Hotel Briz 1

I'm sure that there is a bit of a conspiracy in Bulgaria between the people who are in charge of street signage and the local taxi drivers. When I arrived at the railway station here in Varna I had my street map pretty well fixed in my head as to the whereabouts of my hotel and so went looking for the street sign which I would have expected to be on the corner at the start of the street.

Nope, no street signage at all! OK I knew where the street should be and so wandered up what I thought it was but just couldn't find my hotel. The 5 minute walk turned into about 30 minutes of tracking and backtracking, triangulating the area and I knew I couldn't be more than 100 metres or so away from my hotel but nope, no street signs and nope no obvious hotel signs.

It was dark and raining and eventually my triangulation came across a taxi parked on the corner and so I asked the guy for directions - HA!

"Art Hotel, Preslav. Yes I know where." he replied, "I take you, 5 Leva?"

"Is it near?" I asked.

"Oh Yes, near, only 5 Leva."

"OK, take me." I submitted, rolling over on my back with my paws in the air.

Yep, I knew it. The guy drove 100 yards down the street where I had found him, did a U-turn drove back up to the corner where I had picked him up and then continued maybe 50 yards up another street, did another U-turn and then back to the same corner and another 50 yards up a different street - "Here's your hotel sir!"

Needless to say he didn't get a tip!

I did find the street sign the following day (when it was light) and yep, it was halfway up the street, not at the start, not at the end, not lit, only on one side and only visible from across the road if, and only if, you knew it was there! Definitely a conspiracy!