Geneva Sofia

Hallo zusammen,

bin um 7:30 morgens in Sofia angekommen, zwischen Griechenland und Bulgarien gibt es schon noch eine Grenzkontrolle, obwohl beide Staaten der EU angehoeren.

Auch in Sofia war schoenstes Wetter, musste allerdings feststellen, dass am Montag alle Museen geschlossen sind. So war ich schnell mit der Besichtigung fertig und habe beschlossen nach Rila weiter zu fahren.

Gruss
Ralf

... buildings including the very impressive gold domes of the St Alexander Nevski Temple Church. We also loved St Nikolai Russian Church and the impressive National Art Gallery Building. It's a warm evening and everyone is out and about in the gardens and streets. We explored for a couple of hours and then went back to our hotel's garden restaurant for a lovely (late) meal and to relax.

... are KFC's, Maccy D's and Dunkin Donuts everywhere and it gets very cold in winter (-6' plus windchill when we were walking around today). Wandered down Vitosha which is the main shopping street and hit the park at the end of it (not sure which one as I left my map in Sofia). Saw the monument to Communism, Morman's singing Christmas carols and a local busking by playing a bagpipe ...

... the Bulgarian idea of a festival is not what we were expecting... It was basically an amateur showcase of bands and poets lasting all of about 4 hours! It's impossible to describe it but think student gig in student venue... It was quickly transpiring why they needed us however what also became clear is that they couldn't afford us! We both couldn't wait to get out of the place - we had been treated like **** by being given such a ...

... what Bulgarian food is, but everything in Sofia is a revelation and a positive experience which has put a more than positive end cap on our trek south to Istanbul. Canaussie rating: Brasov, Romania: 5, it's so beautiful Bran Castle: 4, if only we could have gone in... Brasov's "Hollywood" style sign: 5, it's way too cool, especially at night, it looks like its hovering Sofia: 5, easy-going, pretty, relaxed... great little city Polenta with sour cream: 5, strange, but delicious

... has to offer. Then it was off for more fishing, the guys actually caught a few this time. Erin and Daniela found wild strawberries along the river. They were incredibly sweet! We headed home, Paul and Erin's home, and were pleased to have our missing suitcase arrive. Time to sack out for the night - leka nosht - good night in Bulgarian. :-)

... languages and at the end of it, we had an agreement upon a reservation for the 19th of October. Bro and I went to the bus station. Old LP marked a spot on the map as a bus station and I got some information outside. A woman told me (in fractured English) that a bus would come "here" for Sofia at 3.00 pm. Good; it was 2 pm. We had an hour to find a place to stay in Sofia. I had no guidebook for Bulgaria. I went online to a hostel booking website and began ...

... in back again. Kat, Stephanie, Matt and I went into town and got some ice cream and went for a wander. Had dinner and ran into Amber, Mark and others at a cafe along the ped street. The others being the Australian asses from VT. In the brief time we sat with them, even Kat and Stephanie didn't like them (and I thought they were on good behavior compared to VT). Back to the hostel and I hung out with Stefan, Toni and Paiitr at a park across the street. The Australians ...

... less successful. I was attempting to get to the Rila monastery, some way south of the city. There is one direct bus there each day, and one direct bus back. I managed to miss my first bus by two minutes - it was literally pulling of the bus station as I walked in. Feeling brave, I thought I would try to negotiate the local buses and get there anyway. This is a very bad idea because: 1 - I can't read cyrillic (russian alphabet) 2 - people over here often can't speak ...

... and watched people from the Kuwaiti, Swedish, & Israeli embassies dine. The food was scrumptious and plentiful and, the company, as Yanna would say, "very nice." Together we escaped dinner by heading to a great club called escape. This one even had people! We danced for a while, got home around 3:00, watched some CNBC, and lulled ourselves to sleep with Gangsta's Paradise, What if God Was One Of Us, and other assorted music from 1995 Grammy's. After an enormous and yummy ...