What's the address of this guesthouse in Bulgaria?

Question

A few weeks ago travelling with friends in Bulgaria we stayed at a guesthouse of an older lady named Rosa who basically accosted us and climbed into our car when we arrived in the old town of Veliko Tarnovo.

I have been reviewing all the accommodations I've stayed in on my trip to help future travellers but because Rosa told us where to drive rather than us following a map, I don't know the address or even the street name.

Maybe somebody using this site has stayed there or can find info on the Internet by searching in Bulgarian or another language.

Here are some details to help identify it:

• Usually referred to as "Rosa's guesthouse" (but also "hostel" or "homestay" etc)
• Rosa's husband is an artist and the guesthouse is filled with his paintings
• Located on a fairly steep cobblestone road which goes downhill at a sharp angle off the main road near a sex shop, which Rosa points out as a landmark!
• You park your car further down the cobblestone street in an area behind Saints Constantine and Elena church, which seems to be undergoing some currently stalled rennovation.
• There is a photo of Rosa at the entrance to her place on TravelPod
• Two bloggers discuss Rosa and her place, including photos on TravelBlog: One by Joel Stern, and another by somebody calling themself "gooner get there soon"

This is a photo of my friend following Rosa up the hill on the street from the car park behind the church. Rosa's place is further up on the left side. I'm pretty sure that's the entrance to Rosa's you can see just above her head in the photo.

Can you find the address or at least the street that Rosa's is on?

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Thanks to your help on this question I've been able to add Rosa's to tripadvisor so now other people will be able to find it, review it, etc.

Answer 1

Isn't it this one?

The address is ul. "Mitropolit Panaret Rashev" 20 (ул. "Митрополит Панарет Рашев" 20). Here is the pin on the map.

I found it by your description, "walking" in the streets with Google Street View. I was born and raised in Veliko Tarnovo, that's why I'm almost sure this is the house we are talking about, although I don't know it personally.

Answer 2

The address of the church you are talking about is surprisingly hard to find -- you can get all sorts of kinda helpful directions, but no street names are involved. From what I could find, the GPS coordinates are:

43.08208, 25.64125

The street is called "ul. Mitropolit Panaret Rashev" (ул. Митрополит Панарет Рашев). Google knows where to find it, although it doesn't list it on the map.

It's right accross the "Samovodska Charshiya" (Самоводската чаршия), the main trade street in the old town, where most craft shops are located.

Sadly, I wasn't able to find anything about Rosa's guesthouse, despite my efforts. From your description, this looks like a very non-commercial operation -- in some small towns which are tourist attraction, there are many people who offer their houses to guests -- usually hanging out at bus stations or other notable locations, and asking foreigners if they are looking for a place to stay.

I tried different variations of the name in Bulgarian, but no result whatsoever, sadly. I will update this answer if I manage to find some more details.

Answer 3

There is a post on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree about Rosa and her place.

It's slightly confusing in that it talks about two addresses, a postal one and a "found" one. There's a slight chance the postal address is for a place where Rosa lives apart from the guest house. The other one seems to have a Polish name rather than Bulgarian and doesn't seem to match any street name on the maps of the area I can find:

Adress is a bit difficult as the government has changed the street name without changing the street signs. So the postal adress is Mitropolit Panaret Rashev Street (ул. Митрополит Панарет Рашев), basically in the centre of old city, with a great view over this beautiful village. The adress found actually is Stefan Denyew, which is just next to Gurko street.

@mindcorrosive and I were both working on this at the same time and communicating in the chat room giving each other our latest feedback. I'm sure I couldn't've found it without his help but I can't remember which specific step led to the Google search with the Thorn Tree hit.

And here is an approximate Google Map of the walk from the car park outside the church up to the entrance to Rosa's.