Today we head to Romania, pausing before crossing the border to see the Madara Horseman.  The Horseman is an early medieval rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara. The monument is from the late 7th to very early 8th century.

We bring along Beth and Tom of Minnesota today as they were due to head to Bucharest as well.

Below, the climb begins, there's almost always a climb involved.  And shortly we're there - that's it just above the supported platform, as well as Tom in the foreground.  The Horseman is 75-ft up on a 328-ft cliff.

Its actual scale is more or less "life-sized".  He's actually stabbing a lion, with his helper dog running behind.

There's an even older Roman fortress (or the ruins of) atop the cliff, from between the 2nd and 5th centuries.  It looked like an exciting climb up (on steep protected steps), so up we went further.

We get airplane-vantage views of Madara from near the top.

After reaching the top, we had an almost 1/2 mile hike to find the ruins.

A church foundation inside the fort, from around the 6-7th century.

Heading out the "main-gate".

Remains of old structures at the foot of the cliff, far below the fort.

There's Tom and Beth, with Gerri, reading all about it.

We're anxious to cross the border, and not seeing any easy lunch choices, we topped off gas and picked up snacks to get us through.  Pop-corn is nutritious, right?

It's the Blue Danube!

Sharing the border bridge with the big rigs.

Romania!!

Dinner, after making the run across the border, the obvious choice is Mexican food.  Much tastier than Taco Bell by the way.

Our "official" tour of Varna begins - "Bapha" in Bulgarian.

Clock towers, and church towers.

Here kitty kitty.

That's a big fountain.

Nice wide pedestrian-friendly streets.

Hobo-style/fashion? - like Boxcar Willie ?? - actually "Hobo" = "New".

And now for some monkey fashion...

And, the Romans were here as well...but, also, older cultures go back 3,000 years before this in/around Varna.

Kids, chalk, and Summertime.

It's an early tractor Gerri - steam powered with a large power take-off pulley for running sawmills, threshers, ...

To the park, a grand one, good for walking, good for people watching...

We found a bench and hung out for the people watching.

Bat man and bat boy.

Here's a solution for subterranean parking in a congested space - a car elevator with integrated turn table.

A super-massive bird perch...

Strolling back to the hotel...

We continue our exploration of the Black Sea in eastern Bulgaria.  On the way to our overnight city, Varna, we stop by to check out another old island town, Nessebar.  We parked nearby this old sailing yacht.

Our tour of Nessebar begins.  The old part, a museum-city, on an island now connected by an isthmus, goes back 3,000 years.

Here's a relief map showing some details of the old town, with the isthmus to the right (north is down).

There are many very old churches around the town.

We saw many old homes where the upper floor is the focus for the structure.

A three-masted restaurant patio ship.

Another old church, a shell of its former self.

This church has a protective roof placed over the original structure.

Another one, with much weathering, but still majestic in its own way.

Now in Varna, dinner is served.  These bread spreads were all interesting and good.

Some sort of fish again for Gerri, and some leg of lamb for Tim.

Eclectic array of photos in the bathroom.

We then strolled back towards our lodging, finding some interesting stuff in a semi-permanent street carnival near the port.  Ah, the diversity of American cultural influence.

A party excursion boat, actually two (the other is behind), in theme of piracy.  They actually have squirt-gun-cannons, and the boats face off against each other at some point during their cruise.

A large beach is adjacent to the port, but was fairly quiet with the season just around the corner.

There was even a small maritime/military museum nearby our lodging - it was closed, but there was still lots of stuff to see.

Today we drive to the Black Sea, but first take a side trip, just outside of Tsarevets, to see the Nativity Church in Arbanasi.  It's about 400 years old, not much to look at from the outside, but loaded with frescoe murals inside.

Yes, it looks like a fancy old barn on the outside, they say typical of churches built during this time of Ottoman (Turkey) rule.

And now about 2 1/2 hours later, we're in Burgas on the Black Sea.  It's early in the local Bulgarian tourism season, with the sea very cool, so they're still awaiting the throngs of Bulgarian beach/sun seekers coming in a few weeks.

Two land sharks!

Two brewski's!

Two bro's!   ....but three cats?  (we snuck this photo through a window as we were sitting inside the restaurant)

Sea food is served.  A fish-based spread for the bread, and squid salad, yum, yum.

And two kinds of mussel prep - I believe a garlic one and a wine-based one.  Not too shabby.

"City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and also known as the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists with its unique architecture. The old part of the town is situated on three hills, Tsarevets, Trapezitsa, and Sveta Gora, rising amidst the meanders of the Yantra. 

The river banks are steep, with the city sprawling all along the upper reaches of the hill ridges.

The day's touring/trekking starts with reaching the Monument of Asenevci.  Sofia is the capital of modern day Bulgaria, but the Asen Tsars ruled from Veliko Tarnovo. A monument to the Asen dynasty in the center of the city marked 800 years after the Asen brothers proclaimed Veliko the capital.

From below our lodging, we look across a bend of the river and see where we must circle the bend to get to a bridge over the river beyond the monument.

A communist-era grand hotel near the the monument - it seemed both abandoned and partially in-use at the same time.

More interesting architecture seen along the journey.

The monument!

An Asen brother close-up.

Where to next?  To the street of the Artisans.

Going back across the bridge, we find connecting rods/pistons - a new twist on the too oft used "love" padlocks.  Apparently someone's statement here is "I love cars."

"I would like "Running Scared" To Win in the fourth."  --  "Consider it done."

Cool mural of the Asen brothers, as seen from the Artisan's street, overlooking their monument.

Not sure what this creature is, perchance a Chupacabra, but we did like how the lounging cat somehow matched it.

This city has worked hard to avoid the run-down look of many city/towns we've passed through.

"Yeah, I lost last week's pay on that race, and now I'm living with the dog for a few days."  --  "It happens."

This pub advertisement is really cool, with the peeling paint and rust patina built into it.  We'll circle back to it later.

The trekking has built a strong urge for a Slush Puppy.

Nativity of Mary Church.

Contemplating the next move from alongside the church, where we have a good view of it.

Tsarevets is a medieval stronghold located on a hill with the same name. It served as the Second Bulgarian Empire's primary fortress between 1185 AD and 1393 AD, housing the royal and the patriarchal palaces, and it is also a popular tourist attraction.

The views around it were as interesting as the fortress itself.  A view of an old bridge, and newer bridge, with close-up of the former.

A roadway, a river, and neighborhood.

Church on the high hill of the fortress.

A map of the fortresses - we toured the one shown to the right.  There's not much left at all of the one to the left.

Back to the Architect's Club for an early supper.

Another trout for Gerri.

We get another final look of the Asen brother's monument, showing a view of the access bridge.

Today is a drive about with stops at various assorted sights.  The first stop was a tiny little tomb.

The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is a vaulted-brickwork "beehive" (tholos) tomb in the town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria.  The tomb is part of a large royal Thracian necropolis in the Valley of the Thracian Rulers near their ancient capital of Seuthopolis in a region where more than a thousand tombs of kings and members of the Thracian aristocracy can be found.  This particular tomb has a narrow entry corridor and a round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing a Thracian couple at a ritual funeral feast and dates back to the 4th century BCE.

Visitors aren't allowed in the actual tomb, as the frescoes are too fragile.  The tomb is protected by a building and climatic controls.

We did tour the replica nearby.

And then we headed up into some mountains over the Shipka Pass to see a recent monument to communism completed in 1981.  Officially named the House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party, but better known as the "Buzludzha Monument."  After the fall of communism in 1989, the monument was left to decay.

The concrete letters are hung upon steel pins, so it appears looters have been plucking the low-hanging letter fruit over the years.

This thing is huge.  People talk of restoring the structure for use as a museum, but access up the winding mountain road, and its remoteness will likely have it remaining as a forgotten ruin

Elvis (?) graffiti, and remnants of some concrete sculpture that appeared to be constructed of a very poor concrete mix with far too much aggregate stone.

The Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ, better known as the Shipka Memorial Church or Shipka Monastery is a Bulgarian Orthodox church built near the town of Shipka between 1885 and 1902.  The church is dedicated to the Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian soldiers that died for the liberation of Bulgaria in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78.  The temple was officially opened on September 28, 1902. The opening and consecration of the Shipka Memorial Church coincided with the 25-year anniversary of the Battles of Shipka Pass. In 1970, the temple was proclaimed a national monument of culture.

The church's bell tower reaches a height of 174-feet and its bells, the heaviest of which weighs 12 tons, were cast from the cartridges that were collected after the battles. In the temple itself, the names of the Russian regiments and Bulgarian volunteers are inscribed on 34 marble plates. The remains of the perished are laid in 17 stone sarcophagi in the church's basement crypt.

Onward to complete the drive of the Shipka Pass.   Shipka Pass (elev. 1150 m./3820 ft.) is a scenic mountain pass through the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. The pass connects the towns of Gabrovo and Kazanlak.  The pass is 8 miles by road north of the small town of Shipka.

We saw several of these communist era sculptures along the way.

Finally, we visited Tryavna, famous for its textile industry and typical National Revival architecture, featuring 140 culturally valuable structures.

We started the day with another 365 Tour, a large group, but it was very good nonetheless.

Plovdiv also has pleasant pedestrian friendly streets.

A entire Roman stadium still lurks beneath the streets.  The Stadium of Philippopolis was the ancient Roman stadium of Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), built in the 2nd century AD. At the time the stadium was built, Philippopolis was the capital of the Roman province of Thracia.  Lost for centuries as the city developed, the stadium was discovered in 1923.

Hisar Kapia is a medieval gate in Plovdiv's old town built in the 11th century AD over the foundations of a gate from Roman times (probably from the 2nd century AD). Hisar Kapia is one of the three entrances (Eastern, Northern and Southern) to the acropolis of ancient Plovdiv. During the rule of the Ottoman empire revival houses were embedded in the remains of the old stone walls around the gate.

The tour took us to the top of one of the nearby hills, site of the ancient Roman acropolis, which provided great views of the city.

The Roman theater, the Odeon of  Philippopolis, was discovered in 1988.

The reconstructed back stage provides a look at a Roman theater, which many others now lack.

The tour complete, we discover for ourselves a brewery.

Now as a monument to freedom, a piece of the Berlin Wall is found here in Plovdiv.

City Hall.

Today was a recharge day with no touring on the schedule, and also Gerri needed some time to review/update the coming travel plans.  Today is also Day of Bulgaria Culture and Literature, and after an early dinner we stumbled upon a traditional song and dance demonstration nearby the restaurant (Happy's again!) outside city hall. 

One last view of Dzhumaya Mosque, in a fantastic setting next to the open spaces near the Roman stadium.

Hey hey, we found another brewery, nestled within the old town area.

It's like Paris, but it's Plovdiv.

Today we head to Plovdiv to stay for a few days, but stop, again, in the mountains, but to see something else.
We see lush greenery along the way.

The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as Rila Monastery, the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, at an elevation of 1,147 m (3,763 ft), inside of Rila Monastery Nature Park. The monastery is named after its founder, the hermit Ivan of Rila (876 - 946 AD), and today houses around 60 monks.

Founded in the 10th century, the Rila Monastery is regarded as one of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments and is a key tourist attraction for both Bulgaria and Southern Europe.

The central church interiors and porch walls are nearly totally covered in colorful murals.

Lots of action and literal depictions of some biblical meaning.

Nom nom nom, Saints taste like puppy chow...

A monk is observed on the grounds.

The setting is also amazing with alpine hills and mountain peaks surrounding the compound.

Very medieval looking and imposing tower looming over us.

A Christmas tree saunters in for a late Spring visit...

..., while the last gasps of Winter hangs above.

On to Plovdiv, and another dinner, we try a chain restaurant which turned out to be quite nice.  Sushi, steak, kale salad, and a Cloudy (drink) where the sugars swirl around in it like green clouds.

Going back to our lodging we encounter an enigmatic riddle wrapped in an enigma, or something like that.  Apparently it's been idle here for quite some time, notice the layer of city dust accumulating under it, street sweepers just working around it.

After checking out of our lodging, we headed to the metro train, picking up some quick breakfast on the way.

Check out the movie poster for, you guessed it, "Top Gun : Maverick", starring Tom Cruise - we saw this poster into the metro train.

The metro took us back to Sofia Int'l Airport, where we picked up our rental car that'll take us around Bulgaria, as well as Romania.  We then headed to Sapareva Banya, our lodging town for the night.  But before checking in, we grabbed some lunch in town, that had some fine cafetaria-style foods, before we headed up for our trekking on the mountain.

The trek today involves riding up a ski lift, that as many ski area do around the world, operates to support summertime activities.  We were hoping to be able to hike till late in the afternoon, but learned the lift stops at 430pm.  Doing the entire Seven Rila Lakes trekking tour will be a long shot.

At the top - these chair lifts do not slow down at the get-off-point, so without skis to leap off with, we have to hit the platform running so as to not get whacked by the departing chair - fun.

Figuring out what/where we can do with a trek, and make it back to the chairlift by 430pm.

We head along on the trail towards the lakes - the trail gets obscured by the lingering snow pack, but is not hard to follow.

The hard part is picking our way along soggy trails...

...to the next snow field.

We make it to the first lake, and unfortunately the last we can make it to today.  As it turned out, lack of time was not the real issue, the trail is so swampy from the melt that we would not have been able to continue anyways.

Wow, looking further up, you can see the melt-off stream running under the snow pack.

So, we turned back for the ski lift.  A shortened hike, but the scenery does not disappoint.

Rock hopping along crossing the stream.

These trail markers have helped to guide us, and are about a 1/4 mile apart.

Late Spring scenery, Bulgaria style.

A chalet supporting the Wintertime skiing season.

Gerri crests the last hill climb of the day, with an audience.

One last look of the high mountain ridges - skiing must be awesome here.

Onto the lift, about a mile and third down, descending about 1/3 of a mile in altitude.

We awaken in Sofia, Bulgaria, the largest city and capital.   Rrrrrrrghhhhh.......

After grabbing a quick late breakfast, pizza slices, we find our Jewish tour guide for a couple hours of Jewish history around Sofia.  This tour was developed by the "365 Tour Company" just before Covid came, and today is the first day back for it, lucky us.

Cool mural seen along the way, don't know if she's Jewish.

In a synagogue, the only one now operating in Sofia, and it seemed very vibrant.

The streets are paved in gold...

The tour continues, the tour guide was excellent, explaining the larger history as well as his families' personal experiences, especially through the communist period.

The Jewish Tour concluded, and we proceeded on our tour book's city walk.

Tomb of the Unknowns:

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Bulgarian Orthodox, one of Sofia's symbols and primary tourist attractions and can hold 5,000 people inside, the largest cathedral in the Balkans.

Time for lunch.

The town center had very nice pedestrian friendly spaces.

The Statue of Sveta Sofia, erected in 2000, stands in a spot once occupied by a statue of Lenin, 24 feet in height, the copper and bronze statue stands on a 48 feet pedestal. Adorned with the symbols of power (crown), fame (wreath) and wisdom (owl), the crown is also a reference to the Goddess of Fate, Tyche, inspired by the old emblem of Sofia dating back to 1900.

Roman ruins below the streets and modern buildings.

Currently, the Banya Bashi Mosque is the only functioning mosque in Sofia, a remnant of the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria that lasted nearly five centuries, and is used by the city's Muslim community.

Spring-fed fountains - we saw locals using them steadily, bringing plastic jugs.  The water comes out the temperature of a hot tap.

Bulgaria's presidential offices:

Within the courtyard of the presidential offices, stands the Church of Saint George built in the early 4th century among Roman baths, it became a church inside the walls of Serdica, capital of ancient Dacia Mediterranea during the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire.  Some ruins of Serdica still remain next to the church.

The Ivan Vazov National Theatre from 1904.

We ended the night at a tap house featuring Sofia Electric, a local brewery, where the owners even made an appearance.  It was a "tap take over" event Gerri found by texting with the brewery staff.