During our last morning in Veliko Tărnovo, Bulgaria, we had heard it was worth a visit to the small village of Arbanasi, known for its monasteries and hiking. I actually originally got the idea from a G-Adventure trip we were interested in booking before we decided to plan the trip ourselves. I ended up copied their itinerary and then altered itbased on our liking, to arrive at our own.
There were no regular buses up to the village that morning, so we took a cab. When we first arrived, we noticed a group of people with a tour guide. I always like to tag along with groups to hear if the tours are in English and then I ease drop to see if I learn anything. So I whispered to Beth lets tag along and listen. It was English-speaking and then we learned it WAS the G-Adventure trip we looked at and may have booked. They told us we were much smarter doing it on our own and how terrible the trains were particularly leaving Budapest on the night train to Sighsoara because of the Syrian migrant situation. The trains were slow and not very good. The group was made up of 85% Canadians, 1 Kiwi couple and 1 really obnoxious American, Glenn, from Harrison NJ. They were so happy to learn that there were nice Americains (like us!) out there as they were beginning to think all Americans were like him! Beth got stuck listening to Glenn complain about G-Adventure and I made some nice Canadian friends, Lucy and Dan from Winnipeg with whom we had coffee and baklava.
Arbanasi was adorable. A sleepy town of 2,500, especially on a Sunday misty morning, with 90 churches, homes and monasteries that are state-protected cultural monuments. During the 16th century, the town ironically flourished under the Ottoman rule, who encouraged church-building here.
We visited the Navity Church, the oldest surviving one in town, with a kaleidoscopic frescoes interior, and paintings created between 1632-1649. Over 3500 figures are depicted in some 2000 scenes throughout the church, making the site a bit overwhelming for one visit. We continued to walk around the town with our new-found friends but then it was time to cab it back to the hotel to catch out 12:30 taxi trip to Plovdiv. We hoped to run into them again in Plovdiv or Istanbul as hey, we knew their itinerary as it was almost exactly ours too!!
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