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Hello again everyone! It is a quick update today, so I will just get straight on with it!

 

Thursday 3rd

 

An early start today as we wanted to get on with finishing the tongue and groove wooden wall. We were able to finish that in the morning, with no problems, and then stopped for brunch, which we ate sitting in the warm sunshine in the garden.

 

Wooden wall is finished

Foaming the gaps

Alfresco brunch in November

 

In the afternoon we were feeling motivated and productive so I got on with taping and joining the plasterboard wall whilst Pete did a second coat of PVA on the stone wall. A great days progress - everything is slowly coming together at long last!

 

PVAed again

All the gaps are filled

 

Today we decided to move all our washing up facilities to the bathroom - this is quite gross and unenjoyable (even more than regular washing up) but at least it is lighter and much warmer than doing it outside.

 

Not very glamorous - washing up in the bathroom!

Sleepy cat

Friday 4th

 

Market day today and, as usual, we spent the whole morning out in Chirpan. It was a horrible rainy day today and when we got home we unpacked the shopping and organised/tidied the kitchen. I then carried on with taping and joining the lower section of the ceiling and did another layer in the areas that needed it on the wall. Whilst I did that Pete did a big tidy downstairs and got the place looking ship shape. We called it a day quite early - just before it got dark - and had a cosy night inside.

 

The sun pokes through the clouds

Tidy house

The best thing about winter - dark beer!

Whole roasted cauliflower with baked rice for dinner

Saturday 5th

 

We'd decided to have a real weekend this week, as we were feeling tired and in need of a bit of a break. We also wanted to do some walking whilst the weather was still so nice and the autumn colours were still in full swing. We'd chosen to go to the Eastern Rhodopes - somewhere we've been wanting to visit for a while. There are a few sights to see down there as well as the fact that you just can't beat a stroll in the mountains!

 

We got up very early to pack and get the house and cat ready to be left for a night - including turning off the water in case of freezing. All ready we set of for the short drive, which was supposedly about an hour and a half to the town of Kardzhali. The morning was gorgeous and sunny, until, that is, we arrived in a village only a few kilometres away from Chirpan which was completely covered in fog and we could only see a few metres ahead of us! So strange! Eventually we drove out of the crazy fog and it was a beautiful day once again.

 

Foggy start to the day

 

Our first stop was in a small town - called Mineralni Bani (Mineral Baths in English) - where we had a coffee and got some snacks from a shop. The place was pretty but definitely had a 'out of season' kind of vibe, so after a quick stop in a very ugly café we went on our way!

 

Vineyards

Mineralni Bani

Is this a café or a bondage nightclub - who knows!?

 

The drive became prettier and prettier as we got further south but was much less mountainous than expected. We headed towards the 'Stone Mushrooms' - a site where ancient underwater volcanic activity and weather erosion has formed the rock into the shapes and colours of mushrooms. We came across the site very suddenly, and it was a lot smaller than I'd imagined, but impressive and beautiful all the same. We clambered about on the rocks for a while and let Lucy have a run around, before getting back in the van to carry on the drive. Oh - one interesting thing to also mention is that every village we passed had a mosque as well as, or instead, of a church, which was a really interesting cultural difference to see. Sadly we didn't hear any prayers coming from the beautiful minarets that we passed.

 

Lovely

Stone mushrooms

Stone mushrooms

A much smaller site than the guidebook makes out!

 

The next, and main, attraction for the day was Perperikon. This is an ancient city set on top of a hill which was first inhabited 8000 years ago. 8000!!! It has changed and grown over the centuries and has been a sacred and important place for Thracians and Romans. I highly recommend reading and/or visiting as it was an incredible place. We didn't get a guide (although I wish we had) but we did buy a map which had a lot of information, so we guided ourselves. We spent a few hours there wandering around and stopped for a late breakfast at the top of the hill.

 

PHOTO OVERLOAD ALERT!!      

 

The hike up the hill

Stunning views

Entrance

Chilling in various old seats!

Pretty, pretty

8000 year old throne

Roman column

The edge of the city

Perperikon

Pete in the tower

Inside the sacrifice hole!

One of the cisterns that provided water

 

It was only about 2 o'clock by the time we'd walked back down to the car park so we headed further south in search for a guesthouse for the night. I had read about a few villages along the reservoir at Kardzhali which sounded like they'd be pretty and have somewhere to stay, so this was our next destination. Unsurprisingly the road signs around Kardzhali were awful and confusing so after driving back and forth several times through the city we finally found the road we wanted. We passed a few villages, but none were showing any signs of being touristy at all. We carried on driving and the road because smaller and more steep and the scenery became absolutely stunning - tall forested mountains surrounding a huge lake. We passed several BBQ areas with people having lunch and we stopped too for a small picnic and to take in the view.

 

Amazing colours and rock formations

The reservoir

Picnic

Seemingly abandoned village

Cow

 

We drove several more kilometres and it started to feel very isolated. Eventually we came to the last village on the road, which seemed more like a ghost town, and, disappointingly, we had to turn around and head back towards the city. Back at Kardzhali it was clouding over and already starting to get dark so, in the end, we decided just to head back home. This was a bit of a shame as we'd been excited to have a night away, but at least it was less than a couple of hours back to Chirpan and we'd had a fab day out. Perhaps next time I will book first!  

 

Sun setting over the Rhodopes

 

Back in Chirpan we went to the local hotel for a dinner as it is the fanciest place near us so was a bit of a treat. We had a lovely meal there and then came home to drink wine and dance to music!

 

Dinner at the Trendafiloff

Sunday 6th

 

We'd planned a full weekend off and we were going to enjoy it whether we were away or not. So today we spent the whole day chilling out at home, watching films and eating food. It was great!

 

Cosy day

Monday 7th - Saturday 12th

 

I've decided to do this whole week in one go as there is not enough to say for each day really. We've been working upstairs everyday - filling, caulking, plastering, painting, varnishing... all the ings! These finishing touches are all time consuming, especially as you have to wait for each layer to dry. But it is looking amazing up there and we are getting very close to the end now. We've also had another emergency shopping day to Stara Zagora for more materials and, of course, the market on Friday.

There aren't many photos either as it is difficult to take interesting pictures of three layers of white plaster followed by three layers of white/off-white paint...

 

White plaster - layer one

Filling all the gaps between the wonky lintels

Making the edges the look nice

The mezzanine is also all plastered and painted

Snap of the bare looking garden

Dark stained wooden wall

Adding trimming to the edges

Panorama - it's definitely still a building site

More filling in wonky edges

Tea break

Painting

Off-white on white

Guy at market selling sausages from his car!

 

In other, more sociable, news we have been to K & R's for an evening and had a hilarious night involving far too much wine and lots of dancing and disco lights. We have also met up with some people from the UK, that follow the blog, who plan on moving to Bulgaria in the near future and were here visiting for the first time. It was great to meet them (although, unfortunately much too brief) and answer some of the questions they had - hopefully we will get to see them again next year.

 

We stopped for one at the local bar

 

It is also still cheap lemon season, so kilos of lemons have been juiced and frozen in preparation for summer cocktails!

 

Sunday 13th

 

Today has been another great day as our friend D has been round all day fitting our electrics. First he fit everything into the fuse box - including the wires we've installed for other areas (eg. summer kitchen and living room.) Then he was upstairs connecting the mass of wires for lighting into the junction box and fitting the 'switch board' for them all. We haven't yet fit all the light fittings, or the sockets, but the ones we have in look GREAT and we are so chuffed to have power and lighting up there at last. He even fit a two way switch for the mezzanine level and a dimmer switch for our dining table light - fancy!

 

Fuse box is complete :-)

'Switch board'

Ceiling lights!

Mezzanine light!

Lights!

Market sausages for dinner

 

Whilst he did that we were around to help him as well as getting on with a few other bits and bobs - mainly sanding back and removing paint from the beams before linseed oiling them. Pete also stewed a load of apples for freezing. Oh also, today has been seriously windy and the tile covering our chimney has actually blown off, so that needs to be fixed before it rains.

 

So next week it is all go in the kitchen as we crack on and get as much done as possible - it is so close now we can smell it! Take care all xx