BULGARIA and THRACIAN GOLD.

It was not a fortuitous start to my time in Bulgaria. I only just managed to make the connection with Lufthansa through pushing in to the passport control -the queue stretched for miles and miles. However my big yellow suitcase was not so lucky and is now sitting in Frankfurt Airport. St Sofia the city’s patron, has a bit of work to do.

Then, my taxi driver charged way too much to get to my hotel-Les Fleurs Boutique Hotel-but I felt too stressed to argue..THEN it poured with rain…ahhhh. My gorgeous Gorman rain jacket is in my big yellow suitcase- despite all of this, I do like the OLD European cultured but shabby vibe of Sofia.. The main pedestrian drag was very buzzy and hip- the streets of the city centre are large, green and tree lined and reflect more glorious times.

As it was pouring with rain I ran into the first restaurant I could find..and lo and behold it was full of smokers!! The rest of the Balkans had outside smoking which was annoying enough-but inside is horrible. Spent the day exploring the underground ancient Roman city of Serdica as Sofia was called- no rain or smokers there.

While shopping for clothes in the event my big yellow suitcase disappears in the Balkans I came across a huge fair/ market in the square..always an exciting moment in my life. Alas, it was a monstrous Bulgarian book fair- all in Cyrillic-while I can decipher basic Greek, Cyrillic is very challenging which is why I have a tour guide, and hopefully I will not disappear in the Rila Mountains, with my bank account drained and my kidneys sold!!-although they are not in good shape.

Finally met my tour guide Patrick, who has some resemblance to George Clooney-(in a Bulgarian way -and he is very aware of that)-and we toured around Sofia -yes another bloody church the Alexander Nevski Cathedral and St George Rotunda and more of the Serdica. He does not look like a serial killer..so far.-that is because he is heavily disguised as G.C.

During the Changing of the Guards funny walk, a protest had been gathering ( for some reason my guide was unable to tell me why?) and an Orthodox priest leapt out of the crowd brandishing his large cross to attack a Politician who had just arrived at the parliament..My guide said he was cursing him.. I always miss the best bits.. but an intense police presence stopped me getting closer to the funny walkers.

The National Museum of History was located in an old Soviet style building a long way out of the city centre and houses some impressive Thracian artifacts and jewels. It is a huge mystery why the Thracians an apparently rich and sophisticated society,did not leave any record of their existence, except for beautiful jewellery, wine goblets and weapons and amazing burial chambers. They worshiped Dionysus, drank a lot, were promiscuous and indulged in tattoos!!. Party people.

Veliko Tarnovo one of Bulgaria’s oldest towns and the former capital, of the Second Bulgarian Empire Tsarevets Castle is at its centre,,a restored site which was in a strategic centre of the empire until conquered by the Ottomans. We stayed at the delightful Gurko Hotel in the old town- I think I had the upgraded room!!- until the owners had a bit of a party in the street late at night right under my window!!

More stairs and steep ascents up the rambling ruins of Tsarevets Castle-the dramatic setting of the Medieval Tsars Second Bulgarian Empire, I didn’t even know there was a First Empire.- and a Third. My newly acquired guide, who I have just met and will be spending 2 weeks on the road with, informs me of his passion for handcrafted Bulgarian knives, before leading me down dangerous paths.. I was not worried!!!?

Bulgaria is very green and wild, with huge mountainous uninhabited sections -and we drove through the lush green mountains of silver linden trees, oak, beech, pine and surprisingly walnuts trees lining the roads. The River Yantra divides the city and with its amphitheatre of cascading greenery and the old town.

We packed so much in -The only Titanic monument in Bulgaria-in memory of those Bulgarians who died on the Titanic..I did find this a tad underwhelming, but I didn’t dare complain, with the vision of those ‘Knives’ lurking over me!! The 2 delightful villages and open air museums of crafts, artisan houses that had been relocated offering traditional artisans studios, powered by the stream that ran through them. Stone bridges, cobblestoned streets , clock towers and amazing wood carvings.

Etara National Revival Period homes-often walled for security-did I mention another Knife shop?- and I am ashamed to say I bought children’s ugg boots-but they were hand made Bulgarian ones. Then also Tryavna with its stunning wood carved ceilings and clock tower.

On the way to Ruse on The Danube, we clambered up to the rock cave monasteries of Ivanovo located up in high cliffs to avoid the hoi polloi. It was a mystical remote monastic life. Now a Unesco World Heritage site with incredible rock paintings of the 13th -14th century-it states a 10 minute walk but it took me 20 mins uphill with lots of huffing and puffing.

The 14-15th century murals are supposedly the best examples in Bulgaria.

Then the highlight for me, was the Thracian tombs on the way to Varna. As it is near the end of the school year in Europe there are busloads of school children in all the places we have been to. We made a big attempt to leave early from Varna and and as we turned into the Thracian tombs- there were 2 bus loads of children before us!!! ahhhh! We had to go into the tombs in small groups after donning stunning plastic shoes protectors- so it was a slow process..which is why we wanted to be first on the scene. George Clooney was muttering swear words.

All of this was made worse by the fact I had limited sleep in the delightful hotel- where my bedroom was above the Saxophone player in the restaurant , the night before.

We were not allowed to take photos in the tomb..not sure how these appeared on my phone.. I blame the school children.

Then another series of steep stairs to access the unusual shrine of a Muslim sect of Demir Baba and his holy water. I failed all the rituals and drank some ‘magic’ water, but alas I have not gained eternal youth. Then I had to climb the bloody steep stairs to get out-thanks Demir!

Now we are on the Thracian Plains at Varna on the Black Sea.

• Bulgaria