Transylvania - June 2018

Old Jun 3rd, 2018, 01:14 AM
  #21  
 
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Very interested!
Adelaidean is offline  
Old Jun 3rd, 2018, 04:06 AM
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Gosh, LL, you are certainly getting around Central and eastern Europe and making up for lost time. The closest I have got to that area is a "honeymoon" in what was Yugoslavia 40 years ago, and a long weekend in Sofia a few years ago when we went to a wedding there. I was really impressed with the little we saw of Bulgaria and would certainly like to return one day.

Enjoy your travels in Transylvania and please let us know how you get on.
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Old Jun 3rd, 2018, 07:08 AM
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Also very interested to read your report. We’re headed there next May. Enjoy your trip!
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Old Jun 3rd, 2018, 10:40 PM
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Thanks for the interest. I'll try and post a few lines every day or so.

Annhig......We had an enjoyable DIY trip round Bulgaria 9 years ago for a couple of weeks. Everywhere we stayed at is in CAPITALS.

Flew into Sofia and had a car booked to take us the 90 minute drive to Plovdiv. We stayed in PLOVIDIV (4 nights) at Hotel Leipzig (there's better), and had day trips by public bus to a beautiful little town called Hasir, and a day in the mountains by bus at a bustling ski-town called Smolyan...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Plovdiv
http://wikitravel.org/en/Smolyan

Then on by bus to VELIKO TARNOVO. Not an easy journey, and we had to put plan B into action at one stage as we'd missed the last connecting bus for the day in a place called Karlovo, and had to get a taxi to the next bus station at Kazanlak. We eventually reached VELIKO TARNOVO after another couple of bus journeys over the mountains via Gabrovo...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Veliko_Turnovo

VELIKO TARNOVO is a lovely, bustling place oozing with character. Stayed 2 nights with a day out to nearby Arbanasi.

Then a taxi to small one-horse place called ETAR. Main reason to visit was to see the open air Ethnographical museum which didn't disappoint. Day out by bus to a small town called Tryana, and stopped off at the much larger Gabrovo...

Open Air Ethnographic Museum "ETAR" - Gabrovo
http://wikitravel.org/en/Gabrovo

I'm going on a bit now! We also went by bus and stayed at VARNA, with trips by local bus to Dobrich and Balchik. The on by bus to BURGAS and SOZOPOL, before returning toPLOVDIV by train (5 hours)...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Varna
http://wikitravel.org/en/Burgas
http://wikitravel.org/en/Sozopol

We covered about 1200 miles by bus/train in 2 weeks with only one hiccup, and apart from pre-booking accommodation in Plovdiv we just turned up on spec.

The signage is difficult as they use the Cyrillic alphabet, so working out places at bus and train stations was nigh on impossible.

Did lots of planning using LP and Rough Guide.

Bulgaria is a lovely country, and well worth the effort which you need to put in.
LancasterLad is offline  
Old Jun 4th, 2018, 05:16 AM
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Thanks a lot LL. We were very taken with the little we saw of Bulgaria and that's just the sort of trip DH and I would have liked to do together but as I'm on my own now, I suspect that a tour is more likely to be on the cards unless I can find someone prepared to do go "off piste" with me.

Nice to know the places to look for though.
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Old Jun 29th, 2018, 07:11 AM
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LancasterLad - How was your trip? Hoping for your trip report.
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Old Jun 29th, 2018, 11:57 PM
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Me, too!
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Old Jun 30th, 2018, 03:30 AM
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Visited Transylvania and stayed in Brasov for 5 nights in 2016. Fascinating place and history, not at all what I expected.

It's on the list for a return trip in 2020, so along with the others, I'm very interested to hear in how your trip went.

Hopefully will make it to Maramures next time...
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Old Jun 30th, 2018, 11:10 PM
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Sorry for the silence, have been busy since we got back. Basically we followed exactly the itinerary in post #6, and stayed in all of the accommodations listed in post #7. We found Romania, or at least all the areas we visited to be greenest and cleanest we've ever seen, and travelling around mainly by slow train allowed us see the countryside rather than wizz past it at speed.

I'll pad out #6 and #7 shortly, by Wednesday.
LancasterLad is offline  
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