Urban Walks, Country Walks, and a Ride on the Rhodope Narrow Gauge Railway

Week 4 of my life in photos

If you haven’t guessed by now, I walk a lot. When the world shut down in 2020, long daily walks kept me sane. As I roamed the eerily empty streets of Old Town Alexandria in Virginia — in seven years, I’d never seen that place not packed with people and cars — I couldn’t wait for life to go back to “normal,” so I could go back to doing things and seeing people and spending hours in DC traffic, I guess.

When it became clear that a return to the office wasn’t going to happen any time soon, I decided I might as well fly to Bulgaria and work remotely from there. I still only had my daily walks to keep me sane, but at least I was closer to family and spending way less on living expenses than in the DMV.

What was supposed to be a temporary solution to extraordinary circumstances turned into a life I’d never imagined possible: working remotely while slow traveling and spending quality time with family.

A lot has changed in my life since those first months of madness in 2020, but one thing that has stayed is my long daily walks.

Though Plovdiv didn’t receive as much snow as the rest of the country, I woke up on Monday to the freezing -11C (12F). It was going to be a sunny but cold day. I had many work projects waiting for me, so after a quick breakfast, I sat down in front of my laptop with a cup of rosehip tea and honey and got to it.

Though I made sure to get up and move every hour, by about 4 pm, I knew it was time to venture outside for a walk. The temperature had gone up, though not enough to melt the thin cover of snow, which by then had turned into frozen bits of snow and ice.

More work waited for me, but I still wanted to walk for at least an hour and chose the Maritsa River as my destination. A good decision, as I was treated to a lovely winter sunset before getting back to the apartment.

Tuesday ended up being an even busier day with three deadlines looming. Despite the clear sky and sun, the temperatures hovered around freezing all day and the bit of snow remained.

It’s been a few months since my last urban exploration of Old Town Plovdiv, so when by late afternoon I’d submitted two of the projects — the two more challenging ones — I put my coat on and headed toward the cobblestoned streets of the old town, thinking of checking whether the construction work on Nebet Tepe had been completed.

Ancient Plovdiv grew around 7 hills (I’ll be writing a separate article on that one day!), and Nebet Tepe is one of those hills, a popular location for city and sunset views.

It’s been closed to the public since the fall of 2022 for some kind of reconstruction project that’s supposed to end this year, but based on what I saw during my visit on Tuesday, the work is nowhere near complete. The site was open, though, so despite the giant excavator and other work vehicles I don’t know the names of, people could walk up and enjoy the view. Which is what I did.

The sunset was gorgeous, as always, but what grabbed my attention this time was the view of the snow-covered Balkan Mountains in the other direction. Once the sun set, I walked back to the apartment to finish the remaining project.

On Wednesday, I had only one project to work on, but as soon as I looked at the information provided, I knew it’d be a challenging one. Ugh.

The project would take hours, and yet, when a friend asked me to join her for a ride on the Rhodope narrow gauge railway, a ride that would take pretty much the entire day, I, of course, said yes.

I’d been wanting to go on this ride since I first learned about it during my initial months of working remotely from Bulgaria in 2020. As the only functioning 760mm narrow-gauge railway in Bulgaria — and the highest on the Balkans — it offers an opportunity to go back in time while enjoying beautiful vistas across three mountains.

Since it was winter and a work day, there were only a few other passengers, so my friend and I kept switching seats from one side of the train car to the other, trying to take in the views from all sides.

The entire journey takes over five hours one way and is best to experience with at least one overnight stay, either at the final destination or in a town along the way. In the middle of the work week, however, and a huge project waiting for me, we didn’t have that time, so we only took it to the town of Velingrad, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and a nice walk in the snow before hopping back on the narrow-gauge railway.

I will be back for the whole experience, in the fall perhaps, and I’ll write a more detailed article about it, but for now, though it may appear counterproductive, the ride was exactly what I needed in the middle of a busy week.

In fact, I was so energized by the experience, I had no problem working for 5 hours, past midnight, to finish the last project for the day.

It’s a good thing I enjoyed the sun and snow in the mountains the day before because Thursday decided to be a dreary and rainy winter day, the kind that melted all the snow and sucked all the color outside my window. Not that there’s much color this time of year, but still.

Another good thing, though, is that I know just the place to be on such a grey day — the Kapana Creative District, the most colorful place in Plovdiv.

With its street art and cute cafés and restaurants, it’s a perfect spot to walk around and escape the depressing winter ambiance. So, I picked it as my destination for my daily walk between work projects and evening meetings.

The Kapana boasts quite a few arts and crafts stores as well, and the yarn store captured in the photo above is one of my favorites to check out. There’s always something fun to admire, and I always leave thinking I must really pick up knitting or crocheting or both.

On Friday, the sun returned, and the temperatures went up, but Mr. Cold Wind decided to make an appearance, so the atmosphere didn’t get nearly as heated as it could have gotten.

I had three coaching appointments in the late afternoon/evening, so after finishing a few minor projects in the morning and tutoring for an hour, I went for a walk around the old town.

Old Town Plovdiv has seen quite the revival in the last decade or so, and each time I visit, there is a new site to behold. The newly renovated building of the City Art Gallery is one such site. I love passing by it, and it’s also a good place to escape the cold wind in winter or the heat in summer.

Refreshed from my walk, I returned to the apartment, ready to take on my coaching sessions and one last project before calling it a night.

I woke up early on Saturday, packed my backpack, got dressed, grabbed a snack, and walked over to the bus station so I could take the bus to my parents’ village. When I’m working from Bulgaria, I visit my parents almost every weekend unless I’m off on an adventure somewhere.

No matter where I travel or live, the countryside is where I return.

With the mountains in the background and the smell of firewood burning, I know I am home.

With the exception of my afternoon walk, I pretty much stayed by the fire, reading my book all day.

Sunday morning was cold, but when I went out in the yard to help my mother hang the laundry, what I noticed was a few snowdrops. In January! Way too early to be seeing them.

As harbingers of spring, they really shouldn’t show up until March maybe. This area, however, has been getting much drier and warmer in the last decade or so, and my parents haven’t seen true winter in quite some time. All my childhood memories of January and February (my birthday month) are covered in snow.

Not anymore.

No snow makes for easier walks in the nearby fields and forests, however, and I take advantage when I visit my parents. The landscape is rather bleak this time of year, but the views of the mountains never disappoint.

This was week four of my weekly photo essay, inspired by the works of Dennett and Anne Bonfert. Anyone can join the challenge, and I highly recommend it!