We arrived by bus yesterday and took a cab ride into town from the dusty bus station on the outskirts. We are staying in the Hotel Gurko with a great view of the Yantra River and an unusual monument located on an island connected to the town by a bridge.
We have a small apartment with a balcony – it’s in a traditional timber and stone building and there is cozy tavern downstairs.
The tavern at the hotel serves hearty meals like roasted pork knuckle, Bulgarian meatloaf and grilled trout. The food is tasty and red Bulgarian wines are very good.
It’s early spring here and flowers are in bloom. We admired these!
Today the Free City Tour was canceled so we made our own tour following a map from the Tourist Office. We walked around the grounds of the Tsarevets Fortress and toured the church at the top of the hill.
Rather than traditional icons the walls of the church were painted with contemporary murals.
We walked down the street selling local crafts. This guy’s manner seemed a little “wooden” at first but he was nice once I got to know him. 😊
We finished our tour before the rain…now it’s sunny again. We have one more day here before we make some complicated transportation connections on our way to Bucharest, Romania.