In May 2001 I spent 2 weeks travelling in Bulgaria. This is a very ancient and honourable culture that disappeared from the history books for longer than my own country has been in existence. There are wonderful ruins, great churches and interesting people.

My trip began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria and a major city. I was able to stay with a Servas host that gave me a totally different perspective of the city. Sofia offered two highlights for me: the first was an evening at the opera. Tickets were 15 BGL (about $7 USD). The opera was Don Carlos with glorious singing and acting and a set too large for the stage. The second highlight was a day excursion to Rila Monastery. This is an ancient monastery, with monks still living there. I chose an English language day trip from Sophia with an English speaking guide and lunch. It cost ($65 USD) and I’m certain it could be done less expensive than that. But I chose to go with convenience. Behind Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was under restoration while I was there, women come to sell their handwork. The quality was good and the prices were very reasonable. You can negotiate.

Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet that was difficult for me. I carried the alphabet with me, but even then I had difficulty. Languages are not my forte, normally I was able to find English speakers and to make my needs and wants known. I found that many Bulgarians spoke both French and German so those languages would help.

From Sofia, I preceded to Plovdiv. Throughout the country I used local busses. They were inexpensive, had good equipment, and were normally on time. Bulgarian drivers are very aggressive. There is also a railroad system, but it was just easier to use the busses.

Plovdiv is another ancient city that has a Roman amphitheatre, which was fascinating to see. There my Servas host family took me to Bachkovo Monastery. It has not been restored like Rila and is darker and more mysterious. I liked it a lot. While I was there the Spring International Trade Fair was going on. I attended one morning. It was fascinating to see the various vendors from all over Europe and what they were offering.

From Plovdiv I continued to Veliko Turnovo – a medieval city in the mountains. I highly recommend this. It has a beautiful setting with interesting craft shops. While I was there the folk festival was going on near my hotel. I couldn’t understand a word of the songs, but the dancing was interesting, the costumes colourful and the people a joy to watch.

Then it was on to the Black Sea. This was probably my favourite part of the trip. I began in Varna – which has one of the most beautiful Cathedral churches, I have ever seen. Then I spent a night in Nessebar – a coast city and ended in Burgas, a large port. From there I took the bus to Istanbul, Turkey for another week.

One last note – wherever I went in the country I was able to find computer cafes. For the most part, the prices were good and the equipment was fast. I sent e-mails on a regular basis.

Thank you Sandra – this is so inspiring! You have given the Beetle an idea for a European holiday! If you would like to contact her, she can be reached on: smingua32@msn.com

David Showalter, Personal Traveler’s President’s, has kindly offered E-Newsletter readers a great discount on his new travel course, “The Best European Vacation of Your Life.”. This course was writen, based upon David’s personal experience traveling through Eastern Europe. The finsihed product is an affordable, highly informative Audio CD course on how/why/when etc to travel through this wonderful, overlooked region.

The course shows you how to avoid Traditional Western European tourist traps where absolutely everything is too expensive, greatly limiting your ability to go places and participate in events. Most items and services cost 1/20th of their U.S. Prices, and we have found that we could afford to go anywhere, eat everything, and buy anything we wanted.

A 10% discount on all their courses are avalible to all E-Newsletter subscribers, just enter “GTC1” in the “merchant code for discount” box on their online order form.

To learn more visit europejam.com

This report of the last London meeting on the 1st December is written by Padmassana.

John Hornbuckle’s wonderful slides took us around Chile. He showed us the wildlife and landscape of the country. Though John began with a slide of an owl, this was a topical Harry Potter joke, he went on to show us photos of birds that can only be found in the Andes and animals like the Vicuna. He went on to tell us about Arica, which until recently was the driest place on earth, Lauca National Park in northern Chile. We saw photos of snow-capped mountains and volcano’s. John’s slides then showed us the salt area of Salar de Uyuni and down to the far south via the hot springs of El Tatio.

After the break, Denise Heywood showed us Vietnam, without too many references to the war. She explained that over 60% of the population were born after 1975 and showed us photo’s of the children, who are Vietnams future. Denise showed us colonial French architecture, such as the Opera House, which is a copy of the one in Paris and towns like Hoi An and Na Trang. She also showed us the Cu chi tunnels left over from the war, which are difficult for westerners to enter. These tunnels led into underground schools, hospitals that the Vietnamese operated in during the war, there are hundreds of miles of tunnels going as far as the Cambodian border.

Coming on 5^th January: Four Mini-Talk Presentations and New Year Party – a programme of four twenty minute talks, offering a format that aims to offer the opportunity for different, specialist and off beat subjects and first time speakers.

After the meeting we will be having our annual New Year Party, please bring a contribution of food and non-alcoholic drink

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Gardenat 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk