sofia day two

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And so draws to a close our time in Bulgaria. Tonight at 2120 we'll be catching a night train to Belgrade, in Serbia, because you can't go straight to either Dubrovnik or Sarajevo from here. I don't know why, and neither does anyone who works at the bus station. So yesterday we got up kind of late because of a late night, but still just in time for some of the free breakfast here at Hostel Mostel - hard boiled eggs, toast with cream cheese, tomatoes, and salami. Just what you need. After that we hung out and socialised a bit with some other travellers - there was Dave and James from the UK, Morgan and Chris from the US, and a couple others. Around midmorning Kathleena and I headed out to do the walking tour suggested by the hostel.

Sofia isn't a big town; I mean it's the same size as Thessaloniki about, but it exudes a much more chill vibe. I mean sure last night we were approached by these two transvestite hookers, but other than that it's been really nice. The weather is different; instead of a blinding white haze the sky is a soft grey; a cool wind blows and it rains off and on - perhaps that is part of the difference in the people. The Bulgar they speak is full of soft consonants and nice trailing-off vowels, and aside from the bus station everyone we've dealt with has been helpful. It's less crowded, less noisy, less smelly. The place got bombed to pieces in WWII and by the Soviets, but there's no wreckage, no holes - the buildings are a mix of old tenement buildings with paint falling off and shiny new shops, with some mosques, churches, and synagogues from long ago thrown in. There's actually quite a bit of history here; the city's been here since in some form or another since about 500 BC.

So we went to see the Ladies' Market, which is just a produce and bootleg clothing market, then went for lunch. We had some traditional Bulgar food, which involved a pickled salad, some beans, and a meat patty stuffed with spinach. It was good. It rained while we were eating but by the time we left it had stopped. We decided to see if the less-valuable currency (the lev) would reflect in the prices of things in shops, so we started making the rounds in the clothing stores that line a couple of the main streets. Turns out that it did; I find a sweet pair of jeans for eighty leva - about sixty five dollars. They fit slim and are made of dark, lustrous unwashed denim. A real find.

Around then it started raining hard, so we booked it back to the hostel to drop off some stuff and get out of the rain. We got pretty soaked. It was the one time I would've been happy to see one of those obnoxious vendors who pull out handful of umbrellas, saying "five euros! five euros!" once a few drops hit the ground. So we got back, hung out for a while, getting dry and reading. We still had to visit the train/bus station to see how we'd be leaving, so we put on our raincoats and headed out. There was no more rain after that. So we carried our raincoats to the station. It's kind of a funny situation with inter-Balkan travel here; there's no buses or trains going to Sarajevo or Dubrovnik, only to Belgrade. So we'll be making a little stop in Serbia tomorrow, before hopefully getting on a bus to Bosnia, spending a day or two there and then on to Croatia. The information lady didn't seem to know a thing, and her manner suggested I was being very unreasonable, asking her all these damn questions.

So we headed back for dinner at Hostel Mostel. Included in the dorm bed price is the breakfast, as well as dinner, which comprises a small bowl of spaghetti, and a glass of beer. It wasn't much food, but it was a great way to socialise with other travellers. After dinner we sat around the table, talking about our adventures and drinking beer. Around nine about twelve of us hit the street to find this bar called "the apartment." Mysterious. After negotiating the streets for half an hour or so, we found the place. We almost missed it because it looks like an apartment building, in fact is a converted apartment suite. You go up the stairs, to a hallway, through the door, and there's a bunch of rooms painted different colours, with sofas everywhere and chill music playing. To get drinks you to the "kitchen" and get one from the fridge, then pay. It was really relaxed, and a lot of fun. I'd never been anywhere like it, and enjoyed it a lot. I talked a lot with this English guy called Tom, and his Japanese girlfriend, Megoumi. They met when Tom was teaching English in Japan. Also a guy from Tennessee called Josh, who's been playing hockey all over eastern Europe on a languages scholarship. How awesome is that! From the sounds of it he's spent time everywhere that used to be part of the USSR. Apparently when you go to the bar in the Ukraine, you buy wodka by the bottle, not by the shot.

So we hung out there till about eleven thirty, before heading back to the hostel, where I crashed in bed. There were a couple of French girls in our room, speaking their French words. It's nice to hear, better than the night before, when Kathleena and I were both awakened by a French man whose snoring sounded as if he was choking on his nasal passages. Ever heard someone with sleep apnea? It's kind of scary when they just stop breathing. It wasn't scary anymore when I put my earplugs in.

Today we went to go see a bit more of the walking tour; we went down some streets lined with small grocery shops and only a few souvenir stores. I bought some rosewater for Kathleena. Then we headed over to this sushi restaurant for lunch. Sushi in Bulgaria, hell yes! It was pretty good but the portions were small - I was kicking myself for not just getting the variety platter. Stupid.

So then we headed back here. I bought some cheesy postcards (the only kind available here), to discover that one of them had no room for a letter. Covered by multilingual descriptions of what the picture was. Dammit. Now I'm taking advantage of the free internet and waiting for Kathleena to get back from the post office so we can go get our tickets from the train station. Sofia's been a nice relaxing stop before we jump into jumping around Croatia.

Over and out.

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