Sofia

On the first day in Sofia, Tisho brought us a typical Bulgarian breakfast which was a pastry with Bulgarian cheese in it (which is similar texture to feta, but the taste is stronger) and the drink called Boza which is made of wheat with a milky texture and has a small percentage of alcohol in it, it was very rich tasting and filling.

After breakfast we got dressed and walked downtown. Once downtown we walked along a yellow brick road, saw the opera house and many churches (old and ancient). We walked by a few kiosk or bazaars on the street. One of them was a row of old ladies selling their doillies and table cloths. We stopped at one of the ladies table and she was determined to sell and give us stuff. She couldn't speak any english but with body language and Tisho, we could figure out what she was saying. "10 for 2 leva!" And she gave us each a doilly free. All the other ladies were staring at us, envious of this little old lady getting all the business.

We walked a bit further and Anna Vala found an old accordian. She felt that she HAD to buy it so gave in, but only later realised that there were accordians for sale all over and the one she got wasn't very good quality. Oh well. There were also many war items for sale, pins, clothing, helmets... many from communist times.

We did a bit more shopping and touring around, then headed to meet with Annie and Tisho's friend for dinner at this vegetarian restaurant. I forget the name of the place, but it was really nice with some picnic tables outside, and a colourful bathroom. Probably was one of the best meals I had in Bulgaria.

Then we had to head back to Tisho's place to pack up for the long bus ride to Nesebar. We pack our bags, then grab a taxi to the bus terminal to catch the bus for midnight. The bus was packed and they kept the lights off so people can sleep, but it is impossible. The bus stops halfway for a pitstop and we line up for the bathroom, I share my tissues with Anna Vala and Becca, since there was no toilet paper (which seems to be a rare luxury in many parts of eastern Europe). Then back on the bus. I think I may have slept 1 hour, but once the sun starts rising you can finally see the landscape. Fairly flat prairie land and you could see the sea approaching.

The bus drops us at around 6:30am in Old Nesebar, which is on a small island attached to the main land with a land bridge. The town itself was built around 600BC, so the buildings are very old with many Roman and Greek influence. The town was quiet so early in the morning (the earliest we would see the town for the rest of the week). It took us a while but we finally found our guest house and once we were assigned our rooms we crashed on the beds.

Blagodaria Bulgaria

So Anna Vala, Tisho, Tisho's friend (I forget his name :S) and I landed in Sofia around 11pm and after customs and baggage claim, Tisho's friend's dad picked us up and drove us to Tisho's place. On the way I was actually surprised how many ads there were in English, though I guess it was near the airport and a lot of tourists come from England and Scandinavia (who can understand english quite well). We drove over cobblestone streets and by modern and communist looking buildings.

When the dad dropped us off we said goodbye and walked across the street to go to this small convenience store that is open late. The place is owned by a family with two women and a man that when you go in their store they follow you around the small space to make sure you don't steal anything. We bought some jogurt and then went to Tisho's apartment.

In his apartment there were two elevators, one which could only hold maybe 6 people standing right against each other, and the other one was regular size. I was so amazed that when you go in the elevator that there is no inside door and when you go up or down you can see the doors for each floor wizzing by and you can touch them!

Once into his flat, we were reunited with Becca, and the first sight we see is he do Tisho's roomate Annie's makeup. Back to the good old days. After showering and getting dressed, we all decided to go downtown to check out a Bulgarian bar. We took a taxi, which probably cost us $3 total, to go downtown and pumped into 3 Canadian guys who were on their way to Greece to visit family of the one guy, and we all went to this Mojito Bar. There weren't many people at the bar since it was after midnight when we got there on a sunday night, but there ended up being this large group of russian dancers there. They bought a bottle of vodka and were having shots and chasing it with orange juice. Then they showed their stuff on the dance floor. They were really interesting to watch. One guy was really giving it, jazz figures and all. We asked for some more drinks and the waitress shook her head. In Bulgaria they shake their head for yes and nod their head for no. Got pretty confusing. After a little while, and we were getting pretty tired, we headed back to Tisho and Annie's place to sleep.

Buda and Pest

Last I wrote on my blog I was leaving Vienna on my way to Budapest. I spent a little over 24 hours in Buda and Pest. The first day, Saturday I believe, I met 3 English guys (who had just graduated high school and were now on their big trip around Europe) at the hostel and we all went out for dinner, on a mission to get Goulash. We ended up at this Mediterranean restaurant that had a few Hungarian specialities but I ended up being the only one who got Goulash. It was really good but intense with spicy flavour (though not hot spicy). After dinner we wandered towards the river Danube and crossed over the Pest. We walked by some magazine stands and one of the magazines is called Fanny and the English guys thought this was hilarious and took pictures of themselves in front of the large poster. The maps of Budapest are some reason really hard to grasp because none of the streets are parallel so we had a few detours before finally getting back to the hostel. I was exhausted so I decided to go to bed and the two other girls in my room were already sleeping when I got there. But oh not for long! It was around 11:30pm when I got back and I got into bed but my roommates had just had a nap and were now on their way out to party! They invited me along but I prefered to sleep. Though didn't even get much of that. The girls seemed to take about an hour or so to get ready to leave, then there were some Italians down the hall partying kind of loud, and then in another few hours the girls came back and took them another hour to get ready for bed. I have no idea how much sleep I actually got.

On Sunday I decided to do the grand tour of Budapest. My friend Csaba gave me some ideas of places I should see and I think I got to most of them, even though I was as exhausted as I was. I walked to Pest along the river. I was heading towards Andrássy the the big beautiful street that leads up to the Heroes' Square. I took the metro on the cute underground train (which I found out later used to be one of the earliest tram lines but then they put it underground). I saw the Heroes' Square and walked around the garden behind it (I had a disposable camera so will have pics up once I have developed the cameras). After walking around there a bit I headed back towards the river, deciding I should take a boat cruise along the river. By water you can get a better view of the Parliament, the Castle, Matthias' Cathedral, the university buildings, the Chain bridge, the Margaret bridge among many other buildings on the bank.

After the boat trip, I headed towards Buda over the Chain bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge, with kiosks, and there was a school brass band playing on one side and a rosk type band playing on the other side. I then walked up the hill towards the castle, Matthias' Cathedral, and the Fishermen's Bastion. I wandered around here for a while, on the hill you had a great view of Pest and the river. It was midafternoon now and was fairly hot and I was pretty tired so decided it was time to head to Gellért the hotel but also is one of the many famous hotspring baths in Budapest. The bath reminded me of the Roman Baths I saw in Bath, England, though this time you were actually allowed to swim in them. I only stay a short while, sat in the hot pools and the swimming pool (which was actually cool, but refreshing) and the sauna, and then had to head back to the hostel in order to get ready for my trek to the airport.

I packed my things up and took the tram to the subway all the way to the end of its line and then the bus to the airport. I checked up and sat around the lounge for a little while before Anna Vala, Tisho and his friend appeared. Then we were on our way to Sofia.