We woke up in our cozy little apartment pretty late, by travel standards anyway, at 9:30 this morning.

After getting ready and putting away our drying laundry we had scattered throughout the place, we headed out the door.

Today was an easy day.

A little excursion to Vrana Park during the day and a little theatre at night.

Vrana Park

Vrana Park is about 20km south of the city and is open to visitors on the weekends.

You can catch a few different local buses to get you there in about an hour or you can catch the special X50 bus which runs hourly on the weekends and only takes 20 minutes.

We took the metro a couple of stops and got off to where the X50 bus picks up passengers for the park.

You could tell the bus was special from the normal local buses as it approached showing off a double deck.

Everyone naturally went up to the top deck because, well, I don’t know why.   So you can see the industrial highway from a higher vantage point?

I don’t know.   Anyway, like lemmings they all went to the top deck while I hung out almost by myself on the bottom level.

We arrived at Vrana park around noon and the first thing on tap before even entering the park was to find some food.

I had read that there was a cheap place near the entrance that offered good, homemade Bulgarian food.

My kind of thing!

Sure enough, if you look past the two stands at the entrance selling sandwiches and ice cream and glance over to the right, you see a tiny restaurant with patio seating and a smoking bbq outside cooking various meats.

Yes, please!

We sat down and were handed a handwritten menu in Bulgarian.

Yes!!!   This is what I want.

You just know you’re gonna have an authentic good meal when your menu is handwritten!

After comically trying to decipher the menu using the camera on Google Translate, I finally just settled on picking one of the items randomly and see what came out.

Nathan order a menu item called the mish mash while I stuck with my random choice.

We assumed the mish mash would literally be a mish mash of different meats from the bbq but, nope, it was a plate of scrambled egg and peppers.

My random choice ended up being schnitzel, which, of course, I can’t have because of my gluten allergy.

After a quick switch-a-roo, Nathan was eating my schnitzel and I was devouring my mish mash.

The meal was actually pretty good but I needed some protein.   I wanted a sausage off that grill on the bbq!

So, using my Google Translate, I ordered a sausage.

I was expecting a normal hot dog sized sausage but instead I got a whopping foot long sausage which literally was hanging off the plate as it was bigger than it.

Perfect!

All in all, the meal between us only cost us a puny 21lev which is about $15.   That’s insane!   We’ve been paying more than that for one meal this entire time.

Anyway, I was so happy with finding this place and the food and the experience that I just left him 30lev to tip him handsomely.

I only wish this place was nearby in town because I’d be there every meal.

No, really, Vrana Park

I know the last section was titled Vrana Park but, really, it was all about food.

In all actuality, it didn’t even matter if we didn’t step foot in the park.   I had my adventure for the day.   I had found that great little restaurant for lunch.

But, yeah, I guess we should go in the park since we’re here, eh?

The park is massive surrounded by huge trees.   Everywhere you look, you can see young families out enjoying the park on their weekend.

We walked straight through the park until we came upon the Royal Palace which is, sadly, not open to the public.

There were also some gardens and something unique I had never seen in a park before – a dog cemetery.

In a little wooded area to the side were 6 gravestones where presumably the royal dogs have been buried over the years.

We came back through the park another way passing by a nice little lake and, before you knew it, we were back on the bus going back home.

I don’t know, there’s just something about hanging out in parks and just taking it easy.   It puts your mind at ease and everything else just washes away and nothing else matters.

It’s definitely nice to have these days scattered throughout your travels.

A night at the theatre

A couple of days ago we were trying to figure out if there was something cultured to do here on Nathan’s last weekend traveling.

We were looking for anything – plays, opera, ballet, whatever.

We ended up finding a concert for tonight at the Bulgaria Concert Hall.

It was a concert remembering the 80th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews.   Wow, not only a concert, but one with meaning!

A profound concert!

We were excited to have found this and when we popped by the concert hall a couple of days ago to buy tickets for tonight, we were additionally surprised to find that the concert was actually free.

A free, profound concert to remember Bulgarian Jews.   I couldn’t think of anything more cultured than that!

We wanted to arrive at the concert hall early as we had been instructed to come at 6:15 for the 7:00 show.

On our way up the street I saw a store selling pops and junk food and I wanted some of both so I popped in and grabbed a container of Tzatziki Pringles and Strawberry & Cream Dr. Pepper.

It wasn’t until I got to the til to make the purchase that I figured out that this store was actually a collector or vintage candy store.

She rang up my two items and it came to a whopping 13lev ($10).   Of course, I wasn’t going to be all “oh my, no never mind, let me put these back”.

Nope, I just smiled and paid the money.

I walked down the street snacking and we arrived to the concert hall…

…and kept walking past…

Yeah, there were people in suits and one guy in a tuxedo.

The lady at the box office the other day said what I was wearing (shorts and t-shirt) were fine for the concert tonight.

So, yeah, here I am wearing that for a significant concert of meaning for the Jewish community.

Oh, and I had Pringles and a Dr. Pepper in my hands.

Yeah, we walked past the hall…

We stopped in a nearby park while I finished my food and drink.   I mean, if I’m showing up in shorts and a t-shirt, I’m sure as hell not compounding it with junk food in my hands.

What followed was my most anxious 45 minutes of this trip so far.

We sat down in our seats and I just sat there waiting for the lights to dim so no one could see how inadequately dressed I was for such an event.

The biggest thing for me was I didn’t want to appear as I was being disrespectful.   Truth be told, if I hadn’t been traveling with Nathan and was just on my own, I probably wouldn’t have even gone inside.

Anyway, for 45 minutes I sat there in my seat wanting to curl up into a little ball and disappear.

To make matters even more anxious for me, there were quite a few prominent people here tonight as well including the president of Bulgaria.

Well, eventually the lights dimmed and the concert started.

And, boy, was it moving.

I’m definitely glad I stuck around to watch the show.

It was a full orchestra playing traditional Jewish songs with a choir comprised of Bulgarian, German, and Israeli singers.

Like I said, it was quite moving.

After the show, we went a few blocks to the downtown area and sat down at a familiar restaurant.   When we saw the menu, we immediately recognized it as the one we had had back in Veliko Tarnovo last week.

I had a cherry glazed duck fillet with mascarpone and sweet potato puree for dinner.   I mean, just the name of the dish makes your mouth water, right?

And for dessert?   A gluten free chocolate cake!

Yeah, it was that kind of day.

So, despite an awkward 45 minutes, the day was amazing.

How can you go wrong with a walk in a park, a moving cultural experience, and great food?