Onward to Eastern Europe - Sofia, Bulgaria

After Boarding the Train for Sofia we were in for another surprise; the cabin (which we wondered the last time how it ever fitted two people) ended up being for 6 people this time around... a real space saver! Thankfully we had to share the cabin with only two others. Lizzy and Cos from the UK who had just finished University and were Inter-railing Europe for a few weeks as a treat. We also met Max who was travelling up from Syria after spending 5 months there learning Arabic. He was heading to Italy to meet his parents who have a house there. He's in college in Saint Andrews where the Royals normally go. All seemed well-to-do and had travelled extensively for their young ages of 21-22.

It was nice to spend some time talking to the guys for a few hours. It's amazing to see people who are just finished college wear all their hopes and dreams on their sleeve and have no fear whatsoever. Hopefully 'real life' won't take over too quickly and push them into the rat race too soon.

Same story as before. Woken up during the middle of the night and had to get off the train and queue for 1/2 hr outside for passport control. Luckily this time, no visa requirements and we got back to bed fairly quickly once customs boy did his usual 'have you anything to declare speech'.

As we trained it up through Bulgaria towards Sofia it was clear that Bulgaria was a somewhat broken country. There appeared to be so much rubbish thrown everywhere along the rivers & train route and lots of deserted factories and old rusty train carriages just abandoned. Time seemed to have no meaning to the train instructor who informed us we would be getting in at 1pm instead of 11am.

After arriving in the main station in Sofia we managed to get a lift to town for about €2 in a taxi with Max who was trying to get the taxi driver to organise a hostel for him. Once we arrived at the town centre the driver also wanted us to stay in the same hostel so that he could get some commission, and tried to pretend he didn't know where our hotel was. Then he suddenly remembered and offered to bring us there for another €2 but we decided to walk instead!... after finding a tourist information office for directions!

Out and about in Sofia was not what we thought it would be like. Sofia can be distinguished by its unique combination of European and Communist-style architecture as well as many the churches. We stayed in the city centre so it wasn't too bad. The main streets are fairly ok. Spent some time sampling the local cafe's and shopping in the city. Mango, Jack & Jones, United Colors of Benetton amongst others are all here with Dublin prices.

A lot of the pavements throughout the capital are badly in need of repair and if you end up falling or tripping on a loose brick I can't imagine you'd be up for a compensation claim.

A day or two here and you'll have seen all there is to see. We think we are going to head up next to Bucharest in Romania on the train tomorrow night... another 12hr train journey beckons.

Some Trivia

• Eastern European countries except Bulgaria and Romania share a common recent history, having been republics of former Soviet Union. Eastern Europe is sometimes confused with the Eastern Bloc, which is a
  
  Whose move was it again?
  
  Cold War name for communist countries that were behind the "iron curtain". Eastern Bloc included all the countries of Eastern Europe, several countries of Central Europe and individual countries on other continents, particularly in Asia.
  

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