I am going to be going out of chronological order with this one but I am just dying to post about it.
Yesterday afternoon, I took a bus from Sofia to Belogradchik. I got picked up at the bus station by the owner of the guest house I was staying at (Drakite Guest House). For a whopping $19 usd, I had a very nice room with private balcony and a shower so big that you could take every shower I have had to so far on this trip and fit them all inside.
This morning I am up so early go to see the fortress. I cannot wait. I pause to take a morning photo from my balcony.
Then off I go. To get to the fortress is a very strenuous walk uphill. Up many hills. But the walk features GOATS!!
I make it to the entrance and it is only 7:45. Good, I have fifteen minutes to recover. 8:00 comes. No sign of life. I Google and find out it opens at 9:00 DAMMIT I AM HERE TOO EARLY.
I take some pictures around the entrance.
I wonder if this is really Belogradchik’s post office?
Then I go return to sitting and waiting. The next thing I know, a cat comes out of nowhere and starts rubbing all over me. I hate cats. Get OFF me. It will not leave me alone.
Then the bees come. BEES. I am so scared of bees. I have never been stung so the anticipation of what it would feel like has grown so big over the years. As an added bonus: when I was very young, I saw my sister take a drink from a can of soda that had a bee floating at the opening. She swallowed the bee, it stung the back of her throat. Her throat completely swells up and off to the hospital she goes. I am still traumatized by this. To make it even worse, after telling this story for literally three decades, someone points out the obvious to me. That she probably was allergic to bees and went into anaphylactic shock. Since she is my sister, I probably have the same bee allergy. WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THIS. I am so scared of bees and you tell me THIS?
So now I am up here an hour early with a cat and some bees. The bees will never go away. I try and be nice to the cat (which really just amounts to me no longer telling it to go away) thinking maybe it will kill the bees. It doesn’t. It just keeps purring all over me. Yuck. More bees come, more freak outs. No matter what I do, I cannot escape these stupid bees that keep flying all over me. I am FREAKING OUT at this point. If there are cameras up by the entrance, then there is video of me looking completely insane battling these elements.
Goats and cats and bees, oh my!!! I kept expecting a random pug to wander by and make everything all better. Cats suck, btw.
How, exactly does the squat toilet work. I assume you were wearing some sort of pants and not a skirt. But I am not sure how that would be used by a lady without entirely removing pants. Are you sure you didn’t accidentally walk into the Men’s room?
The way a squat toilet works is that you line your feet up on the foot thingies and squat and go! All my teenaged years of drinking beer in the woods and peeing in the woods really trained me for this.
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Hahaha! This post had me laughing all the way to its end. You have a great attitude while traveling and I applaud you for your curiosity and willingness to experience new things and places. I am sure that Bulgaria loved having you!
Aw, thank you!!!
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I really enjoyed this article! I have so many fond memories of my visit to Belogradchik, and I featured the fortress in my novel. And yes, I took the same photo at the entrance that you did. But, unlike you, I have a huge affection for cats. On my blog describing my Bulgarian adventures I had an ongoing series of photos of “Cats in Bulgaria”. Luckily, I never had any reason to consider a post about “Bees in Bulgaria”. I’m glad you weren’t stung!
I’m glad too! I also wish I had the idea of doing a “Dogs in Bulgaria” series. There’s so many!
Great post, and lovely pictures too. I’d love to visit sometime.
Cheers.
Haha! Great post! Based on your photos, I’d say it was worth it to stick it out through the bees and the cats, freaky as they are. Looks like a gorgeous spot!