A. and I took a little road trip this weekend. We went to five different cultural, historical and geological sites all from the 100 Bulgarian tourist sites booklet.
<a title="Botevgrad Clock tower by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217324085/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8217324085_85b122062b_z.jpg" alt="Botevgrad Clock tower" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We went to Botevgrad to see the clock tower. Interestingly the clock tower doesn't have a clock face but apparently it does chime on the hour. There's also an amazing museum in Botevgrad.
<a title="Botevgrad museum by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217323663/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8217323663_28b8e3912a_z.jpg" alt="Botevgrad museum" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Botevgrad museum by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217323145/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8217323145_64a8c8995f_z.jpg" alt="Botevgrad museum" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I know, I know. It's Botevgrad. This town isn't even mentioned in the Lonely Planet Bulgaria guidebook. How can it have a great museum? I am not sure. But as strange as it may seem,  it's one of the nicest museums I've been to in Bulgaria.<!--more-->
<a title="Inside the Botevgrad museum by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218404128/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8218404128_a009e26a01_z.jpg" alt="Inside the Botevgrad museum" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Inside the Botevgrad museum by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218405290/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8218405290_0f03438d0e_z.jpg" alt="Inside the Botevgrad museum" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Inside the Botevgrad museum by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217322343/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8342/8217322343_fb2060dac3_z.jpg" alt="Inside the Botevgrad museum" width="640" height="427" /></a>
Here's the thing. It's a little museum in the old town court building. The displays are well laid out and labeled in Bulgarian and English. Oh and the museum was remodeled in 2011 so that clearly helped matters along.
<a title="Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218402836/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8218402836_9b9f7dd436_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Hristo Botev monument by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217320957/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8217320957_9c19228230_z.jpg" alt="Hristo Botev monument" width="640" height="427" /></a>
A site before the city of Vratsa we drove up a winding road to see a monument for Hristo Botev.  There was lots of fog which made the visibility pretty bad but it was still worth it.  On the way back to Vratsa, we stopped at a house museum for Baba Iliica. This is an attractive little house with a interesting history.
<a title="House Museum of Baba  Iliica by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217319961/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8217319961_3177a42529_z.jpg" alt="House Museum of Baba  Iliica" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We stopped to get the stamp for the Hristo Botev monument but then ended up staying to hear more about Baba Iliica. It turns out that Ivan Vasov wrote a story about her that many people assume is a just that a story he imagined but in fact, the story he wrote about her grows out of a the life of a real woman--Baba Iliica. For those of you who speak Bulgarian, <a href="http://www.litclub.com/library/bg/vasov/bulgarka.htm" target="_blank">here's a link to the story</a>.
<a title="Flowers in the house museum garden by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217319547/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8217319547_70d111ce39_z.jpg" alt="Flowers in the house museum garden" width="640" height="427" /></a>
The watcher and keeper of the house museum was a wonderful little woman who lives across the street. When we got there, the house was locked but she spotted us and hollered at us. Then she spent a lot of time talking to A. in Bulgarian and looking at me encouragingly. At the end, she told me that it was great that I am a foreigner and that I am interested in Bulgarian history. <em>Aw</em>.
<a title="The ticket office for the Ledenika cave by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218401568/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8218401568_e470107652_z.jpg" alt="The ticket office for the Ledenika cave" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Entrance to the Ledenika cave by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218401314/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8218401314_9d38ed4d81_z.jpg" alt="Entrance to the Ledenika cave" width="640" height="427" /></a>
Then we headed on to a cave also near Vratsa--Ledenika. This is a big cave with lots of stairs and a lot of nooks and crannies to squeeze through. You can't take pictures in the cave to protect the bats and beetles who live there but that's okay because pictures in caves are usually pretty bad.
<a title="Entrance to Belogradchik by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218400726/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8218400726_dfa9bb38c3_z.jpg" alt="Entrance to Belogradchik" width="640" height="427" /></a>
From the cave we drove to Belogradchik. We spent the night in Belogradchik and checked out the rocks in the morning.
<a title="Me at Belogradchik by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8217316719/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8217316719_df3021c010_z.jpg" alt="Me at Belogradchik" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Belogradchik rocks and A. by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218400060/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8218400060_80301aafdf_z.jpg" alt="Belogradchik rocks and A." width="640" height="427" /></a>
The rocks are so great. I didn't know what to expect but really, wow.
<a title="Belogradchik rocks by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218398582/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8218398582_a932c3e388_z.jpg" alt="Belogradchik rocks" width="640" height="427" /></a>
Then we drove to the Magurata cave. This cave is well known for early cave drawings which is why we went to check it out. Here's the bad news, you can't see the drawings anymore become people drew on top of them. <em>Yuck</em>. Why do people do these things. Anyhow, this cave is really open and has the biggest stalagmite/stalactite in Bulgaria. That's pretty cool.
<a title="Magurata cave by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8218398208/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8218398208_02a5faa5b8_z.jpg" alt="Magurata cave" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We then had to head back to Sofia.

But not before I bought 50 leva worth of Magura wine in the village of Rabisha. It was a busy weekend.