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.
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