Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

Posted on August 28, 2023  •  11 minutes  • 2147 words

The next morning, we were treated to more pastry items that the dads went out to get. A breakfast of trying to use up some food and Big Ben, Sam and I headed to the airport to pick up our rental cars. Sam and Ben were playing the ‘drums’ to the beat of the music on the way there and Sam was in love. He was so cuddly with Ben the whole ride and while we were getting the cars.

Slight confusion with the cars, would it even be a travel day without some issue?, but we got them and were on our way back to the Airbnb to pick up the crew. Loaded up, a bit stuffed with this car, and I drove out of down with the Allreds following trustingly behind and Dan navigating us.

We headed to the Saeva Dupka Cave for our first stop. About 1.5 hours in the car and it was lunch time, so we found some picnic tables and had lunch. We timed it right and only had to wait about 10 minutes before a tour of the cave started. It was huge!

Everyone loved it. As usual, a bit nerve wracking with excited kids wanting to run up ahead and slightly damp, slippery rock everywhere. No falls, lots of pictures and gazing around.

The next part of the drive, to Veliko Tarnovo, was not fun. One lane road, windy and with huge trucks. Stressful enough with deciding when to pass, but add to that the anxiety of how the driver behind (and his passengers) were doing, well let’s just say I think the kids could feel the stress and were cooperating. It did help that Dan was play-by-playing the whole drive, adding it how I was trying to lose Ben behind us (100% not true! more worried if he could pass when I did), and the kids were eating it up. That and some Harry Potter. We skirted around Veliko Tarnovo to get to the town above it for the views and food. Right before the turn, we found the brewery and managed a small smile.

We arrived in one piece, stumbled out of the cars with looks of relieve and complete exhaustion on all of our faces…minus the kids. Dan jumped out and pulled the cork out of a partially drunk wine bottle and we all happily took some swigs. We headed to a restaurant and of course found a park. Sometimes I wonder “do we find the parks or do the parks find us?!”.

With promises of stopping on the way back, we continued down old streets to a restaurant that had patio seating and ordered a little bit of everything.

It wasn’t quite dinner time, but lunch was early and small so we were all hungry. Can’t go wrong with shopska salad and pizza for the kids…and when there is ‘retro’ beer on the menu, you order it, right? Pretty much nailed it.

A little too big for me with the bit of wine, but Dan happily helped out. Another perk to not driving. Adults were a bit more adventurous and Max ate almost all the yogurt with pickle appetizer.

Took in the views, but were ready to to be at our place, we headed back to the car and gave the kids some time at the park. A quick drive through the small town, down the hill and 15 minutes later we trying to find our Airbnb. Google told us to turn on a VERY small street, that may or may not have had a couple steps. We opted for the ‘park 5 minute away and walk’. It felt so much longer, but we were tired, hot and had all our stuff.

What to say about our Aibnb? Well first of all, we are pretty sure it was an old communist gathering place that was currently being eaten alive by some sort of wood bug. We had picked it for the views of the river below and for a super old dungeon looking room. Yes view was great, but teeny balcony that only fit 2 people and the structure was a bit sketch…with a shear drop of 80ft below.

The room did not disappoint though, you could get over the noise of the bugs eating the wood and the small piles of sawdust below holes in the wood. The framing already seemed a bit sketch, even without the bugs, but I guess it’s all added to the ambiance.

It felt like an old spy room or as the kids called it, the Slytherin common room. Dark, dank, chunky tables, old stone floor…you mind could go wild thinking of what could have happened there.

I really wanted to walk around a bit, but with Sam’s mental state, that decided to be a bad idea. He was more tired than I realized and we should have just called it a night. He lost it about 10 minutes (well he and I both did) into our walk and Dan took him back while he pointed me in the direction of a craft beer shop. Ben and Max waited patiently while I bought about 15 beers. If you had seen the cute cans, or clever names, you would have too!

We headed back to witness the end of Sam’s meltdown, which got exacerbated when the door smashed his foot. Although in a way, this kinda gave him a distraction and we were able to get the kids to bed with a little audio book of Zorgamazoo.

The adults headed down to the communist room with all our beer. Turns out Big Ben had the same idea and headed out to get beer too. We put on some Bulgarian music to drum out the sound of the bugs eating the wood and went to tasting. Clearly some winners and losers, but each beer had at least one fan, so all was enjoyed. Overall winners though.

Without much breakfast food and wanting to get out, Dan found a pink café. Basically, a café where everything was pink!

Good food and a delicious iced latte, with just the right amount of milk. I made the kids get eggs for breakfast and I got the ‘fried balls’. Basically, fried balls of dough with jelly and Nutella to dip them in.

There was sharing of course and I have never seen Max down a full adult breakfast so fast.

With only the morning to explore such a cool town, we headed to the Tsaravets Fortress, of course stopping to admire the architectural styles of the area. I have no idea what type of wood or what type of protection was used, but the wood famed withing the stone seems to have held up very well. And why was it added it? I’m thinking so the building can contract and expand with the seasons? Or maybe included during the construction as a sort of form work for the stone? Or it just looks cool?

Stumbled upon this building and I always love copper roofs.

You had to walk across a big bridge to get here and I have to say, as castles go, this one was pretty amazing.

We did as we do in castles/fortresses, explored all the areas, marveled at how it’s still standing, practiced bow and arrow stances and took in the views.

Amazing rock work and really, how is it still standing? Yes I know a lot of it has been restored, but I’m still amazed.

Found a giant scorpion…the weapon not the bug thank god!

Sam was lagging and convinced his buddy Ben to give him a lift. A true friend!

It didn’t seem much like Sam, so a quick hand to the forehead and it was clear he had a fever. I gave him a couple kid Tylenol chewables and we laid in a shady area while the rest went off exploring. Modern day medicine is mind boggling amazing. In about 20 minutes he was a different kid and we went off searching for the crew.

We convened at the top outside a church. The inside was painted in a way I had never seen. Kinda gothic vibe meets Sin City (the comic book).

The whole area really was amazing and if we had had more time, we could have wandered for hours (if we also had food). It was enormous and views from all directions. But we looked at the time and realized we still had to get back and wrap up packing and be out by checkout time. The Bens and Dan went off ahead while the moms and the other kids made our way in a more relaxed fashion. Note: with a 3yo, it’s never fast. Taking in the town a bit more on the walk back with the old buildings and winding streets and cats everywhere, we made it back not too long after them. Bags were in the courtyard and not wanting to lug our stuff back to the cars, Ben and I thought we could do the drive to the place. The drive there was okay actually. Kinda flat and we were SO lucky no cars came the other direction. Loaded up quickly, said goodbye to the communist dungeon. The drive to the main road, well not as easy. It brought bad memories of Gyrocaster, although Dan knew to keep comments to himself this time. We were just to the top of the hill to turn to the main road and a truck starts turning down. Dan yelled so loud I think the guy heard and stopped. So there’s me on a decent slope, Ben behind. 2 stalls later and I zipped up to the road and Dan attempted to signal to the guy that there’s another car coming.

It was lunch time and we needed food. Dan found a park next to a grocery store and a cute café. Dan headed to buy food, Ben went to buy clothes and Laura and I (wo)manned the park with the kids.

Lots of our typical lunch foods and key having the café right there for bathrooms. Unfortunately, I had to buy something when I went. :) Not a hard decision and I picked a selection out of so many things that looked good.

Lunch was over, Ben was just about back and we needed coffee and bathrooms before the drive. I didn’t notice before, but the café had a play place inside. No rush with ordering and drinking some coffee as the kids played yet some more.

All loaded up on caffeine, play time and dessert we started our drive to the Black Sea. It was a million times better than the day before, with most of it being on an autostrada with 2 lanes in each directions. Right on the way was The Madara Horseman. This was something Ben had researched and I didn’t even google it…having no idea what to expect. But being in this part of the world, I just assumed a massive statue. The area wasn’t big, but we decided to head straight to the horseman incase of tired legs and we couldn’t do the full loop. This meant walking up a giant staircase…maybe the equivilant of 12 flights of stairs? Kids raced, adults did not. :) Well I was WRONG! This was no statue. It was a rock relief…a man, his dog and the lion he killed carved into the face of the rock about 100ft off the ground. A lot about it is unknown and we had no many questions!

We had the energy so we continued walking along a pleasant forrest path. Found a cave and some ruins.

And we found the lost suitcases!

Back in the car and a nice road for most of the way. And the short part on the windy road had no trucks we had to pass. Got a kid to pass out, so that’s always a win. Poor kid’s Tylenol was probably wearing off. :(

We winded a bit and finally got our first view of the Black Sea. Directions took to our place, but just for fun there had to be a hiccup. When we tried to check in, there was confusion about who would check us in and which building was ours. If felt like we got passed around from building to building. It seemed to be more of a timeshare place that individuals could rent out and no reception. After a lot of wandering, we finally found a number to call and were told to meet them by the ATM. Also by the ATM was a beer vending machine! I mean, how could we not? But just as expected, a bit of foam explosion when we opened it…but worth it! Yes I took a slow-mo video, which is obviously hilarious.

We finally checked into our rooms.

Continued on https://travelingengineer.com/blog/2023-08-29-byala/