kintante
I just came back from Edirne: Selimiye mosque no outside scafoldings - two or three small ones on the NW inside wall, where the main entrance is located; the mosque is open 24 hours; museums open at 9 am, the covered bazaar around the same time; this is one of the most beautiful mosques I've been to. Reserve at least one day/one night in Edirne, there's much more to see than just the Selimiye mosque.

In about 2 months time we will meet in Eastern Bulgaria, so this seems a good moment to start finalizing the programme for the 2 main days.

* kintante has tried to contact Kazanlak for a visit to the original tomb - any luck or reaction yet, @kintante?
* Does someone have a Bradt Bulgaria guide? I would be interested in their recommendations for small-scale local tour companies that could help us organize a 'more special' visit.
* Is there anybody active at this Forum who lives in Bulgaria and/or speaks Bulgarian? We could need some help with local contacts.

If you want to participate and you are not on this list yet, please send me an e-mail so I count you in.

no, they did not react at all. If we had someone who speaks Bulgarian this would help a lot. Maybe they don't speak EN and thus don't want to reply.

Looking forward to seeing some more details crystallise, as this will be our first WHS Meetup and I'm not familiar with how these are usually organised.

As a side note, we'll have our small dog with us, who has been travelling around Europe with us for the last 1.5 years (and has surely visited more WHS than any other dog!) We'll also have a hire car, as we'll be road tripping around Romania and Bulgaria for a few weeks. Usually our dog either visits the site, stays in the car (if the weather is cool), we alternate visiting or he stays in our Airbnb apartment - we always make it work somehow!

small dogs and small children are welcome too!


the 3 meetings we had so far had some different approaches, it depends also on how accessible the sites are
but we
- try to use the group leverage to get access to a specific site or on a special tour at a WHS
- make a day programme including a time schedule, also with opt-in/opt-out possibilities (so you can do your own thing when you want)
- fit in some opportunity (such as at a leisurely lunch or dinner) to have time to just talk with each other
- can use different means of transport: we used a minibus for a day in Lithuania which was convenient for the sites there; but also many people will have rental cars already in Bulgaria so we could use those as well
- try to keep the fixed costs very low (pay your own lunch/dinner, book your own hotel(s), only do the entrance fees/guides together because of practicalities)

elsslots
Els
I have just reserved a copy of the 2015 edition of Bradt's Bulgaria from Edinburgh City Library. They have several copies and I am confident one will be in my hands within a few days. More then.

elsslots

Thanks Els! Looking forward to it!

Thanks Iain. I found some pages of a copy online, but it was not of much help.

We've come up with this global programme:

Thursday Sept. 6: arrival to Varna at your own convenience
Friday Sept. 7: first day of WHS meetup: Varna – Pobiti TWHS – Madara WHS – Sveshtari WHS – overnight in Ruse
Saturday Sept. 8: second day of WHS meetup: Ruse - Ivanovo WHS - Srebarna WHS - overnight in Varna (or elsewhere if you're heading north after Srebarna)
Sunday Sept. 9: departure

Distance wise, it was not doable to go back and forth on 1 day to Varna. So we added a night in Ruse instead.
And we had to decide between Srebarna and Nessebar. Nessebar is easier to visit on your own and lies right on track for the people heading south via Burgas, so we choose the Srebarna option. We will use rental cars to get around.

We will now start filling in more of te details. New participants are still welcome of course, please send me an e-mail.

Just got access to the Forum so I post a message just to know that it works.
Before the meetup I will go to Sighisoara since I fly to Bucharest due to limited traffic from Gothenburg, Sweden.
I will take a flight from Bucharest to Varna via Sofia.
From Varna I will make a stop in Kazanlak and the day after in Plovdiv (TWHS) before I arrive in Sofia for my
flight to Sweden.

Regarding Ruse overnight stay I have booked Vega Boutique Hotel for the night in Ruse. 9.6 rating on Booking.com at 38,70 Eur for a single room looked like a good idea 😀. I can cancel this booking if you other have a preferred hotels or booked stay in Ruse. Just used my "normal" lifeline. Book something that works well and "upgrade" if needed.

I also booked the same hotel.

Those with a car might better look at the following one, found by kintante: Hotel Anna Palace (parking included, a 4* for 57 EUR)

kintante - if you'll send me a draft of the email, I will hand it to my Bulgarian colleague once he's returned from his vacation and I will ask him if he could translate it to Bulgarian.

Be aware that there are two TWHS in Plovdiv:

The Ancient Plovdiv (14/09/2004)
Bishop's Basilica and Late-Antique Mosaics of Philippopolis, Roman Province of Thrace (29/01/2018)

The reference posted by winterkjm earlier this year in the WHC 2020 section refers to the more recent one, a Serial Nomination of three monuments:
https://www.euscoop.com/en/2018/4/4/plovdiv-basilica-unesco-listing

Staying at Grand Hotel Riga in Ruse.... The Vega was 20€ when I checked... Stupid WHS travellers ruin the prices. Will take care of Varna later.

I have now finalized my trip to Thessaloniki, Mount Athos monastery and Varna for the 2018 Unesco Meeting. Just booked the Grand Hotel Riga in Ruse for 1 night. At 31.50 Euros on the banks of the Danube river. I rented a car for 166 Euros to drive from Varna to Sofia on the 9th with stops in Nesebar (Unesco), Burgas, Kazanlak (Thracian Tomb, trying out my luck, I hear different reports) and overnight in Plovdiv. Next day, visit the old town , and continue via Bansko and Pirin National Park, Melnik and Rila monastery if it is still open, to Sofia to arrive late in the evening of the 10th of September. If someone wants to join me, it's just to share the rental expenses and gasoline. On the 11th I fly back to Switzerland.