Extra shots from my walks around Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Enjoyed my time in Plovdiv and would welcome the opportunity to visit again. Hopefully for longer next time. It's a comfortable-sized city full of culture, history, entertainment, and dining options, beautiful public spaces and parks. Very pleasant to walk around. Easy to picture spending a couple of months here to enjoy the city and surrounding area fully.

Shots from a walking tour of Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Last November 16th was a beautiful fall Saturday in Plovdiv. Woke up and checked the view out of my room at Hotel Evmolpia.

And after a homey little breakfast ...

... it was time to head out and meet my guide for a walking tour of Plovdiv. First daylight look of the area around my hotel.

Then it was time to learn a bit about Bulgarian Revival architecture. I learned that the reason the upper floors occupy more space than the lower floors is because the tax rate was based on the square footage of the lower level. Clever workaround.

Our walk of course took us by the Castle Gate.

Pretty cool. Then further strolling past both the primary historical sights, like the Roman Amphitheater of Philippolis, as well as the random stone relics laying about near the car park.

Cool place. Very intesting tour. Would recommend.

Some shots from the first 12-ish hours in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

After our company meeting wrapped up in Istanbul last November I started a trip through Bulgaria and Romania. First stop: Plovdiv. Technically, first stop was Sofia where the flight landed and I grabbed the rental car.

But then less than 2 hours later the first real stop was Plovdiv. Initial arrival was a bit tense as my cel was literally on 1% when I pulled up to the security check point to enter into old town and nothing was happening.

Luckily a quick whatsapp exchange with the very responsive hotel manager clarified that I might need to actually approach the kiosk, and soon enough I was allowed through.

Checked in after hours, but received a warm and helfpul welcome from the folks at Hotel Evmolpia.

Wine was tasty, for the record.
First thing I needed to do was get food. Balkan Burrito got my attention, so that was happening.

Service was helpful. Taste was pretty good. Structure of the actual burrito was a bit loose so I probably went through 17 napkins. But it got the job done. Fuel for some roaming to see the various Roman ruins, brilliantly lit up at night, before strolling back through Old Town to the hotel for some rest.

Quick Review: Los Pastorcitos de Sirloin (Del Valle, CDMX)

Los Pastorcitos de Sirloin opened maybe 12-18 months ago in a stretch of Romero de Terreros that has been slowly but steadily evolving into a little slice of cool. Actually on both sides of Avenida Coyoacán now that I think about it. We've tried it a couple times prior to this afternoon's lunch visit. And the time lapse between each visit is just long enough for me to forget what we got the last time. Today it was the tacos especiales de top sirloin with flour tortillas and a side of guac. Salsa tray ranging across varying degrees of picante. Little dishes of diced piña and pickled onions for some extra fixins. Solid.
$420 MXN before tip

A gift from our glass provider

Judy first learned about Resplandor around 10 years ago. It was an early IWC day trip that she took with some friends, up to the 'glass factory' where they hand blow all kinds of great creations. Little did she know back then that our paths would cross again with Resplandor, where we would be featuring a variety of their glasses in a little retail shop we had no notion of yet. Opening 'Paskwarho', a little shop selling artesanía Mexicana, was still a couple of years off in the future. But about maybe 6 years after her first visit to the fábrica in Hidalgo, and maybe a year or so into our endeavor as small-time retailers, we had an unexpected interruption in our pottery supply. One of our socios in Capula was ill and unable to work. A good 30% of our expected inventory was not going to materialize for probably close to a year. With shelves to fill in our spot in Bazar San Ángel, we decided that handblown glass from Resplandor would be a great complement to our selection of pottery. Three years later or so now in early 2025 we have become semi-regular customers and the family running the show knows us decently well. Last week we were gifted these custom mugs, leftover from some previous order for someone at the US Embassy here in México. A little 'obsequio' of gratitude for our modest but steady patronage of their glassworks.