When I read a couple of weeks ago, that there was an aviation museum near the city, I made it a goal to go see it. I am a huge lover of planes and all things aviation. Finding it difficult, but persevering none the less, I was able to figure out a way to get there. What an amazing aviation museum in Plovdiv! Well worth the effort. This will be part uno, getting there and the main building.
Getting There
I began by using google maps and asked for directions. No luck, there is no public transportation there. The museum is located out near the Plovdiv Airport, so my next thought was to take a bus to the airport and walk however long it takes, to get to the museum. Nope. Even though Plovdiv is the second biggest city in the country, there is zero public transportation between the airport and the city. Dude.
I knew there must be a way, so I kept at it and discovered that there was a train, to what I thought was a near enough town. Figuring out the trains here in Plovdiv is no easy task, very little to nothing is in English. Give a Taurus a task however, and get it done she will!! 🤣 I read and read, came up with a plan and decided on the day.
Train Station
I walked to the train station, dodging constructing and getting lost. Ok. Made it and purchased a ticket by typing out my wants onto a translation app and handing my phone through the hole to the clerk. With ticket in hand, I was directed with a pointed finger and the wave of a hand to the monitors on the wall for further direction.
I found the train destination on the monitor; thank goodness I had looked that up. You will need the end stop of your train in order to figure out the platform. I was on line 4, now to figure out which one that is. No signs of course.
I wrote in my translation app, ‘can you show me where line 4 is please?’ and began showing it to random people on the tracks. Eventually a lovely man and woman pointed me to the other side of the next platform and directed me to walk through a tunnel to get there.
Train Ride
I made it! Got the platform figured out and my train showed up on time! Yay! The conductor came right away and asked to see tickets. I should add the cost was only 1.3 LEV (98 cents CAD). I knew to disembark on the 3rd stop which is ‘Mavrudovo’. The ride itself is very nice, smooth, clean and the AC was working! I did pick just about the hottest day of the year to travel.
There are announcements inside the train in both Bulgarian and English stating the next stop. I got off, onto a piece of broken tiled concrete covered in weeks in the middle of nowhere! 😂 I could see a large parking lot with many cars, and one building which turned out to be the entrance to the Air Force base. Don’t even approach that gate because you will get yelled at!
What I ended up doing was putting ‘aviation museum’ into my google maps app but it showed that I was just about on top of it. What the heck? So, I followed two males that got off the train when I did. Low and behold, they both work at the museum and let me in through the gate which was at the other side of the parking lot and down a short path.
Museum
This museum is split basically into two sections. A low building which houses interior displays and the astronautical items and the actual planes outside, lined up in three rows. This post will cover what is inside the building as I’ve already spent so much time explaining how to get to the museum.
The building looks old, even though the museum only opened in 1991. Walking into the front doors and straight ahead is the smaller room which contains the space items. Wow, so cool. In here, you will see the actual landing pod from the space ship ‘Sojuz-33’ in which the first Bulgarian and a Russian entered space and safely returned.
In cases are displayed their space suits and various other things they used on the flight. The coolest for me to see was the food! Freeze dried actual food that you could identify through the bags. I loved it!
Bigger Room
From the space room, you go through to a larger room. On the right is a row of glass cases full of all sorts of the coolest aviation items, from uniforms, to badges, military items and the like. At the back is one of the first ever airplanes built in Bulgaria in 1926.
Inside the static displays on the right wall are thousands of interesting items, many of which are from the soviet era.
Down the middle are various pieces of military weapons, spliced open so the visitor can see what the internal areas look like. It was super cool but a little freaky, I won’t lie.
The cost for the museum is broken up into outdoor and indoor. Because I wanted to see it all, I paid the 8 LEV ($6 CAD) to do so. I cannot recommend this museum enough if you are in any way, shape or form an aviation geek. It is really incredible to see all of this soviet era machinery. Except what is inside a case, you can get up close and touch everything. Amazing. Part dos is tomorrow, check back for the best part, the exterior!!
