This is my last night in Veliko Tarnovo, where I’ve been since Friday. Everybody from Hiker’s in Plovdiv is here, so I’ve spent much of the last few days with Steph and Sarah (Shropshire, U.K.) and Hayley and Bridget (Tasmania).
Veliko Tarnovo is an ancient town built on the slopes of a steep gorge. The centrepiece is Tsaravets, an impenetrable fortress that dominates the town’s skyline.
I spent my first few days here just wandering aimlessly, which seems to be a fairly good way of getting to know a place. We cooked a few good meals, to supplement the rather light dinner than the hostel provides. I spent an afternoon exploring Tsaravets, including a rather dark path around the back of the fortress which I’m sure would have felt just right for any wolf in waiting for Little Red Riding Hood. I’ve gotten through a roll of film, but haven’t developed it yet.
Yesterday the five of us hired bicycles and set ourselves a few challenges. The first was to reach Preobruzhenie Monastery, about five kilometres from Veliko Tarnovo. This was quite a good ride – the first three kilometres were downhill on a smooth, wide highway, making for fun riding. We then had to climb for the next 1800m to reach the ridge upon which the monastery sat, which was hard but doable. We spent a few hours on the monastery grounds and ate a picnic lunch at the top.
Of course, getting back up the hill to Veliko Tarnovo was a bit of challenge, but after an afternoon tea of an icecream each, and bouyed by our successful morning, we set out to reach the village of Arbanasi, a few kilometres northeast of Veliko Tarnovo. We may have been slighly over-ambitious here, and there were a few moments during the rather gruelling climb up the main road between Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse that we came close to giving up. After 90 minutes of climbing we were rewarded with the view from Arbanasi, looking down over Veliko Tarnovo, and we realized how far we had actually come. It only took us a few minutes to get back down the mountain, in a hair-raising but ultimately fun, barely-controlled freefall down the highway into town.
My bike was much too large for me, and had far narrower handlebars that I’m used to, so most of the time I was feeling fairly unsteady. Despite that, I only fell off twice. If I keep accumulating scars at this rate, my body will be my best souvenir of this trip.
The complete Veliko Tarnovo photoset is available here.
Overall, a fantastic few days spent with lovely people. I’m hoping to meet up with most of them again in Croatia or Montenegro.
I’m sick of travelling alone, so I’ve teamed up with a bunch of Australians and their Irishman for the next few days. We’re heading to Varna in the morning, and Romania sometime shortly afterwards.