My wife emigrated from Bulgaria in the 90's and still has connections and a family home (shared with her sister) there. I visited for the first time two years ago and we had another long trip this Summer. The first stop was Albena, a resort area on the Black Sea. We stayed at an all inclusive hotel, my first time at this type of vacation venue. It was all eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting in the sun, and a bit of sea swimming. The all-inclusive experience was fun to do once, but once is probably enough for me.
Albena was originally a resort area only for Western tourists when Bulgaria was a communist country. This was the first time my wife had been there, so new for both of us.
We then had a few days in her home town, Perushtitsa, near Plovdiv, on the slopes of the Rodopa Mountains. It is an interesting town, with easy access to hiking trails. One leads to the Three Generations Monument, a nice hike I did a few times on this trip. It has a view of the town and beyond.
The town has a population of about 5.000, down from 8,000 in the peak of its prosperity in the late 80's. There are a number of neglected and half built houses. This one I remember from two years ago on the way up to the monument and does not seem to have been worked on in the intervening years. There are still some influences from the communist era, like this mural on City Hall.
The last leg of the trip took us up to a local mountain resort, Varhovrah. More hiking for views and to a nearby village, Churin.
Many of the mountain villages were built near water springs. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to meet my wife's sister and her husband. We had some good times together.
I tried out a low volume and weight solution to portable computing (iPad, stand, and wireless keyboard) that worked well for e-mail. As the final note, I can say that there is a perfectly acceptable, low cost local gin.
