Plod off to Bulgaria: Trip number two

Now that we are half Bulgarian having spent 6 days there we couldn't wait to head back. So as soon as we returned to England we immediately booked flights and car hire. This time we were going for a fortnight again flying to Sofia but driving to Balchik on the coast and back but included in this trip we had arranged to view some houses with our estate agent Monica.
Easy jet delivered us on time and we picked up our car and set off.
We were driving to the Rousse area where we wanted to view some houses as it's a lovely place.
All I can say is it's a bloody long drive after after being up since about 3:30 am to catch a flight and with hindsight we should of split this journey up but you live and learn.
We finally arrived at our accommodation around 5pm absolutely shattered.
We had booked into a hotel in Ivanavo and although the hotel was clean and tidy there ain't much in Ivanavo, again you live and learn. The hotel was full of workmen and backed onto the railway line. Its saving grace was it had a lovely courtyard garden at the back and the workmen were friendly and not too noisy as they sat outside drinking beer every night.
The only place to eat in Ivanavo was our hotel and the lady that booked us in told us it opened at 7pm. So around 7 pm we sauntered down to find the door to the restaurant locked. We were joined by a couple of dutch cyclists who were also staying there and had also come to eat.
I knocked on the door and an elderly lady opened it and promptly shut it in my face.
We all laughed left it a minute then went in to much muttering from the elderly lady inside.
Our meal was delivered to us and we had no choice of what we were getting it was it was some sort of meat burger and rice but was OK.

Nice courtyard garden at our hotel

It was when we were in Ivanavo we met our estate agent Monica.
Monica picked us up from our hotel and took us out for a full day viewing houses in the area.
Our plan was to look at houses at around £10,000 but were livable in for a holiday home then renovate it when we finally moved permanent. We could afford to get 10K together but not much more for another 18 month.
Monica showed us a good selection of houses but it was clear they all needed work and who knows how much work till you start.
I'm envious of people who have the know how to renovate property where as I have to google which end of a hammer to hold, OK I'm not that bad but when it comes to knocking walls down and rewiring stuff I don't know my arse from my elbow and I just know we would end up living in a building site for years not what we want.
The last house Monica showed us was out of our price range but she wanted to show us the difference by paying a bit more what you could get.

The house she showed us was in a village called Karan Verbovka. It was stunning it had a balcony on the back overlooking the hills and on the balcony was a jacuzzi, 2 leather settees, a table and 4 chairs and a running machine probably to hang your washing on.
We changed our minds we were going to buy a house where we could move into it just meant we had to wait.

The view from the balcony of the stunning house

Nearby swimming pool in Opaka which cost us £1.80 a day to use

We left Ivanavo after a few days vowing to come back to the area to look at more houses in 2018 (and buy one).

From Ivanavo we drove to Balchik on the coast where we had a chill out for a week.
Balchik is great a bit hilly but its like Spain was 30 years ago, no lucky men on the beach no pressure to eat in every restaurant you pass by and not to many Brits although there appear to be more Brits on the coast than inland. But it is the coast after all.
We stayed in a fantastic guest rooms called Yordanovi guest rooms
We are staying here again this year if you go to Balchik you will be hard pressed to find a nicer place to stay with a great friendly family running it. The owner is an ex Bulgarian policeman and his son speaks perfect English nothing is too much trouble for them.

Garden area and bbq

Our hire car and view down to Balchik

Balchik in the evening

From Balchik we started to make our way back across the country towards Sofia and stopped for a couple of nights in Veliko tarnavo or VT as its called.
VT is nice and worth going it has lots of nice bars and restaurants and an old town which we stayed in but it's busy, touristy and more expensive or at least more expensive than other places we stayed. It's just not our cup of tea.