One Of Many Yambol Internet Cafes

Many motorists coming into Yambol see this distinctive banner advertising the Internet Cafe Club called Stargate. It is just opposite the Tundzha River and many cars have to pass it or notice it waiting at traffic lights at this particular road junction. The Internet cafe is one of many in Yambol, this one is on the first floor and whe recently had a family graduation party there on the balcony that you can see.

Yambol Fountains That Work

In the city centre of Yambol lies a row of fountains that are rarely working. This weekend they are, and what a difference they make when working now the sun is out and the weather is warm. It just adds a more freshness to an already fresh area of the city that is a pleasure to walk.

Yambol's Cemetery Under Bakardzhik Peak

Bakardzhik Peak is where that tragic coach accident happened yesterday on the same day we visited family member's graves on Ascension feast day. A very sad day for Yambol and Bulgaria.

(Sorry about the marks on this picture - I really need a new camera!)

A Yambol Knife Sharpening 'Shop'

I'm sure this Yambol knife-sharpening service has been here for years, but I only just noticed it and took great interest in the set up. The grinding machine is hooked up to s streetlight and that's where the power comes from. You can see a car in the background, that's the owner's office and there you have it. He waits in his car with the radio waiting for customers with blunt instruments. Now whether this is a legitimate business or not I don’t know, but I just love the improvisation of the business. Again, this is left here as a permanent fixture with no vandalism.

Yambol Apartment Block Mailboxes

At the ground leve of every Yambol apartment block is a mailbox system. A wall full of numbered pigeonholes, most with doors many without. There are no locks involved and the mailboxes are never vadalised and mail is never stolen. Mind you, most mail is utility bills, who want that anyway? I may look rough, but is it safe.

Yambol's Invalid Club - Revisted

Today I visited the Yambol Invalid Club in the city centre. I must give an apology, as on my first trip and from the original photograph taken I just didn't notice the ramp on the right. This of course is now corrected and the photograph clearly shows provision for wheelchairs although the club caters for mainly the elderly who are prevented from work due to any type of handicap. Thank you Nadia who pointed this out to me.

Yambol's Celebration of Education, Culture and Slav Letters

Yesterday 24th May was Bulgaria’s yearly celebratory day of education, culture and the Slav letters. Galia’s niece was part of the centre of attraction as thousands gathered in the City centre for the procession of this year’s graduate student of Yambol’s high school. It was a great community based occasion as procession after procession was made after pictures had been taken. It was off to a night of celebration in Yambol restaurants – Their busiest night of the year.

An Old Cycle Training Centre In Yambol

At the south end of Yambol I found an old cycle training centre. This was next to a high school and looks as if it hadn’t been used for some time. Whether funds aren’t there anymore or there is no call for this anymore or even if it is just used after school term ends remains a mystery. Judging from cyclists moving around Yambol, there certainly is a call for cycle training, but more so for car driving safety centres!

Yambol's Invalid Club

This is Yambol’s Invalid Club catering for the community that are disabled. It is tucked away at the back of the new business centre that has just opened. I find it typically Bulgarian that the entrance has no facilities for the disabled such as a ramp.

A Cute Little Tractor In The Yambol Outskirts

On the outskirts of Yambol is it still very much an agricultural community and with this comes agricultural elements such as this cute tractor and trailer. Yambol is distinctly in village mode outside the centre of the city, which is why I like wondering around these parts. This is only a couple of hundred metres from the ABC building merchant centre and the Mercury Hotel.

Yambol's Tundzha River Comes To Life

Having taken a picture of the Tundzha River earlier this year from the same vantage point, it now has transformed into a green blanket with many birds nesting there now. The river is obscured by the vegetation, but alive and running well through Yambol City. This of course is a great natural filter system for the Tundzha River.

Ventilation For Yambol's Underground Car Park

Now with Yambol’s underground car park there are three massive ventilation pipes that come out above ground. It reminds me of a Teletubbies scene. To me a bit of an eye sore in Yambol and will become worse once aged and rusted. This is another consequence of catering for a massive increase in cars for Yambol of course those who know me also know that this is a pet hate of mine.

New Yambol Underground Car Park

Along with the new shopping centre in Yambol there is the new underground car park. I don’t like cars, but their invasion in Yambol over the last few years is very dramatic. This is a paying underground car park and I don’t see many Ladas, myself included going in as free street parking is across the road. Most Bulgarians shop for only a couple of items every day so carrying the shopping a couple of hundred metres presents no problem. Or shop in the bazaar, which most still do anyway keeping business alive there.

A New Bench For A Small Yambol Park

This little Yambol park area next to a petrol station out on the Hanovo road is undergoing a facelift. Bulgarian workers who love the warm sunshine in their working environment are making a new pathway and benches in the park. This will be finished in a few days and apart from the smell of petrol a lovely walk and a little sit down perhaps across another green area of Yambol.

Yambol Tree Comes Back To Life

A Yambol tree comes back to life after being cut right back to the main truck and looking completely dead a few weeks ago. It is a metamorphic time in spring for these trees that actually I feel quite sorry for in the winter. I shouldn’t as they grow back with more vigour after the crop. I myself cut the branches off a tree next to my home to make supports for my tomatoes plants and then for winter fuel. Renewable energy is going on here right under out noses.

Marijuana On Yambol Streets

Having recently found Marijuana at the factory farm growing wild, it was another find on a verge near the Mercury Hotel as I walked home form working on the land. This cannabis just grows wild here and untouched as I took a photograph of it. It is not abused here in its wild state as there is no need for such narcotic substances here in Yambol. Let's hope it stays like that. I find it a very attractive herb and as I look up I see an advert on a wall for Mary Jane Vodka with marijuana as its motive!

Green Tree Lined Yambol Street

The tree are now all green and lined up in every street in Yambol as the shade comes as a relief in the heat of the day. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the trees in Yambol were bare of leaves and looked dead. The first leaves on the trees are the greenest of the year and so refreshing to walk through.

A Yambol Cat In The Shade

I am not a fan of cats, whether they are from Yambol or not, but cats are fans of cars here, especially during hot weather. It is common to see cats under cars where the shade is a bit of a relief, they often fall asleep there. The soon wake up and move when the car is started up though.

Outdoor Seating For Yambol Apartment Residents

Outside a block of Yambol apartments towards the south of the city I saw these seats that are commonly used outside for the residents. It is unusual to see a table that have been cemented in to the ground, but a good idea. During the hot weather that is now upon us these setas will be filled in the evenings with perhaps a few bottles of beer or glasses of rakia being sipped away into the night. These of course will be elderly Bulgarian folk with a social drink to two, not youngsters on a drinking binge.

Graffiti Creeps Into Yambol City Culture

Graffiti is slowly but surely creeping in Yambol as more and more is seen as each week goes by. This is an American trend and is a direct result of a saturation of American cultures here pushed aggressively in the media for young Bulgarians - Rap and graffiti just a small parcel left here now. This graffiti is on a stationary shop called Office One in the city centre. I saw the staff there trying to clean it off, but ink is indelible. It now remains a feature of this shop and many others now. This is not street art, but a criminal activity.

A Clock High On A Yambol Municiple Library

A clock has been on top of Yambol municiple library building oppposite the Yambol Centre Park since it was first built. Of the hundreds of times I have walked past ithis building, today was the first time I had noticed it. I will of course look at it every time from now on when walking past, although time really doesn't really matter in Yambol or Bulgaria for that matter.

Catherine Zeta-Jones In Yambol

Yambol folk have seen Catherine Zeta-Jones every day as her picture is in a bar window on the main walkway through the city centre. The Darling Buds of May which started her fame looks well in place with her figure and looks that compares very well with many beautiful Bulgarian women that walk past. If you didn't know her she could easily been dubbed Bulgarian not Welsh.

The Yambol Accordion Player

This Yambol accordion player was quite a lonely figure in the centre of the pedestrian part of the city. The music was traditional Bulgarian folk songs and he had a deep resonant voice that travel many hundred of metres along the flat paved area. Bulgarians do reward their musical entertainers here so he won't go hungry from lack of earnings today.

Yambol's Kabile Hotel Pizza Bar and Diner Restaurant

Yambol's newish Kabile Hotel has an adjoining Pizza Bar and Diner Restaurant. I'm sure it should read 'Diner' not 'Dinner' on the facade of the restaurant. It is on the first floor with the menu that can be read on the ground floor before making your way up the stairs. I've never been in the place as it is too posh for me and we don't eat out often anyway.

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Yambol's Polyclinic Entrance

This is Yambol's main polyclinic and a pretty busy place most of the time. The picture is of the main entrance. It is about 500 metres from the town centre with mostly old people limping and gypsies who seem to be here in abundance. The facilities are very dated and basic, but the staff there do a great job. Trips to this polyclinic are frequent as our Baba has to get her prescription from here monthly and Galia checked up regulary after here recent operation.

Yambol Mall - A New Shopping Complex Now Open

Alongside the Yambol Business Centre is the New Yambol Mall a shopping centre that opened a couple of weeks ago. There is Yambol's third newly installed escalator, another set which had broken down went we visited today. There is a supermarket in the complex in the basement called Piccadilly. Both Galia and I didn't like it, it was more expensive than other supermarkets in town and the fresh produce is largely imported - What's the point? Everyone seems to think that this supermarket in the new Yambol Mall is English owned because of the name - It's not.

Yambol's New Business Centre Now Open

Yambol's New Business Centre is now finally complete and open. It's been 18 months or so to construct and is probably the biggest building project in Yambol's recent history. No longer will we have to dodge the lorries and inhale the dust that surrounded the complex whilst being constructed. I just hope that the worker now have more work to go to now this is completed.