Tag Archives: rest 🛏️
snow in late April
This post is about snow in late April in Republika. I stay in and pass the time doing laundry and writing my blog. When I woke up in a roadside guesthouse in the outskirts of Sofia, I found it hard to believe my eyes: it was snowing! Less than 24 hours earlier I had been […]
new means big
This post is about a visit to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Sofia Synagogue. Both of them are rather large and rather new. There were two more things I wanted to see: the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Synagogue of Sofia. The cathedral, because I had walked past it on my way into town, […]
why so tiny?
This post is about a visit to the Banya Bashi Mosque and the Church of Saint George in Sofia. Both of them are very small. My friends came to take me out to lunch and show me around Sofia. There were quite a few shops and restaurants with Arabic-looking names in the city center. We […]
organized chaos
This post is about some new walking gear. I spend all day packing my things, wondering what I should send home and what I should keep. The plan was simple: I was going to pack my things in the morning and leave in the afternoon. And so I packed and I packed and I packed. […]
the wondermaker’s new home
This post is about a visit to the Rila Monastery. It’s the biggest and oldest monastery in Bulgaria, but it was rebuilt in the 19th century. We decided it wasn’t time yet for me to leave. And so we had a lazy breakfast, and then we got into my friends’ car and went southwest, into […]
me and the tree
This post is about my return to the village of Lozen in Bulgaria. I take a walk with my friends and hang my martenitsa into a tree. After a month and a half in Germany, I finally got back to Bulgaria. I was nervous. Not about my MS: my doctors had put me in an MRI […]
Baba Marta
This post is about me getting my martenitsa in Lozen, Bulgaria. It’s Baba Marta Day and I’m about to Germany for a medical checkup. When I woke up I didn’t know where I was or how I had gotten there. I looked around and remembered that I was in the loft of my friend’s house. […]
this is a knoife
This post is about a day of rest at the Motel Ihtiman. I wash some of my socks, I check out a supermarket, and I order an expresso. I was staying at the Motel Ihtiman. It was a highway rest area, which meant that it was a wee bit expensive. But there was an attached […]
roman theater
This post is about a visit at the Theater Of Philippopolis. I am absolutely in awe of the structures and how well they have been preserved. One thing Plovdiv seemed to do really well was the use of tunnels: there quite a few of them going through the hills that the city sat on. This […]
ugly pretty
This post is about a day spent exploring Plovdiv. I see some Roman ruins, a mosque, some Soviet ugliness, and then I decide to get wasted. Plovdiv turned out to be the prettiest town with the ugliest name: Plovdiv. I didn’t know how it sounded to a Bulgarian speaker, but to me the name evoked […]
boostered, looking at pricks
This post is about a visit at the Thracian Tomb of Aleksandrovo. I appreciate the fact that it’s a good replica. I was staying with a lovely family who had a campground in the village of Aleksandrovo. And because they had a car and they were going downtown anyway, I finally had the chance to […]
hornyphon
This post is about a Hornyphon Prinzess in Svilengrad. It keeps me company while I’m having some very good Bulgarian food. Another day of rest. I left the hotel and walked around for a little bit. Found an ATM and got some Bulgarian money. The exchange rate of Lev and Euro was about two to […]
the Grand Corona
This post is about a painful day of rest in the former Grand Corona Hotel in Svilengrad. The Grand Corona Casino is right next door. I woke up late, and when I did, I confusedly remembered a scene from the border crossing the night before. my turn It had happened in the Bulgarian part of […]
and here’s to you, Turkey
This post is about a toast in Punto Shot Bar Pizza in Edirne. It’s also about a visit to the Grand Synagogue, and about cats. I wanted to say goodbye to Turkey today. It had taken me a long time to walk from its eastern end to the west, from Hopa on the border with […]
soup kitchen
This post is about a day spent at the Complex of Sultan Bayezid II in Edirne. We also visit the Selimiye Mosque, but it’s under renovation. This morning I took a taxi across town to have breakfast with a family I had met the day before. They had spent a long time in Germany, and […]
look what the airline dragged in
This post is about a day spent at the Eser Diamond Hotel in Canta. I do my laundry, use the sauna, and run into some sad airline passengers. I decided to stay another day and wash my clothes. Washing took forever. I used a plastic bowl and some detergent I carried in a box, and […]
how am I supposed to get up?
This post is about a windy day in Büyükcekmece. I wake up late in a dark room, then I go to a café and stay there for the rest of the day. I had stayed up late doing my laundry. The rule of changing my socks daily was still intact, so there was a lot […]
ode to Kadiköy
This post is about the part of Istanbul that’s called Kadiköy and how awesome I think it is. Because of liberalism, and because of cats. I used to refer to the European side of Istanbul as the “fun side”. Looking at the map made it seem that way to me, maybe because most of the […]
Hallelujah, the Hagia Sophia is a mosque!
This post is about a visit to the Hagia Sophia. She has recently been converted into a mosque, which I think is wonderful. One cannot visit Xi’an without seeing the Terracotta Army, one cannot visit Samarkand without seeing the Registan, and one cannot visit Istanbul without seeing the Hagia Sophia. It is the law. And […]
eclecticism
This post is about a visit to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I am confused by the stylistic mess and delighted by a forgery and by a church. The Caboose is safe in a garage on the European side while I am staying with the Kantian in Kadıköy. Istanbul is all around me, and I can […]