Greenville Hotel and Apartments Sofia

... railway is a pretty big and important employer here.

More important than in Turkey at least... we find out on arrival that for the last month there are no imternational trains into or out of Turkey - not great for our plans. Buses were apparently the only option, but its one that is well catered for with at least 25 private bus companies operating out of Sofia station. So we book the bus and an ...

... at, considering the crash course. It's strange seeing words that seem almost familiar, except that they contain a few 3s or feydas in them...also one of the symbols is pronounced "shch". We arrived into Sofia no problem, but finding our hostel was another story. The vague mix of directions, and a general dot on the map that we'd placed before proved useless, but apparently we weren't the only oblivious ones. The 3 locals we asked pointed us to 3 different directions, and eventual it ...

... viin. Meenutab grappat. Seda telliti ikka usinasti ja ka vein voolas pudelite kaupa. Aeg lendas kuidagi väga kiiresti. Iisraellased rääkisid oma sõjaolukorrast ja kuulsime ka teistsugust nägemust konfliktikoldest. Kolmveerand kaksteist hakkasime minema peaväljakule uut aastat vastu võtma. Ümber väljaku oli turvakontroll, kes püüdis vältida pommi- ja alkoohtu. Pomme meil polnud ja Tamm nihverdas napsu kuidagi ...

... lined up. Bill got stamped in and then the guy started going nuts to someone on the phone. I just stood there and smiled stupidly the whole time. Eventually he came around opened my passport and stamped it. Back on the train and then to sleep. After what seemed like an eternity (I slept) there was another rap on the door. This time they got on the train. There were torches in faces and some yawning and trying to look some like your photo and then off to ...

... lot of effort... I didn't really have time to see a lot of the city and it's surroundings (I really would like to visit mountain Vitosha!!!). I seem to be caught up in city live: working daily in an office, having meetings and getting stuck in traffic... I miss nature here: fresh air, sea, mountains... In the meantime I also got some housemates! By coincedence they are all ...

... us and replied, "Want half a sandwich?"After that we decided to turn back. But no sooner had we turned tail than thunder pealed nearby and the dark clouds that drifting lazily overhead unleashed hell. First rain, then hail, then a downpour. We met two nice girls from England on the way down, and as we all sheltered under a tree I began to worry for my camera. I put it inside our travel bag and waited for a momentary lull. When no ...

... followed was a very eventful train ride for 12 hours (lets just say these guys would fit right in on Bowen, they are just as...original as the rest of you), and we got to Sophia at about 6:00 in the morning. Basically, noone got any sleep, so we were all exhausted. They had to leave to go to Plovdiv, and we said our goodbyes and swapped emails, but i'm totally staying in touch.

... same time which the waiter took to mean "no" (since nodding means no here). Wacky. Went for a stroll to walk off some of the dinner and saw lots of fireflies along the road (some glowing red, some green). That was cool. Watched some Grosse Point Blank back in the bungalow then bedtime. Up early for walk to monastery and bus. That took us about halfway to Sofia where we had to switch to another bus. When we arrived into Sofia I took a look out the window and thought I ...

... Sofie. Vsetko je tu blizko, takze ste vsade rychlejsie peso ako autom - aj tak su tu take uz ulice ako v starom meste v Blave, len s tym rozdielom, ze na kazdej strane ulice su zaparkovane auta a stredom ulice sa este zmesti jedno auto - ma sice asi len 0,5 metra na kazdej strane, ale predsa - a trieli neuveritelnou rychlostou cez miestne ulicky. No uplny Balkan. :-)

... the big church is, and where there was a really great flee market with communistic and Nazi memorabilia among ancient toys and broken cameras. Ina bought two hats and pins and I bought an old watch for my dad. We walked through "Vitosha" boulevard., which is like the (Bulgarian equivalent of 5th avenue according to Ina). Then we reached the "N.D.K", which is a very interesting building in a big square where there were lots of roller blading and skateboarding kids ...