Back in Sofia

Well, it’s been a funny couple of days since I last blogged from Veliko Tarnovo.

I missed the train I was due to get from there to Bucharest and ended up heading back to Sofia as I didn’t fancy spending another night alone in the hostel. I say I missed the train but I kinda deliberately let things work out that way, whether it was having another lonely night in a hostel or something else that got to me I don’t know and I decided that I was going to head home. It’s not as if I am not having a good time and enjoying the places I am seeing, but for some reason I’m just doubting the point of it all, which is something I have never felt while travelling before. Anyway it seems to have passed now.

When I got back to the hostel in Sofia I immediately bumped into two girls I’d met in Istanbul while I was there and a group of us went out to a bar and restaurant last night for a few beers and something to eat, which is probably what I needed to get over the effects of the solitude, as I’ve said before there isn’t exactly a lot to see here but it’s so cheap I could probably happily stay for a while. Alas that isn’t to be and I’m booked on a train to Bucharest tomorrow night with one of the girls, I haven’t heard a single positive comment about the place though so, if that turns out to be accurate, I may just spend the day looking round the few sights there are before heading up into Brasov and Transylvania, which looks to be far more interesting.

Before that though I’ll be going to see CSKA Sofia in action tomorrow, a few people thought the Galatassary ticket was cheap, well I’ve got a seat in the most expensive part of the stadium for the game and it cost me the equivalent of one pound thirty eight, I could have actually got one for about 35 pence, but I thought I’d treat myself.

To think if I’d been at home now I could have been watching City’s relegation be sealed by a defeat at Rotherham for a mere twenty quid.

Touch me, I’m English

One of the things I like best about travelling in Europe is the fact that countries geographically so close can be so different in every other way, as an example the people I have experienced in Sofia are very different to those I found in Istanbul. They are very reserved and prefer to keep themselves to themselves and ask few questions, as opposed to the Turks who would chat to you, put hands on your shoulders when talking to you, pat you on the back etc etc – though that’s not to say the Bulgarians are unfriendly.

They certainly weren’t today anyway, when I went for an early morning stroll around Sofia before heading to Veliko Tarnovo, I was walking through a park when a girl in a group asked me something, I replied saying I couldn’t speak Bulgarian (in English, ashamedly) and she then asked me where I was from, when I replied “England” this inspired glee in the group of five, who went on to ask me lots of questions in reasonable English and, somewhat oddly, stroke my jacket. After correcting the girl who claimed to be 70, rather than 17, I said I was on my way – at which point one asked if I was a “rich businessman” and staying in the big hotel across the road
! For a second I did consider trying to impress the girls with such a tail, then I decided I am too old to do that sort of thing, and told the truth. That wasn’t the end of it though as today is March 1 the Bulgarians consider it the start of spring, and give each other small gifts like friendship bracelets and ribbons for good health and good luck, after explaining that one of the girls took hers off and gave me it, which was nice!

So, on to Veliko Tarnovo which was a nice journey through some lovely scenic countryside – though I wasn’t too impressed with the minibus driver who drove like a madman over what seemed like hundreds of potholes! The place was the medieval capital of Bulgaria and was long an important town as it was located on the Lviv to Istanbul trading route. There isn’t much to see here apart from a fortress and former royal palace, which I visited this afternoon – but the city is beautiful and a great base for activities like hiking, climbing etc – I was planning on staying a couple of nights and doing a spot of walking but there is noone else in the hostel here, and noone is booked in for tomorrow so I think I’ll shoot off to Bucharest in the morning before I get too bored.

Sofia

While the journey here from Plovdiv was quite pleasant, passing mountains and forest, in all honestly there isn’t a great deal to see here. It is only the capital of Bulgaria for it’s proximity to Macedonia which was much sought after in times gone by, though that doesn’t mean the place isn’t likeable, it must be as I am into my third day in the place, though I do plan to leave in the morning and the fact that the hostel is nice helps, as always.

Sofia is a place that is nice to stroll around, there are a few parks dotted about and plenty of shops, and though nothing really stands out as overwhelmingly worth a visit, there are a few nice churches, museums and other buildings concentrated in one area of the place that can last a day, or two at a stretch. There’s been a nice crowd at the hostel so the nights have gone by swimmingly with a few local beers sunk (equivalent of two quid for five 500ml bottles of lager), good conversation and the playing of backgammon.

The plan is to head off tomorrow either heading to Belgrade or staying in Bulgaria and heading north to Veliko Tarnovo, the ancient capital, I really can’t decide what to do and may end up tossing a coin or rolling dice in the morning.

Istanbul to Plovdiv, and beyond…..

I don’t think I was able to do Istanbul justice due to my problems getting online, so I’ll try and make sure my journey out of there gets the full treatment.

I left on Sunday on the midday bus bound for Plovdiv in Bulgaria, a small city that I was only visiting because of a couple of Roman ruins, and the promise of two good hostels which are good places to hole up for a couple of nights – but more on the city later.

There isn’t too much to say about the sights of the journey, apart from tiny cotton patches here and there it was pretty much bare country all the way from Istanbul to the Turkish border, the only real thing worthy of mentioning was the queue of lorries waiting to cross the border, it must have stretched for 5 miles and getting out of Turkey isn’t a quick process – three separate sets of officials checked passports and visas, though getting into the EU seemed far easier, just the one check and the payment of an odd “disinfectant tax” for the bus, though I didn’t see any disinfecting going on.

There was finally something to see once we crossed into Bulgaria, mostly crumbling houses with holes in the roofs and broken windows and massive Soviet style blocks of flats, which weren’t in much better shape. All along the route we saw signs detailing EU investment in upgrading the roads, which is all well and good, but when people are living in conditions like that I can’t help but think the priorities may just be a little wrong.

After arriving in Plovdiv an hour later than planned, due to problems with the bus door not closing properly, I rang the hostel I had been advised to stay in, only to find it closed for a weeks holiday, no problem I had the details of another – I walked around and eventually found it – the only problem being it had long since closed down. So, there I was stuck in a pretty much deserted Bulgarian city on a cold Sunday night in February with nowhere to stay, great fun. After wandering around for a bit in the old town I again called the hostel I had initially planned on staying with and asked if they knew of anywhere else I could try – a name and address of a hostel was provided, and that is where the fun really started. Even if it had been light enough to see street signs they were in the Cyrillic alphabet anyway and, as my only map was in English, this was proving pretty problematic. After walking around for what seemed like an age I eventually decided to ask some locals for help, only for no-one to know where the street I was seeking was. Great. More walking around followed, I pretty much saw all Plovdiv had to offer until I finally found someone who was able to help – the place I wanted was “just around the corner” from where I was standing. I managed to find it, check in and at least I had a roof over my head and a reasonable room, though not the lively friendly hostel with bar that I had anticipated.

That, however, didn’t prevent me from suddenly feeling very hungry – so I set out to find something to eat, only to find everything in the city closed at 1030 on a Sunday night, understandable really, after more walking and a couple of abortive attempts at ordering food from the Cyrillic alphabet menus (the place I found had literally one dish left, which looked horrendous) I was about to take the plunge on a budget blowing hotel restaurant until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the golden arches of McDonalds. I do try and avoid them but I have never been so glad to see one in all of my life. One Big Mac meal later and I was safely tucked up in bed.

Having seen that Plovdiv wasn’t all that great the night before I got up earlier and saw the sights in a couple of hours in the morning – the Roman Ruins were grafitti and litter strewn and neglected, the Mosque was being renovated and the Theatre of Ancient Phillippopolis was closed to visitors, so I could only see it from the outside – though that was enough. I’m sure the place is nicer in season when you can linger a bit and more is open but a winter morning destination it isn’t, so by 1 o’clock I was happily sat on a bus to Sofia, which was a much more pleasant and scenic journey that that from Istanbul (passing a forest and mountain range), I don’t want to hog the hostel PC so more to come about Bulgaria’s capital at some other time.