ADVENTURE ON A BUDGET | TRAVEL BLOG
It was with sadness we had to depart from Bulgaria in late July. Although the rose-colored glasses lifted a bit, on our third and longest jaunt to Bulgaria so far, it enamored us with its serenity and allure. It affirmed itself as a place we undoubtedly could settle down in, one day, and also as a place in our top…
Those who are regular followers of our Facebook page may have noticed that our posts came to an abrupt slow down in mid-July 2025. This is because I, Mandy, the writer of this blog, had been on yet another “chronic pain discovery journey,” and was utterly immersed in trying to heal the hip pain that had been overtaking my body,…
From Sliven, we decided to take a half day trip up to the “architecturally significant” village of Kotel, (our personally branded “cute” towns), which is folded into yet another of Bulgaria’s mountain ranges…the Eastern Balkans. Kotel is one of the many villages the red hiking trail meanders which offers the opportunity to traverse Bulgaria’s entire length, offering clean mountain air,…
The Far Southwest: Greek and North Macedonian Border Villages Our first day trip from Sandanski took us around an hour southwest of the city where we would collide with Greece and North Macedonia, weave in and out of more than a dozen modest villages, bear witness to dazzling carpets of ruby red poppies, and climb to a significant medieval stronghold…
Day One: Kovachevitsa, Leshten, Gotse Delchev & Ognyanovo It didn't take long to realize that Sandanski may be slightly more challenging when it comes to public transportation than other parts of Bulgaria, so in order to get to the other side of the Pirin Mountains and continue to have our freedom, we rented a second car for another overnight SW…
From Sandanski, it was time to head 9 hours northeast to our next one month perch in Plovdiv, which we’d be splitting between a private apartment and a housesit. Now, one might look at this nine-hour chunk of time and think…that’s absurd in a country the size of Iowa. It kind of is, considering we weren’t even crossing half of it.…
Day One: Plovdiv to Smolyan (Including: Bachkovo, Orehovo, Mogilitsa, Gordo Canyon, & Ustovo) From Plovdiv, we settled on a plan to take an exploratory trip south to tackle some of the sights and villages in the gorgeous Rhodope Mountains, which we can now say, is arguably the most fetching and varied of Bulgaria’s four major mountain chains. The day began by…
From Sofia, we headed back to the bus station…this time without assistance from a “helpful” scammer straight to our platform to wait for the bus amongst a sea of fast-talking smokers. This ride, which would take us three hours south to the town of Sandanski cost $11/each, which is steeper, yet a bit quicker than the train. We have been…