My Images of SEE – 21:51, Sunday 14th August

Post iced coffee/book reading chill out, we walked to the main square, then on to the department store where Liam thought he saw a currency exchange desk. However there wasn’t one. However, on passing through the Metro station, I spied one there, so we made for that. I changed Leva to the value of €70 – great! We then visited the café we went to yesterday afternoon. We spent 1hr 45 there just reading and surfing the net on our phones and chatting; over water and Schweppes Tangerine. That got us to 6pm. We then walked to a DM store, away from the hostel, and bought toilet roll. The we went to a pharmacy for indigestion tablets for Liam. Then we bought water and beer near the hostel for the train ride.

Upon our return, our bags were in order, and I looked at the Internet while Liam read. We then had a game of pool while the residents ate. I won, naturally. We then asked the girl on the desk about hailing a taxi. She said she would book one for us. So at 19:45 she did and he arrived promptly. She walked us to it too, and gave the Cabbie instructions. For 4 Leva we were whisked to the station for 20:00.

Upon arrival, a man looking slightly like Mario asked if we wanted help. We obliged him and he showed us our carriage, and then our berth. We gave him 4 Leva as a note of thanks. Then he demanded €20. I said we had no money (Leva at least) and showed him my empty wallet. He lingered and repeated ’20 Euro, 20 dollar’. So Liam gave in and gave him €20. He soon f***ed off. Cheeky sod! However, aside from that, the sleeper was a palace! Leather seats, side table, a top/down leather shutter. It was hot though.

We packed our luggage under one side, and then sat down. Our fellow travelers also arrived. They were a Greek pair, father and son. Very nice. We chatted to the son whilst the father cooled down in the corridor. We then had some of our beer once we had departed. The sunset was beautiful. A lovely set of cascading colours from yellow, orange, pink then red. Wonderful. We set up our beds with the sheets the Russian attendant gave us (as the train was destined for Moscow). We relaxed then once the younger Greek lad made for bed, we all did so. But what a luxury this carriage is in comparison to some of the dumps that we have seen.

My Images of SEE – 14:10, Sunday 14th August

So at the hostel we just opted for the free beer, leaving the pasta for tonight. As we sat on a large U-shaped sofa, a young lad from Bristol was sat next to us. He had just finished uni, so wanted to spend as much money as possible before starting his job in September. He was 3 weeks into his 6 week trip. We chatted about where he had been, and where he is going to. He said he’s off south – to Skopje. We gave him our positive opinion of the place. However, the opposite was in store for us when we mentioned Bucharest. ‘Spend one day there’, he said. Thankfully, we are: with that he left, so we went on the PC’s for 20 minutes.

We then walked past our apartment to a restaurant a couple of blocks up that served ‘traditional Bulgarian food’. The venue looked 150 years old architecturally, but was nicely painted red with white features. We entered via a side courtyard, and got taken inside to our table. The interior was homelike but with guns on the walls. I wondered how ‘Bulgarian’ that was. We ordered a bottle of local red, which was lovely, when all of a sudden the House 3-piece band started playing. A drummer, guitarist and & accordion player stood next to a group in a nearby room. Afterwards they played near us, with a familiar tune. It was Careless Whisper by George Michael!

We had a starter of cooked Goat’s Cheese, thin pitta-like bread, Blueberry Jam and roasted ring of apple. It was amazing. Liam then had chicken with asparagus – which turned out to be babycorn. I had mixed meatballs and ‘sausage’, which was lovely and filling. The spices went well with the red wine. It did take a bit of time between courses, but the dessert was amazing – Walnut Cake with ice cream. The bill only 60 Lev - £30! Bargain.

So we left, departing with our bag, and went to the hostel’s bar. It was 7 doors down from the hostel and on the first floor of a tall block. As we walked in only a small group of people were there. The barman gave us our free shot. Something green and strong. Liam had a coke, and me a vodka with ice. For an hour and a half we sat there and chatted, as a large group came in and entertained themselves behind us (we were at a bar running across the window). Then another, smaller group came in. The larger group of mixed nationalities 30 minutes after their arrival, and soon after, so did we. We then slept through the night until 09:00 this morning.

We got our rags on and went over to breakfast a little early. Liam had bread and cheese, I had bread with a lesser known brand of Nutella. I was feeling tender. We then got back to the apartment, wash and changed, then packed. We walked back to the hostel, and I settled the bill. We could leave our baggage under the watchful eye of the receptionist/manager. So we departed then for a second day of exploring.

We walked the route to the main square, the right heading south down bul. Vitosha. This has many western shops on and about halfway down, before the park, we stopped for a coffee. After our break from the sun, we continued to the park. It was a lovely wide park with parallel tree lines on either side of a wide pedestrian boulevard, centred with a series of water pools. As it stretched south, it culminated in fountains. Behind those was a behemoth of a construction. 

The Palace of Culture may make it seem grand, but it looked like a 1970’s hypermall. Behind that was Mt. Vitosha. A lovely view. We walked towards it, then beyond it to ‘lover’s bridge’. But it was a damp squib, so we walked back to the top of the park, and turned left down a main street that took us to the bottom of the shopping street we were on yesterday. 

We walked up this, then back into town where we entered a food place we saw yesterday. We had a fulfilling meal and then walked to the Museum of Natural History. Basically stuffed animals. But it wasted another hour of the day. We then walked the way we came, via a park, so sat there and read for a short while, before going into Costa Coffee across the street.