Swimming in Sofia ... and not in a good way

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Sofia has been my bed for a couple of days, but it wasn't until yesterday that I got to walk around and have a look at sights other than bars (a little tricky to find decent ones, but it's possible if you can find a local to show you the way!). Have been staying at a place called Mostel Hostel which I'd recommend as a friendly, social place to stay. My bed for the past 3 nights has been a mattress on the floor in the attic, a tad chilly but a couple of sleeping bags and a blanket have made it toasty warm.

In Sofia it has been bucketing down and the tan from Turkey is fading rapidly, but I've never been one to let a little water stop me from having a look around. Sofia is not the prettiest city in Europe, but it does have a certain post communist charm. Mixed in with the big buildings are lovely churches dating from various times in the past and almost universally very, very dark inside. Only one would allow cameras and few of them had lights so few pictures from inside and outside pics show the charm of rainy Sofia!

Probably the best part of my couple of days in Sofia has been the people - Ville and Emilia from Finland, Rob from the Netherlands, Nele from Germany and Sarah from Australia plus random people who've joined us for bits. We have wandered the streets of Sofia on the hunt for little bars, coffee and cake or just chilled at the hostel with beer and lovely Bulgarian red wine (really good). I think much of Sofia's charm has been the people above who have made this place a special little stop on my travels and it's been good to get back into meeting random people on the road.

I'll add pics when I can find a DVD reading computer which might make this a more substantial update (I'll also finish Turkey!). Off to Veliko Tarnovo this afternoon - a slight deviation of 3 hours back east, but hey - when in Bulgaria you might as well see as much as you can because this country is fantastic!

Love Jane xx

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