacted our friend Ahmed to see what was going on.

We met Ahmed back in 2015. Back then he was a charismatic 23-year-old and drug us to a Bulgarian club one night. We really enjoyed his company despite only getting to know him for a couple of days, and we have kept in touch with him over the years.

Seven years have gone by now and he is no longer a young punk, he is now working in the government and even had a position as deputy mayor at one point. We really wanted to check back in with him, which is why we returned to this town.

He had set us up at a place to stay with his friends who own many properties around the area. He told us that they were held up but promised that they would come for us within the hour if we were able to sit and wait.

Happily waiting with beverages in hand. Photo Credit: author

Chris went and found us some drinks, which are allowed to be consumed in public in Bulgaria, and we did happily wait on a bench in a park.

After treating us to a very nice dinner, they drove us 15–20km out of town to a rural house in the countryside. It was a basic house with no fancy bells and whistles, but it had hot water and electricity. However, the toilet was a pit toilet out back!

Truly a traditional Bulgarian house.

Photo credit: Author

A single Bulgarian man lives there caretaking the property and we were told that he would be happy to have company for however long we wanted to stay there. He didn’t speak a word of English so most nights had us hanging out with Google Translate while we tried to have some sort of conversation with him.

Inside the living room. Unfortunately, the house was not very clean. Photo Credit: Author

This led to an interesting, and quite funny event (despite the overall sadness of the occasion) when the Queen died that you can read about below.

The one huge drawback with the house is that it didn’t have wifi. So we had to take the bus into town each morning and would park our butts at the public library to do our work throughout the day.

Working in the public library. Photo Credit: Author

On Saturday and Sunday, while the library was closed, we decided to just check out of the internet altogether and took some time to explore the area that we were living in.

The owner had bicycles available for us to ride, and after pumping up the tires, we were on our way. We had a great couple of days of exploring around and I wrote all about it in the post below.

A few scenes around the neighborhood. Photo Credits: Author

On Monday we walked around the city some more and took in more of the scenes along the river in Gabrovo. It really is a pretty little city with the way the river runs through the center of it.

In one section of the river is a statue of the man who discovered Gabrovo. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of him, but he was the first resident there and he was a blacksmith. They have created a statue of him to commemorate him that is located in a section of the river.

The Yantra River and Gabrovo’s first resident. Photo Credits: Author

We have been really enjoying the food in Bulgaria, especially the cheese. It was the one thing that we looked forward to the most after being in Africa so long, and we have not been disappointed with the selection here, nor the price.

Many days we have had cheese as a huge part of our diet, and although my digestive system has been fighting back a bit (sorry TMI) we have been lavishing in the choices available.

Our host also grew incredible tomatoes, so we had our share of those while staying with him.

Cheese and tomatoes? What more can we ask for?

This was an amazing goat cheese! Photo Credit: Author

We have now left Gabrovo and have moved onto another location which I will share in next week's post. We are amazed that everywhere we go in this country, we fall more in love with it than before.

Despite not having much internet these past couple of weeks, I did do a bit of writing and will link those articles below if you wish to read more about our experience here.

Thank you so much for reading and for following along on our traveling journey.

Hope everyone has a great week!

xo Jill

Thanks so much for joining me in my week in photos. Dennett started this challenge in her publication Weeds & Wildflowers during the beginnings of the pandemic, and it has since grown to include many authors. Check out the amazing writing and photography of Anne | Erika | Jane | Eileen | Juan | David | Mia | Susan | LensAfield | Kim | Barbara | Diana | Barb | Sandra | Shruthi | Ellie | Pene | Olive | Gustavo | Penny | Scott | Sasha | Tracy | Lisa | June | K. Barrett | Ivy | Shell and of course our host Dennett.

If you want to read about my past weeks, I have put all of my weeks in photos into their own list:

Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We paint FREE murals in exchange for accommodation. Consider tipping us on Ko-fi!

Subscribe to Medium through my referral link (I will earn a small commission) to get full access to my writing plus thousands of others! Plus sign up here to get my articles by email!

Join our adventure by hitting the links below!

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Patreon| YouTube | Medium

Travel
Weekly Report
Bulgaria
Gabrovo
Weeds And Wildflowers
Recommended from ReadMedium
avatarManali Mitra
Wine, Words, and Wanderlust

A Bacchic journey in Tuscany

6 min read
avatarJillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages
Life Changes in an Instant

Just like that, another chapter is closed.

5 min read
avatarJules @ Stubborn Travel
What is the Caledonian Sleeper Train really like?

An honest review, cost overview, and what to consider before your trip

12 min read
avatarDennett
Holding In & Letting Go

Dealing with death

1 min read
avatarDr. Preeti Singh
August Is The Month of Rain

52 Weeks photography project —August edition

3 min read
avatarBarb Dalton
The English Language, Eh?

Reading Dr James Smith’s story on how potato chips came to be reminded me of my first trip to North America from little ol’ New Zealand.

1 min read