I visited the thracian tomb of kazanlak on the 16th of jan,early in the morning of that day. The day before I had arrived in Kazanlak around 18.00 in the afternoon  by train from Burgas via Sliven. The first thing I had encoutered after leaving the railway station in Kazanlak was a place where a huge group of people was dancing to traditional bulgarian music. Fascinating. I asked them if I could join them.Well,my moves were stiff,but the locals were extremely friendly. They explained me that every sunday in most bulgarian cities there is public dancing to traditional music which can be joined by  whoever wants to.A wonderful idea to promote native and traditional music and dances in our globalized world.

As for the thomb my hotel was a stone's throw away so that I was exactly at 9.00 at the entrance of the tomb. However,the person working there was not ............there. After 30 min a female employe finally arrived. She didnt expect any visitors and obviously hadnt been in a hurry to get to her working place. Quite annoying! Whats more .....like in most bulgarian and romanian cities packs of dogs roam the parks and public places(just a few days ago a female jogger,a scientist,had been killed by a pack of dogs in Romania's capital Bucharest......two big dogs turned up when I arrived at the entrance of the thomb which is located on a hill at the entrance of a city park. There were quite harmless but just the day before on my way to Kazanlak when I had a stop in the run-down city of Sliven to visit the castle ruins there I had a truly traumatic experience. 

The day before it was foggy in Sliven. I visited the castle ruins in Sliven, a fenced off area for which you have to pay a very small sum of money as an entrance fee. 

Well,no locals visit that area,and there are no foreign visitors in Sliven. I was alone in that fenced off area  walking around when a  pack of 6-7 big dogs turned up approching me like ghosts comming out of the fog and chasing me on a ruin wall. Highly aggressive dogs, I still thank God that  there was a wall just 20 meters behind my back on which I could jump......no time for climbing.. . I collected some stones and threw them at the dogs. They disappeared as rapidly as the apppeared. But......then the real horror began........ I had to cross around 250 meters through the ruins area to get to the exit. Fog was everywhere.At times you could hear the dogs. I wasnt interested in those ruins anymore. 3 days later I was supposed to board a flight to Abu Dhabi from Sofia.

A bite would mean........................vaccination against rabies,trouble,spending time in locating doctors or clinics,and so on. A bite could jeopordize my trip to the emirates and gulf states. Hell,even my life was in danger. Nobody was there........it was a fenced off area....I had no weapons....only some stones....the dogs were highly aggressive ones...... 

What an unpleasant situation it was! Well,who do I encounter just in front of the entrance to the thracian tomb in Kazanlak......two big street dogs.....this time harmless ones,but I didnt feel really confortable and relaxed waiting for the thracian site's employee.

Anyway! The tomb is only a copy and you just need 5 minutes to see everything there. Not really worth a visit. One of the most underwhelming and boring unesco sites I have ever seen.

However, luck and destiny were on my side again.

One of the sons of the family who runs the hotel offered me to drive me with his car to some thracian tombs in the schipka area,around 15 min by car away from Kazanlak.I visited four tombs(Shushmanets,Griffins,Helvetia, and Arsenalka if I remember correctly) there,authentic ones and far more interesting ones than the copy in Kazanlak. 

I agreed to pay him 15€ for the trip but at the end he refused to accept the money.....happens in a lot of countries....first you are a client ,then you become a friend from whom you cant accept money...

At least I ve written an excellent review of the family run hotel and its fantastic bulgarian restaurant.