Blogs from South, Bulgaria, Europe
May 25th 2009
Bulgaria is famed for its countryside. Or so says the Lonely Planet anyway. You have to be suspicious when a travel guide lists the 'countryside' as one of the top 5 features of a place - its almost akin to 'well she's got a great personality'. Nevertheless, we love driving trips so this was a good opportunity to hop in a rental and cruise the highways. Waypoint number 1 was one of Bulgaria's famed monasteries, Rila Monastery. This is set high in the Pirin Mountains, about 2 hours drive from Sofia. Its an interesting drive, a windy road that takes you through remote villages of fat babushkas and weather-beaten faces. Add to this the occassional donkey cart loaded with head-scarf toting ladies, cigarette-chewing old men and clusters of dusty-faced kids that gawk with excitement at the ... read more
October 6th 2008
Hi, We are now in Sandanski, about 25km from the Greek border. Tomorrow we will cross the border and arrive to Thessaloniki. The big question now is if to do it by train or by bus, anyhow, it is about 3 hours. Since Greece should be much more expensive then Bulgaria (that what we have heard...), at least we found a coach in Thessaloniki for 2 nights. On our route west, however, in the Greek Macedonia, in towns such as Edessa and Kastoria (each has population of about 20k) there are very few couches to select from (maybe 4 in each) so finding one would be almost impossible, I guess. Shame, this is going to be expensive...also in Bulgaria, BTW, in towns having similiar population, we could not find any. On the other hand, our CS ... read more
July 12th 2008
Life in a small southwest Bulgarian village is a novel concept for me. My host parents are both retired, collecting pension and have the largest house in the town. There is something to be said for this, for there is a sense of antagonism between others and my host mother, who was an art teacher and now does not work despite the measly sum of pension in this country. She also lives with my host dad though is not married to him. In Bulgaria, family relations are extremely important. For my host mom to fail in three marriages and currently attempt at a fourth relationship is food for fodder (that may be the wrong phrase, my English is failing me). Living in such an abode is strange largely because it is exactly what you imagine life ... read more
July 11th 2008
Tag 17 bis 24, 5.250 km von Galway Rumaenien! Wir waren kaum ueber die Grenze gefahren, da merkten wir schon: Das Land hat was! Ein Eindruck, der sich spaeter bestaetigen sollte! Unser erster Stop sollte in Transilvanien, genau genommen in Sighisoara sein (der Deutsche Name fuer die Stadt ist Schaessburg, aber dazu spaeter mehr). Auf dem Weg fuhren wir durch unzaehlige Doerfchen, wo ueberall schwer was los war. Je weiter wir ins Landesinnere fuhren, desto mehr. Bald sah man mehr Pferdefuhrwerke als Autos. Und wenn Autos, dann meistens ziemlich alte. Trabis, Ladas, Dacias sowieso. Wir fuehlten uns, als haetten wir eine Zeitreise gemacht. Waehrend Ungarn total flach ist und ziemlich zivilisert wirkt, ist Rumaenien total anders. Huegelig, ein bisschen chaotisch und irgenwie wirkt es hier nicht mehr so richtig "europaeisch". Anders als ueberall bisher war vor ... read more
