Day 2 in Veliko Ternova

We are so loving Bulgaria. Last night's restaurant and tonight's were fabulous. They were restaurants that would really be 5 star in the US in terms of quality of food and service. The servers spoke  excellent English and were very attentive. Tonight's waiter brought out our silverware according to what we had ordered and wore white gloves when he placed it on the table. The Bulgarian wine was fabulous and he was always there to refill our glasses when needed.  All for under $20 - with dessert.  Apparently Viking cruises come here. When I was shopping in the shops, there were suddenly tons of American tourists and the shops accept dollars. 

This morning I was feeling pretty tired. Most of the others were hiking up to a little village. I chose to stay here and rest. We have hiked up steep hills and climbed tons of stairs and I just felt that I needed a rest. I just basically stayed in my hotel room this morning. (The hikers ended up seeing a gypsy wedding. Not fair!). At around 1:00 I went out to get lunch. I was sitting at an outdoor table when I saw Cindy go by. She had intended to take a bus to the Black Sea for the day, so I was surprised to see her. It turned out that she got a migraine and didn't go. So we had lunch together. Then I shopped for a while. I bought a silver bracelet. 

Tomorrow we leave for Belogradchik at 10. It's a long drive and we are taking private transport again. Naviana has instructed us to take some things from the breakfast buffet for the trip. We told her that is illegal. She saw it totally differently. She said we've paid for it.  I'm not sure what would be good to take. The buffet hasn't changed much since Budapest: cold cuts (today there was bologna and boiled ham), sliced cheese, boiled eggs, toast, jam, plain yogurt, granola and cereal. I always eat granola and yogurt.   In Bucharest there were also tomatoes and oranges. (The tomatoes are incredible here.). There were cherries here this morning. I love cherries, but for about the last five years I haven't been able to eat them. They give me an awful stomach ache.  So, hopefully, there will be another fruit tomorrow. 

We've  been making a specific effort to eat some fruits and veggies. It's always hard when you travel, but especially in Romania everything was pork (schnitzel, cutlet, sausage, etc) and potatoes or polenta. No vegetables. In Bulgaria, there are more vegetables, but you still have to make an effort to get them with your meal.  And the most common meat is still pork. Last night I had eggplant (with some pork) and tonight I had Bulgarian roast lamb.