Attempt nr. 1

Although we didn´t have a plan for the week in Bulgaria, part of the plan was to do some hiking.

Unfortunately our guidebook was pretty vague on the options. A lot of areas are said to be excellent for hiking. But without giving the details that we wanted.

On Sunday, we decided to head to the first spot on our newly made itinerary: Veliko Tarnovo; the town with the view as described below. We were met by very enthusiastic hostel workers, one of whom excitedly started telling us about an Ecotrail (3, actually) which leads to a nearby monastery. Perfect for our hiking requirements. "You cannot miss it" were the reassuring words of our Bulgarian.

We set off with a pack filled with food, camera´s, extra clothes and so on. We returned looking like two drowned muddy cats..... In between disappearing marks, an unfindable trail and a heavy rainshower we had ended up only across in the other part of town, without having even spotted the monastery.

Ah well. Tomorrow is attempt nr. 1 (again involving a monastery) but hopefully we can laugh about it as much as the first one! Weirdly enough, it really was a very fun day.