Beaches and Headaches!

---

Before I tell th8s story, I should say that Varna is a beautiful city, with awesome beaches, nice people, warm water, and cheap food/drink. We made a very good friend out of a local, and here is how:

After a swealtering (but gorgeous) ride from the capital, Sofia, we found ourselves stopped 10km before Varna. The employees on the train told us we had to get off due to a fire further down the rail line and that a bus was coming to take us to Varna.as im taking photos of the surroundings to remember this small hiccup, the women around us literally gasped in terror, and monica and I turned to see a large propane explosion about a kilometer out . The flame was impressive, and the "boom" made me drop to one knee!

With the major roads closed, it was going to be a while before a bus arrived. Our very good friend, Stefan, comes into the picture at this point. He studied visual effects in the UK and is currently designing a video game for android and apple valled "GT Racing 2". His dad was on his way from varna, coincidentally, to pick him up and said that we could hitch a ride in their AIR CONDITIONED Mazda 6 and so they took us to a nearby bus stop.

We hopped on the bus, missed our station by one exit, and took a taxi the short distance because the hostel was pretty hard to find. I am talking alley way-hard-to-find. . Once we got there, it was a little paradise! An American owns it and is staffed by 4 very cool Auzzies and a tough Canadian, and they make sure the clients have a lot of fun; it was in effect a party hostel. Oops. Clubs were big for them, we favored the beach which was full of vacationers and locals both. Huge hotels/resorts and good beach side restaurants. Monica and I tried pork tongue (I reccommend never eating pork tongue).

A few relaxing beach days was enough for us, and we met with Stefan in the heart of Varna where he took us to Alba, one of his favorite restaurants. VERY good and VERY cheap.

Ready to hit the train to Bucarest, we discovered the international ticket office closed 2 hours before we arrived, and we were going to be spending another night in Varna. This being our second considerable delay in Varna, the headache began to set in. As opposed to getting into another hostel, we opted to stay a night on the beach. Stefan, 2 British guys also traveling to Bucarest,and Monica and I all camped on the sand and drank 8 liters of beer for under $10. I promise the beer wasn't as bad as it sounds, cheap beer is a big enough reason for many to travel eastern europe.

After a very rough and cold wake-up, we made the bus to Russe, and then to Bucarest, Romania, where we currently are exploring. Varna was fun, but by no means culturally enlightening! We made an excellent friend out of Stefan, however and will be getting the full tour of Sofia when we return there. Cháo

---

Photos

...
Waiting for the bus to come pick us, just 10km outside of varna.

Making Friends
Stefan and his dad take us to a close bus stop, in Varna. We reconnected with Stefan, hes a good guy.