Sipping my cup of instant coffee as I gaze out from my small balcony to the streets of Varna. I’ve been here for four days. Today I must cross the border. My Maps app shows about two hours of riding to get to Constanta on the Black Sea Coast in Romania. I look through the […]
The following afternoon I sit down one-on-one with Marin, who guides me through a fast-track “master class” of Bulgarian wine. We find a quiet cafe in a leafy neighborhood, far off the main drag. WE snack on cheese and dried meat while tasting the beautiful bottle of Pamid I’ve been carrying for well over a […]
Varna is feeling like home. In fact, Bulgaria seems like home. Long-term travel, especially by motorcycle, with no itinerary, gives me to settle in when it feels right. Here in Varna, it feels great. Tonight I meet Nina, my new friend, and sommelier at Sea Terrace. It’s her night off, and we will give our […]
One of the Bulgarian wineries making a name and earning praise and accolades in the eastern part of the Danube Plain is Salla Estate. Located just 60 kilometers from Varna, Salla Estate’s beginnings started in 2007 when brothers Ivan Ivanov and Georgi Anastasov planted some 30 hectares of vineyards outside the village of Blaskovo. In 2010, […]
With my bike safely parked in front of the Divesta Hotel in downtown Varna, I exchanged my motorcycle boots for walking shoes and headed to the Black Sea Coast. Varna is the third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest in the Bulgarian Riviera. It is the northernmost city on the Black Sea and is served […]
The ride from Veliko Tarnovo to Varna over good roads is uneventful and takes me about three hours with a stop for fuel, coffee, and a much-needed drink of cold water. After battling the notorious Varna traffic, I get lost looking for my hotel. My time is tight as the clock ticks. Legendary sommelier and […]
In Sliven, I have my only and last meal in the restaurant at the Park Central Hotel. The staff allowed me to taste the samples of Rossidi wines Eddie gave me, along with a glass of Pinot Noir by Edward Miroglio, another nearby winery. Edward Miroglio not only owns the winery that bears his name, […]
With the ancient city of Plovdiv fading in my rearview, I motor down the back roads through the Thracian Valley. After an hour, I rejoin the highway for thirty minutes and then return to the back roads. Today I will meet Eddie Kourian, the CEO, co-founder and proprietor of Rossidi, a boutique winery outside of […]
Plovdiv Bulgaria is the country’s second-largest city after Sofia, the capital. Spread about in the Upper Thracian Plain, Plovdiv is one of Europe’s oldest cities. Historians date the location back some 4,000 years BC when Thracians settled in the hills surrounding the town. They built a fortified settlement in what’s called the Three Hills—and so […]
It’s about a fifteen-minute drive east from the center of Plovdiv to the sprawling Zagreus Winery. My driver Todor never visited the winery but admitted he isn’t familiar with the wines. The winery and tasting room sit on a hillside overlooking over a hundred hectares of vineyards. Its modern architecture and floor to ceiling curvilinear […]
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