my vacation to bulgaria

An simple example for my students:
Several weeks ago, I went to Bulgaria. I rode the train from Istanbul to Plovdiv. The train is very old and still uses coal. We had the cabin next to the bathroom so as you can imagine it didn't smell so nice. We finally arrived in Plovidiv at 11 am. During our stay in Plovdiv we ate lots of good food including pizza, salads, etc. Before we left plovdiv we went to a monestary. There was a cute man that gave us an apple. We called it the "holy apple"...I still haven't eaten mine yet but maybe I should to see if it brings me more peace and joy. Don't know...
After visiting Plovidiv, we took a train to Sofia. We weren't sure if the train was going to make it to Sofia and for a while we had to stand in really cold winter weather wondering if we would make it to our destination, but alas, we made it to Sofia. The taxi driver of course ripped us off but I didn't care because I was too cold to stand outside and try to find my way to our hotel. In Sofia we found a nice vegetarian restaurant. It kind of inspired me to eat healthier. Wish we had something like that here in Istanbul that was as cheap as it was in Sofia. Besides food (can you tell I love to eat?) ...we visited lots of churches and I went to an orthodox prayer service. Its similar to a catholic service but different at the same time. There were no chairs to sit in and everyone kissed the icon which was Mary. The priest with his incense all around the church and then the rest was mostly singing and chanting. We didn't stay for the whole thing because it was getting late. All in all, Sofia is cute and a good place to visit if you want to go shopping and eat international food and get good beer (well if you like to drink it). Its very cheap and inexpensive. Many expats from Istanbul visit their for the weekend.