Monday’s Links for Curious People – Bulgaria Edition

Posted: 30 May 2011 02:38 PM PDT

The rocks of Belogradchik and the Balkan Mountains

]I’ve been racing around Europe for almost a month now and I am really starting to feel the effects. I haven’t written a thing for the website this entire week. I’m exhausted almost every night. I’ve managed to keep up with my photo editing somewhat, but I still have a lot to do.

Despite the poor condition of much of the physical infrastructure in Bulgaria, surprisingly enough they have some of the best wifi I’ve seen in Europe.

I’m still on my Gap Adventure trip through Romania and Bulgaria. The last two days I’ve been in Veliko Tarnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria. Today I’m in Belogradchik in the northwest part of the country, not far from Serbia. On Wednesday I’ll be in Sophia and on Friday I’ll be pulling into Istanbul by train.

On June 8th I’ll be flying from Istanbul to Vancouver by way of Berlin to speak at the TBEX conference. If you are in the Vancouver area, there are a few events I’ll be attending if you’d like to meet in person:

June 9, 8pm, Gap Adventures Concept Store: I’ll be speaking at the Gap Adventures Concept store in Vancouver about my travels, showing photos and answering questions.
June 10, 1-5pm, El Nido Restaurant: My This Week in Travel co-hosts and myself will be doing a meet up and recording a live show at El Nido in Vancouver near the convention center. Everyone is welcome and there is no cover charge. We expect several dozen bloggers and people in the travel industry to be in attendence.

Anyway, here are some things I thought you might find interesting:

Dave and Deb from ThePlanetD.com, Sherry Ott of Meet, Plan, Go and Rick Griffin of Midlife Road Trip TV are going to take part in the Mongol Rally. They will be driving from London To Ulan Batur by car. They are giving away a trip this week to Mongolia or Peru. This looks to be a very exciting journey and you should check out their website.
Why is it so hard to learn Danish?The Copenhagen Post
VIDEO A video of the stars moving at night, but with the stars held constant and the Earth moving Bad Astronomer
The Weak Foundations of Arab Democracy New York Times
Fury and despair among Yemen’s youth leaders The New Republic
Self Control in an Age of Abundance Reason
Free floating planets may be more common than stars Astrobio.net
Göbekli Tepe and the creation of religion National Geographic

Originally posted on the Everything Everywhere Travel Blog. Discover great travel photos.

No related posts.

UNESCO World Heritage Site #134: Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands

Posted: 30 May 2011 01:31 PM PDT

UNESCO World Heritage Site #134: Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands

From the World Heritage inscription:

The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of great scenic and cultural value. The layout and disposition of the small towns and the shaping of the surrounding landscape, overcoming the disadvantages of a steep, uneven terrain, encapsulate the continuous history of human settlement in this region over the past millennium.

The towns of Cinque Terra are just beautiful. If you are ever in the neighborhood of Pisa or Genoa, you should consider making a trip there. You can visit the five towns by train, by boat or even on foot. It was the highlight of my recent cruise around Italy and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Italy. It might not be as sexy as some of the other destinations in Italy like Rome, Florence or Venice, but it has its own unique charm. Try to avoid arriving on a day with cruise ships or show up before 10am or after 1pm to beat the crowds.

Originally posted on the Everything Everywhere Travel Blog. Discover great travel photos.

No related posts.