A welcome short gentle downhill ride into Plovdiv, set in the region once called Thrace. Got to Hotel Alafrangite in the Old Town before 9am - and understandably they didn't have any rooms ready. So I changed in a downstairs loo - and went exploring. Called Philippopolis by the Greeks and then the Romans, Plovdiv was part of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries to 1878. It now feels much more Christian than Muslim. The Old City has the St Louis Cathedral (closed when I went) and many fine churches. I visited several, the Djumaya Mosque (closed) and the Plovdiv Synagogue (also closed, with two policemen standing guard following Iran's missile attack on Israel last night. Also went round two art galleries (happily Katie called me when I was in one. She used to chide me for not taking in the art galleries when I travelled), the Ethnographic Museum (I'm afraid Bulgarian crafts look pretty rudimentary) and a few 19thC merchants' mansions (heavily furnished & rather gloomy interiors), and the Roman Theatre.