We’re holed up in Veliko Tarnovo, waiting for the persistent rain to let up. This was a capital of Bulgaria back in the 13th century when “little” Bulgaria was actually a big deal — its empire included all of the Balkan Peninsula and stretched from Greece all the way to Ukraine. I show this clip for two reasons. First, to address the concerns from our viewers that it never seems to rain in our TV shows. (It does. We just do everything we can not to film when it’s raining.) And, second, to look at that ugly communist-era hotel, built to greedily take the view, mindlessly obliterating the view of almost everyone else in town.
This is Day 51 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.
Rick, my wife and I are SO, SO happy that you are rediscovering Bulgaria, and that you will be covering Veliko Tarnovo and Kazanlak. Cannot wait to see this episode!!! Thank you for covering Bulgaria!
if you only film when it isn’t raining then you’ve spent a lot of time waiting needlessly! Look at the video; you can’t tell it’s raining because rain doesn’t really show up on video. I first learned that listening to the commentary for the movie “Sound of Music” in which they said that much of the movie was shot in rain, but they knew it wouldn’t show up on the film.