A great start to the day,sunshine and warm temperatures promised to make this a very pleasant day to explore the town.
We found out about a free tour run by students starting at 11.00 am so we decided to give it a go, how pleased we were as we met some nice people and our guide Alex was very knowledgeable and gave us a great introduction to Bulgarian history and specific events affecting this town and it's residents over the ages . It is one of the oldest towns as well as the capital and residence of the first Tzars of Bulgaria until along came the Romans who established Plovdiv as the capital due to its strategic position
We set off to find the Information Centre and meet up with the guide . I was wondering how we would survive the heat in the middle of the day but Alex had it well planned and assembled us in shady places and seemed to avoid the steep streets and flights of steps Brad and I struggled with on our tour.
This is a town of heights,houses tumble down the hillside and cobbled streets run upwards without any apparent plan,steps lead into nooks and crannies and signposts point in general directions rather than specific places,very confusing to the visitor.
Our tour led us around the key sights around the old town mentioned in the guide book especially the Tsarvets fortification which takes several hours to look around and the Essen monument which we can see from our Window . We also saw the best place to watch the evening light and sound show which turned out to be spectacular . Amazing effects of these lights playing across the old fortress ruins and telling the story of the history of the town through musical effects. They do not do it every night any longer because of the cost so we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time. We had to wait until after nine thirty but it was worth it.
We spent some time doing some shopping as the hand crafts were done by authentic craftspeople in a particular place Alex took us to so we bought some pottery and small things to stow away in our pockets.
Later in the day when it got a little cooler we walked up to the Tsarvets site,a massive fortress and castle dating back to the 2nd century . It is in a very strategic position and over the centuries its use had changed depending on who the vanquished or victorious were . We climbed all over the site and enjoyed the views and historic significant of the place . Not a lot of information in English to help us but some visuals helped.
Dinner and bed followed . Our day had been very active and it was nice to relax over a pleasant meal of salads and pita bread at our favorite restaurant.
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