Final stop of the trip, Cantillon. Treated myself to this.

Eurostar home this evening. Headed back via Oostende. Obviously. It's bracing!

Day two back here at this excellent festival.

Another 20 minute walk to my last stop of the day, Parazzar. 5 on tap plus c100 packaged. Popular bar just to the west of the centre.

You can't not visit 't Brugs Beertje!

A 20 minute walk back towards town and I'm at stop 3, Gauthierz Brasserie. 5 on tap plus c40 packaged beers. Easy to miss as you walk down the street, because I did!

A ten minute walk to stop 2, De HOPtimist. Fantastic bar with 6 on tap and an extensive packaged list. Worth heading out of the centre for.

And I've just discovered that my planned stop 2 is closed for Annual Leave. 🤬

Starting my time here by ticking off some gaps in my Beer Guide Bruges list. A 20 minute walk from the station to stop 1, Taffel en Toog. Modern bar to the south west of the city. 10 on tap and around 100 packaged.

Right, I wonder if there are any decent bars around here...

Just pulling out of St Pancras bound for Belgium. A fairly last minute decision to head to Bruges Beer Festival. What could possibly...

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For anybody remotely interested, over the course of my trip I tried 227 different beers from 14 countries of which 220 were new.

Today's top tip, do not plan on eating at Istanbul Airport. This tray cost £50.

That period of killing time before heading to the airport. Found an Irish pub around the corner from the hotel that has the range of Frederik beers by Turk Tuborg in bottles. They are surprisingly drinkable!

Made it through the traffic to my other stop for tonight, Taproomx, the tap for Somx Brewery. 17 taps, 11 of their own, although a couple are off. Sampler sets of 6 available so I should get everything.

Headed out solo again and walked, literally, up a mountain to stop 1, Sanayi 1-A Ninsantasi. 16 taps but only 12 on right now. All Turkish micros, and they do flights.

Third, and final, stop for today is Craft Beer Lab. Possibly 20+ taps, difficult to tell. Lots of macro, including two Fullers beers. But they do flights and I've picked up two new Turkish breweries.

An 'interesting' bus ride to stop 2, Bosphorus Brewing Company. Originally brewed on site but post Covid the brewery is elsewhere and called Knidos. Same people and this is the tap.

I'm all mosqued out! Untappd threw up a couple of places I didn't know about so I've travelled, solo, a long way from the centre to Citra Gastropub by 3 Kafadar, tap for 3 Kafadar brewery. Cosy place with 13 taps, mostly their own. Only 33cl so I need to work out a plan.

We got this room in the hotel. If you know, you know...

What I can say? Istanbul is as manic as I was expecting! After a stroll along the waterfront we've made our way to the Galataport complex and Populist at Galataport. One of the venues run by Torch Brewery and right by the berthed liners. 12 on tap, it will be rude not to...

A very, very long overnight journey. Arrived nearly three hours late with the added joy of an 05:00 passport check. After a short break it's time to start exploring, the hunt for beer is going to be more interesting here...

Our train to take us onwards to Istanbul.

Final stop in Sofia is All Mountain Store & Bar. Half bar half cycle shop. A first for me. 4 on tap plus lots of packaged. 2 new beers from Cohones for me.

Another short stroll to Pivoteka Craft Beer Shop. 6 taps and I picked up three new Bulgarian breweries. Owner really knowledgeable and also gave me info about another place in Istanbul. Very happy.

Around the corner to Dissident. Usual format, lots of packaged beers plus 6 taps. Only one is Bulgarian and I had it yesterday so I've gone with a Serbian and a Czech.

Stop 2 is Nosferatu, another bottle shop with 5 taps. Thankfully two of them are pouring Bulgarian beer including a new brewery.

We have an overnight train to Istanbul this evening so we're just spending the day strolling and visiting some more bars. 1st stop is 100 Beers, a bottle shop that also offers 4 taps. No Bulgarian draft right now so I picked a new brewery in a can plus an Estonian draft.

Finishing the night with a revisit of Crafter Bar for the new American brewery I didn't try last night.

A revisit to High Five Taproom for the Italian tick I didn't take last night...

Left Mrs MusingAnorak at the hotel. I'm now at Crafter Shop, sister to last night's Crafter Bar. 4 taps but only 2 on, 1 UK and 1 Austrian. You can guess which one I chose. Lots of packaged beers.

Guess what?! A slow walk in the heat to the next bar, Cosmic Craft Beer. 4 taps plus packaged. Only two taps have Bulgarian and I had one of them earlier today.

Another slow stroll brings us to Tap Local, the tap room for Kazan Artizan. 6 taps of their beers. There were very loud cheers for the Crystal Palace equaliser as we entered...

It's a couple of minutes walk to stop 3, Vitamin B. 8 taps plus packaged in this back street bar. Apparently it counts as the Sofia Electric tap room

A slow walk in the heat, including a couple more churches, and I'm at Sbeerka. 7 beers on tap, but only the one Bulgarian beer available. Bizarrely they dispense from the tap in to a plastic bottle and then give you the bottle plus your glass...

I'm all churched out! Time for a beer! Stop 1 is BiraBar, 9 taps and, 3 handpumps! Only one in use but I do have a Bulgarian cask ale under my belt.

A short walk to our second, and final, bar of the day, Crafter Bar. Long seating area at the front and the small bar space opens out to a deceptively large seating area. 10 taps, half from the UK, 2 from the US and 3 Bulgarian, 1 of which I had in the previous bar!

And I have beer! High Five Taproom is a cozy little back street bar with a dozen taps of mostly Bulgarian beers along with several well stocked fridges.

Well, that was another long day! Despite leaving late we arrived at the border on time. Then lost an hour crossing Bulgaria! Just arrived at hotel, but conveniently there is a bar from my list 2 minutes away, and another 4 minutes away. I will get beer tonight!

A good start to our 10 hours plus train journey to Sofia as we are still in the station 40 minutes after the scheduled departure time! Fully occupied compartment of 6. And it's very hot!

Five minutes to our final Bucharest bar, Beer Station Lipscani. They have 16 taps but only 5 beers appear to be on. I need all 5 and they do a flight of 5 beers... Plenty of choice in the fridges.

It's a stagger to next door for stop 4, Beer O'Clock. I'm sure that this was at the cutting edge a few years ago, but it's definitely fallen behind. A dozen taps only available as 400ml pours, plus some well stocked fridges.

More strolling eventually reaching stop 3, Tap Craft Beer, in the heart of old town. 20 beers on tap, mostly Romanian, and 5 fridges of beers from all over.

It's less than a minute to stop 2, NoRoom Taproom, named because it is a tiny room with all seating on the pavement outside. 10 taps offer a range of breweries.