One Man in Europe

Did you know that the Canary Islands, of which Tenerife is one of seven,  way out there in the Atlantic somewhere off the coast of North Africa is actually a province of Spain.  I had visited Spain for a month in July and August way back in 1970 as a guest of the Spanish Air Force under the regime of General Franco. This was the first "International Air Cadet" visit to the country and gave an insight to a county where civil rather than international war had moulded recent history, a fact wasted on us youths as we were more overawed by the scenery and the romance of the place.

A chance remark whilst talking to my brother during a couple of months R&R in the UK after my trip to South Africa and here I am -  taking up residence in Varna, Bulgaria, right next to the Black Sea.  Following my usual path I shall be exploring the country by bus and train trying to bring a flavour of this, probably, most easterly member of the EU. Why here, why not?  Bulgaria offers a fascinating history bordered by Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania it has been part of empires from the Roman to Ottoman to Communist alongside a rich folklore and varied countryside. You may or may not know that they use the crylic alphabet here which will add to the sense of adventure - lol as they say in the tweets.

I accepted voluntary redundancy at the end of August 2011 and used the small payout to purchase a good laptop, a reasonable digital (DSLR) camera and a Kindle with GPS. I hadn't taken photos for years and as I was about to move around I had decided that the Kindle would replace my collection of books I was always going to read. The next question was "What to do next?" A friend of mine had been telling me to visit Tenerife for years so I thought why not! Easyjet provided a cheap ticket and a browse around the websites provided a nice little apartment in Los Abrigos. On arrival, after signing the paperwork I was asked if I was interested in hiring a car? Being on a limited budget and seeing how busy the island's roads were I had already decided that I was going to travel by bus. It turned out that Titsa, Tenerife's state bus company provide a 'BonoBus' ticket for either 12 or 30 Euros and the former can be purchased at most supermarkets. This ticket g...