Plovdiv, Bulgaria: A Must-Visit Balkan City
In the distance we could see the old town, looming on a cliff above us. Our taxi circled the perimeter of the town, choosing streets to turn down, only to arrive at a dead-end or a one-way. On much more than one occasion, the city map was consulted by our driver, while he mumbled in Bulgarian, trying to find a way to penetrate the ancient walls.
Eventually we gave up and chose to walk, rather than drive. The taxi chauffeur felt awful for not being able to get us to our destination, and he didn’t charge us the price on the meter. However, we still chose to give him some money, but the gesture was indicative of what we would experience during the next 5 nights in Plovdiv.
¡Hemos llegado! crossing the border from Turkey into Bulgaria was very straightforward
We hoofed it up steep cobblestone streets, which was made simpler by the fact that we had no luggage. The airline had lost it en route to Turkey – maybe it was in Puerto Rico where we started our journey, possibly our layover city of new York, or maybe it was in Istanbul?
Who knew, all we knew was that at that moment, we were pleased to only have our day packs.
The little lanes zigged and zagged in all directions, and the high walls made it challenging to see anything up ahead. Seeing our confused faces, a man came over and helped us find our hostel. In fact, he actually walked us best to the door.
From the outside, the Hostel Old Plovdiv was stunning, with its yellow exterior, ornate wooden columns, and beautifully decorated facade.
As we entered the 150 year old home, we were in awe of the high ceilings and wooden floors. greeting us was a welcome sign! In all of our years of backpacking around the world, never has a hostel had a personal sign for its visitors – a very good touch indeed.
The beautiful Hostel Old Plovdiv – we couldn’t get over the customized sign!
Even though this accommodation is considered a hostel, it’s much more like a boutique hotel (which we love), and the prices are incredibly fair (10 Euros / person / night, including a substantial breakfast).
Originally owned by a rich tobacco farmer, this home is somewhat of a museum. While numerous of the homes from this period have been converted into shops or restaurants, Hostel Old Plovdiv provides guests a peek of what households were like in the 1800’s.
The elegant ceilings and antique furniture is lovely, but what really amazed us was the stone wall from the Roman period in the basement!
A portion of a Roman wall in the basement of the hostel!
There’s just something about old towns that we’ve always been drawn to, and Plovdiv’s was no exception. just steps from the hostel we could visit a museum, church, art gallery, Roman ruins, and the Rahat Tepe tavern – which we ended up frequenting quite often!
A short walk brought us to the main pedestrian street, which is a feature that all cities ought to have. Knyaz Aleksandar I is the longest pedestrianized street in all of Europe, spanning 1.7 kilometers.
A portion of the pedestrian street in Plovdiv
This was an outstanding spot for shopping, people watching, having coffee, and checking out the 240 meter long Roman stadium, which has been partially excavated.
As Canadians, seeing ruins from the Roman period in the basement of our hostel, scattered along a ridge of the old town, and in the center of the city was pretty incredible.
In Canada, the oldest structure we have is from the early 1600’s, while the country of Canada itself wasn’t founded until 1867!
The partially excavated Roman stadium best in the middle of the pedestrian street!
We joined a totally free walking trip with some other backpackers which was a terrific way to get our bearings in the city. We delighted in the Bulgarian revival architecture, the up-and-coming neighbourhood “the Trap”, and seeing the amazing Roman amphitheater, which is actually still used for various performances.
Revival style architecture on the walking tour
The surrounding countryside has 40 wineries with local varieties of grapes, which only grow in Bulgaria. even though we took a red wine trip during a cold January day, it was still stunning, and I can’t even think of how stunning the vineyards should be in the spring and summer.
The Thracian people (you’ve probably heard of Spartacus?) were from Thrace, an area found in present day Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. They were outstanding red wine makers and it’s said that the first vines in Europe were brought by Thracians from the middle east and planted in what is now southern Bulgaria.
The first winery on our trip was StarataIzba Parvenets, con una hermosa propiedad del siglo XIX envuelta en vides. ¡Probamos el vino tinto directamente de los barriles de roble búlgaro en una bodega de 130 años! Este fue uno de esos momentos de “no puedo creer lo que estamos haciendo” en los viajes.
En la entrada de la bodega Starata Izba Parvenets, ¡hermosa!
La segunda y final, la bodega que echamos un vistazo fue la casa de vacaciones mucho más moderna yustina, ambientada en una hermosa propiedad. Las cabras pudimos echar un vistazo a la pluma de cabra, ¡eran tan lindas! También probamos una amplia variedad de vinos que fueron cultivados, envejecidos y embotellados en la finca.
A pesar de que realmente nos deleitamos con las cabras y los vinos que se ofrecen aquí, nos encantó el hecho de que pudimos experimentar maridajes de vinos con comida.
¡Cabras!
Estaba disponible un plato de queso, carnes, pan y mermelada de arándanos para nosotros, lo cual era bueno, ya que teníamos alrededor de 6 degustaciones en este punto (y las “degustaciones” eran mucho más como gafas de tamaño completo).
Las bodegas eran completamente diferentes entre sí, y tuvimos una experiencia distinta y excepcional en ambos.
Krassi nos vierte un sabroso vino tinto para combinar con nuestros aperitivos
Plovdiv marcó todas las casillas cuando se trata de lo que buscamos en un destino. Había una historia fantástica, comida excelente, paisajes impresionantes, arquitectura fascinante y la gente era extremadamente amable y acogedora. De hecho, nos convertimos en amigos con los propietarios de los viajes de vino tinto de Bulgaria (Vasil y Zina). ¡Incluso nos llevaron a un rastreo de pub!
Nosotros con Vasil of Bulgaria R los viajes de vino tinto, ¡gracias por un excelente día!
Todos los demás que encontramos fueron genuinos y no nos trataron como extranjeros o turistas. Nos sentimos como amigos con tan numerosas personas en esta ciudad. También fuimos entrevistados al azar por un periodista en uno de los pubs, échale un vistazo aquí.
Los restaurantes fueron excepcionales y nos encantó probar la comida búlgara local (¡a Nick descubrió que realmente le gusta el corazón de pato!) Para el entretenimiento, los pubs fueron muy divertidos, y gracias a nuestro amigo jazza, pudimos encontrar música increíble en vivo Además … en el sótano de un bar.
¡La música en vivo fue increíble!
La historia era alucinante, nuestro alojamiento era increíble y el ambiente general de la ciudad era muy “Aylak” (la palabra de Plovdiv para relajarse). Este es un lugar al que nos encantaría volver en la primavera, y no es sorprendente que Plovdiv haya sido señalado como la capital europea de la cultura en 2019.
Además de todo esto, el costo de viajar en Plovdiv era de muy buen valor. En un restaurante, las comidas eran de entre $ 3 y $ 5 para un plato grande de comida, las cervezas locales costaban alrededor de $ 1 y .5L de vino tinto era de $ 2.50. Los taxis también fueron muy económicos (¡realmente usan el medidor!), Y el cargo de portada de la música en vivo fue de $ 1.
There was something about Plovdiv that made us want to linger. Esta fue la primera parada en nuestro viaje de mochilero de Europa del Este, ¡y rápidamente queríamos quedarnos! Pero, necesitábamos seguir moviéndose y explorar más. Estén atentos para nuestras próximas aventuras en esta parte del mundo.
Foto de: Jazza de Nomadasurus
Check out our quick video of our time in Plovdiv ?
Have you heard of Plovdiv before? Does it sound like a city you would like to check-out? tell us below, we’d love to hear from you ?
¿Gusta? ¡Ponlo! ?
A big thank-you to Hostel Old Plovdiv and Bulgaria red wine trips for hosting us during our stay in the city, we had a terrific time! Como siempre, todos los pensamientos y opiniones siguen siendo nuestros, a pesar de los servicios de cortesía recibidos.
Descargo de responsabilidad: las cabras en el camino es un asociado de Amazon y también un afiliado para otros minoristas. Esto implica que ganamos comisiones si hace clic en enlaces en nuestro blog y compra a esos minoristas.