Melnik

We are in Melnik, staying at the Hotel Bulgari Melnik, a bit of a last minute decision after doing a fairly long and hot walk from Melnik up to the Rozhen Monastery and back.

We started the day with an indoor breakfast, making use of the kitchen/lounge on the campsite. It meant that we could use the grill to toast some of our stale bread. It felt a bit like having breakfast in a hotel! We also tried the new Wild Strawberry Jam that we bought at one of the stalls near the bottom of the chairlift yesterday.

The walk was interesting, giving us views of the Melnik Pyramids, strange formations of very soft sandstone. It was quite flat and easy going at the beginning but very steep towards the end.

We were hoping that the monastery would be selling some kind of liquid refreshment, given that it was listed on various wine tours. Unfortunately, it wasn't. But it was very beautiful and serene. No photography allowed, although we snuck a couple of shots outside, so we bought a postcard instead.

When we got back to Melnik, we decided to book into one of the hotels we had walked past, grabbing a quick beer at a bar while we did so.

Once we had checked in, we realised the hotel was also a wine museum. So we did that as well. Basically a wine tasting of 5 wines (including Winston Churchill's favourite wine!??) plus a rakia. Three reds, only one of which we liked, a white and a rose. All local.

We had an interesting conversation with the woman running the wine tasting. She was a similar age to us, left Bulgaria with her family after the breakup of the Soviet Union and moved to the US but decided to move back because the US "isn't a good place to be any more".

We ended the day with another meal out - ordering a tomato and mozzarella salad, fried potatoes, a mixed meat local stew and garlic bread. We finished with pistachio and green fig ice cream. All really good.Read more