Bulgaria

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Beck and I were excited to go to Veliko Tarnovo, it looked exciting and intriguing and pretty! Our hoste arranged a pick up for us from the station. When we got there a Japanese couple insisted on pushing our way into our taxi because all the other taxi drivers were ''dangerous'' apparently. So our taxi driver took them, of course annoying all the other drivers waiting at the station because they wanted the business. So we squashed in and our taxi driver took them to their hotel where they made a scene in the street because they only had euros, which of course the driver couldn't take. The woman was literally screaming at him. The sad thing is I know those people will go home to Japan and tell everyone how horrible Bulgaria is.

Bulgaria isn't horrible, its beautiful! Our hostel was really nice and provided breakfast and dinner included, the people were lovely. We met 5 Australians so spent the evening chatting to them and went out for a drink. It wasn't quite the student town we expected - holidays - but we found a nice bar and had some mojitos. In the morning I met a marvelous lady called Patricia from Singapore, she was lovely to talk to and inspired me for more travelling, not that it takes much!

That day we went for a tour with Nick, who drove us, his mother who was lovely, and a really interesting, kindly Austrian man called Alex who was working in Veliko Tarnovo for a while in the hostel. They were a sweet party to go with and we had a great day. First we went to a monastery, high on a mountain with great views. It is no longer used because it is under renovation, it is so old. The place was so peaceful and the buildings all colourful and ornate. There were some women repainting the outside walls, we stopped to watch them a while. Inside the main building was very ornate with lots of gold and religious iconography. There was also a huge building with lots of old machinery, with cats hiding outr inside. Nearby was a little chapel where you can go underneath into a sort of crypt and see skulls of monks who died there. We met some English people who live in the area, they love it and I can see why! The place is so peaceful and beautiful.

We stopped next at a waterfall, it was stunning! We climbed up to the top to look down on the pool below, and realised it kept going back into the mountain. There was a series of pathways, staircases and bridges that ust went on and on into the mountain. We followed it for ages, it was such an adventure! And hardly anyone else was there it was so quiet.

We went to a local town and saw another small monastery there, better preserved with pretty gardens but not quite the same atmosphere as the other one. Then we went to a lovely restaurant and had ''shepherds salad'' and watched Garfield the cat washing himself. Nick drove us to the bus station where we took the three hour journey to Sofia.

For my first night in Sofia we stayed in a hostel called Art Hostel. It was pretty cool, artists or anyone who stays there can contribute to artworks on the walls or do some renovation to the place. They had a cool bar downstairs and we got a free drink on arriving - a strange tasting aniseed and mint shot. We met two German guys who were staying in our room and went out with them for sushi. Sebastian and Tomas, they were very funny guys, on a hitchhiking trip to Istanbul from Leipzig.

In the morning, after we got up and organised ourselves, we went to the station to meet m,y couchsurfing host for that evening, Orlin. Becvk was getting the night train to Istanbul so it was our last day together. We went back to Orlin's house and had a chill and then Orlin took us on a tour of the town. I like Sofia it feels so much better than Bucharest, and feels like a strange mix bewteen Western Europe and the middle East, like half way between Berlin and Istanbul. We saw lots of churchs and a hige cathedral, the town centre itself is pretty small so we covered most of it in half an hour. But it was a lovely walk!

We ate in a Bularian restaurant and Beck got on the train to Istanubul, after a sad goodbye. Orlin and I got straight on the bus to go to our entertainment for that evening - Placebo! The half hour bus ride was cool, Orlin and I had a good chat. The concert was in the student part of the town and it was fantastic! I saw them at Reading but they were much better in Sofia, I loved it! After the concert we went to a park in the centre of Sofia where some couchsurfers were having a monthly meeting, generally involving beer and talking. I met a very sweet Bulgarian girl whose friend dragged her along, a very interesting Hungarian man who taught me mopre about Budapest in 5 monutes than the whole time I was there, and a strange Serbian guy who told me he doesn't drink and then 5 minutes later I saw him swigging from a red wine bottle. Interesting night! Orlin and I headed home and ended up staying up for ages chatting and swapping music. In the morning I got on the train to Belgrade.

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