It was a long and exciting day on Friday 17th July. I also made 2 errors with friends where I wished one a happy birthday 2 days early and the other I was meant to have a call at 8.30am UK time but I was travelling by train from Sofia to Plovdiv and had no WiFi. I’m usually on the ball with that sort of thing so I felt a bit disorganised – trying to work, do holidays and keep up with friends was taking its toll a bit.
The early morning train was good, on time and no issues. We arrived in Plovdiv and went straight for breakfast as we were starving. I ordered cheese and ham pancakes and a tea while Captain Caveman had quesadillas and a fried egg with coffee. We paid €18.50 (£15.87) which probably wasn’t the cheapest place in town but it was good.
We walked it to the hotel with our backpacks and mine was heavier than Captain Caveman’s because I had all my work stuff with me. It was getting warm and it was quite a walk. When we got to the area near to where we were staying, the roads were all cobbles and quite steep. I found it a struggle but Captain Caveman marched on ahead, as usual. Eventually, he waited at a particularly tricky bit when he realised I wasn’t behind him, then he took my bag. I’d booked the Old Legends hotel because it was a bit quirky and had a roll top bath. It was very old fashioned but amazing and we had one of the best rooms in this 5 star Bulgarian treasure of a place.
At 4pm we got ready to make our way to the Phillgood festival venue and called in to a local cafe for some food. We both ordered the potatoes with cheese and bacon with a soft drink for €11.60 (£9.95). It was so tasty but very filling – probably too stodgy to have just before a gig!
We got the bus but it didn’t go right to the venue and we had to get off and walk. The start time was 5pm but we ended up missing the start of Just Mustard. We had a couple of drinks for €12 (£10.30) where the barman knocked a whole bottle of gin off the bar and I caught it. The Subways did a great set and really worked the crowd, the lead singer tried a bit of crowd surfing but it looked like the Bulgarian audience weren’t that familiar with that. We nipped over to one of the other stages to see Bulgarian Cartrader who was quite good and did a bit of rapping and singing – I liked him. Wolf Alice was on the main stage next and I still wasn’t a massive fan but the Bulgarians were going mad for her. Our favourite act of the night by far, though, was The Cure – Robert Smith was phenomenal. At the end of the gig we walked it back to the hotel and it was a fair distance. I’d been a bit disappointed that water wasn’t free at the venue and the toilets were not as good as in Madrid but the venue was pretty good to say it was built over a canal full of mosquitos. We were both bit quite badly and had to take antihistamines before bed – so rock and roll!
Gratitude List
1. Making it from Sofia to Plovdiv, despite an early start
2. Staying at Old Legends hotel
3. Day 1 of the Phillgood Festival and getting to experience live music again.
Discover more from joloyolo
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
joloyolo 