Bulgaria Day 5 and 6

We had some free time the next morning and we were all excited to hit the beach.

 

Apparently Americans are the only ones crazy enough to go to the Black Sea in May - we were the only ones at the beach - and it was freezing! 

I did get in for a bit though - although I wasn't one of the crazy ones that was willing to jump in. 

After our swim, we got cleaned up and headed to a rehearsal for our concert that night.

 

 We were all pretty excited when we got to the concert hall - it felt like we were back with the Utah Jazz!

During our break we found a pretty park overlooking the Black Sea. 

Then it was back for our concert. We sang during the first half and then we got to watch these amazing brothers on the piano and trumpet. They were so good!

The next morning we went to church and then headed out on a tour of Varna.

They arranged for us to go inside their main theater and wander around, it was beautiful.

We didn't get to go in the Orthodox Church, because they were having their services, but I loved seeing the exterior, once again, I felt like I was back in Russia. 

After our tour we headed back to the resort for some free time. There was a big ballroom dance competition going on in the hotel - it was pretty fun to sit and watch that - it reminded me of Strictly Ballroom. I especially loved all the serious little kids!

This lady had the most amazing hair! I had to take a picture!

We had one last concert Sunday night in Varna at an art museum. Our bus dropped us off a few blocks away - it was so hot - after our hike to the museum we were all dripping - and of course, we were performing in the attic of the building! Warm ups were more like attempts to cool down as we all stood as close to the a/c units as possible!

It was a really beautiful space though!

After we got back to the hotel we wandered around the beach and the resort area one last time. It was a little creepy at night - most of the hotels were empty and completely dark and a lot of the pools were drained. Not somewhere I would want to be on my own!

Of course I had to get pictures of our lovely bathroom and strange blow dryer! We were told this was a four-star resort. I should have known they meant four-star communist era resort!

Bulgaria Day 4

We got up bright and early the next day and checked out of our hotel.

The view from our hotel - right next to the go-cart track!

This was our lovely bathroom in Plovdiv - no shower stall, just the shower head in the corner of the room - needless to say things got really wet in the bathroom!

After checking out of the hotel we drove up the mountains to the Bachkovo Monastery. I loved the drive up there, it felt like we were driving through the canyons in Utah.

They had a bunch of little stands set up by the parking lot of the monastery and were selling homemade jams, preserves, honey, etc.

 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the monastery, so all I got were these shots of the outside and the entrance.

We loaded back on the bus and drove for a few hours, stopping in the middle of nowhere for lunch - this was the little rest stop cafe we stopped at. All the food was displayed in the glass case on the side of the road. 

 

It seemed a little strange, but the food was really good, I loved the Bulgarian salad we had everywhere we went - so delicious!

One last photo op before climbing back on the bus. 

It was a beautiful drive, but it seemed to last forever! We were so excited to finally see the Black Sea - we thought we were there, unfortunately we still had a few hours of winding mountain roads before we got to Varna. 

Dan got a little bus sick and wanted to die!

 

We finally made it to Varna! We were so excited to get off the highway and start driving through the town.

We checked in to our resort/hotel - this was the awesome view from our room of the Black Sea. We did think it a little strange that almost all of the surrounding resorts were empty!

After getting settled, we headed down to the dining area for dinner - all our meals were included at the resort. After the long drive, all Dan wanted was olives and dessert. He loved the all you can eat buffets!

After dinner we wandered around the resort for a bit, and went exploring down at the beach. The hotel was so typical of communist buildings - big huge spaces with no reason or purpose - just because things need to be big! Including creepy red hallways leading nowhere!

We were in the elevator and it just cracked me up - every single person was on their phone trying to send messages home or check up on sports/news. 

After chatting with mom and Julie a bit through FaceTime we crashed, Dan fell asleep watching a Braves game in our room! Notice, both the ipad and the iPhone were going when he fell asleep!

Bulgaria Part 3

We woke up bright and early the next morning and got on the bus to head to Plovdiv.

One last shot of the view from our hotel room. 

Bulgaria has some beautiful countryside!

 

Plovdiv is an ancient city with on old city center and Roman ruins. 

 

We walked up through the old city to the top of the old city wall - the view from up there of the new, sprawling city were pretty great. 

After stopping for lunch in a little cafe, we finished exploring the old city.

 

I loved the old architecture, to save space on the streets the upper levels were built out further than the main floor. 

There are a lot of Roman ruins in Plovdiv - including this great old Roman theater. 

 

 Our concert that night was at a college right next to the theater, Dad skipped the walking tour earlier that day, so I had to get a picture with him after the concert.

Of course, we went exploring again after the concert and had to stop for gelato.

Dan found a cool fountain he had to get a picture of.

More ruins we saw from the bus on the way back to the hotel.

Unfortunately internet reception wasn't all that great at our hotel, so everyone gathered in the hotspots in the hallways to check in with family.