Lc Sheraton Sofia Hotel

... oops we forgot to tell you the airport is stupidly expensive...cheers dad!<br><br>car ride was looong but its quite a nice journey scenerys lovely. you go out of sofia and through the mountains then its through farmers fields and small villages dotted about. notlooking forward to the bus trip back though, the parents don't fancy a 10 hour round trip to take us back to the airport too, damn!!

... back of the train and talked with a young Belgium couple. They gave me some tips for traveling through Europe, so that was nice. At one point Brian and I were in different cabins - 6 people to a cabin. We were both in middle seats. I was between a few locals - plump, happy, smokers, laughing a lot. It was pretty funny. And Brian was between two women yelling at each other - but not fighting, just regular loud conversation. <br> We finally sat next to each other and tried to enjoy ...

... did she show me round Sofia (making sure to include the limited amount of ancient history still on display to the public), but she made sure I was properly integrated with her friends, who were similarly legendary. In Sofia the name of the game is bench jamming. Evenings were whiled away on park benches with guitars, bongos and crooning. It helped that Bo was a music student and that she and many of her friends ...

... of the ticket men which car we were supposed to be in because our ticket didn't specify. He led us into a car with very nice sleeper cabins. There were two fairly decent sized mattress beds with sheets, a mirror, and mini table in the corner. We were surprised that this was where we were supposed to be because we only paid 12 euro for the ticket and this car definitely looked like first class, but we figured "oh well, someone in charge told us to go here." As we sat in the beds ...

... ask for assistance. These things continue to sadden me - surely the nation that preserved the legacy of St Cyrill and Methodius through the centuries can do better than this... No, no, it's not all bad of course! I can't tell you how many wonderful people I met when I went to Sopot and visited some small villages around Ruse. Warm and welcoming, they would go out of their way to help me find directions or give me a ride into town, or show me where the local doctor is ...

... i could not find the passports anywhere in the mean time Tash is checking all of our stuff to make sure they did not fall into our bags - i told Tash to go and check the carriage again herself and to ask the passport control man if he still had them - she was gone for ages and all i could think was my god if this train goes i will have all of the stuff and Tash would have the passport and no bra - but as the train pulled away i saw ...

... been an Orthodox Christian country (which is in line with the Byzantine heritage centered in Constantinpole, today's Istanbul), there are a lot of beautiful orthodox churches all over town. Aside from Orthodox Christians, with 12% of its population Turkish, there is also a sizable Muslim population. One 500-year old mosque, Banya Boshi Mosque, lies just north of the center and across the street from fancy TSUM Department ...

... on his way back to Joburg via Athens. They turne out to be pretty cool people, and converstation made the trip to the monestary very enjoyable. The monestary dates from the 10th Century, although most of the buildings were built in the 19th Century. The guy from the hostel gave us a tour, and then asked me to fill in segments about 20th Century Bulgarian history. Kind of uncomfortable in my role as impromptu tour guide, I think I still ...

... intended to leave anyone with a negative view of Bulgaria - on the contrary. There are few places left in the world where one can travel a few kilometers outside of the bustling capital and still see shepherds herding their sheep through vast fields with nothing but a torn pack on their back. One can be held up on the main highway for long periods of time while hundreds of cows meander their way across the road. In the southern Rhodopi mountains there are ...