Radisson Sas Sofia Bulgaria

... 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!!

... on your knees while breathing in the smoke from the person in front of you. Everyone and their brother smokes here. Good game though. Bulgaria lost but it was fun to watch the fans. The section of fans next to us were caged in. Not sure why you'd want to sit there but they must have liked it. There were 2 fights that broke out in the Cage. Strange thing was that both fights were between Bulgarian fans. The stadium must expect this because they had 2 different sets of helmeted ...

... taken off the train at 4am and made to walk across the tracks, in the dark, and stand in line with about a hundred other passengers. Naturally, there was only one Border officer working, so the process took well over an hour. I should take a moment to say that the woman that Rachel and Barbra were staying with was going to Serbia to sell items that she had purchased in Turkey. She had around 25 bags of merchandise which was strewn all over the train carriage floor ...

... There were ruins next to this which seemed to be the remains of Roman Baths. We then spent some time wandering round the streets. Stopped for lunch at a Pizza place and then found the huge statue of Sofia which is a version of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Walked through several parks and looked in a few shops. We did find the magnificent national Theatre building which we admired. About 3-30pm we got a taxi back to the hotel for a rest. \ A very interesting day in a city of suprises.

... 1 hour for all this to happen once we successfully left the platform the women in our carriage where removing stockings tied around their body filled with cigarettes a huge bag was filled with smokes and at a certain point the bag was thrown out the window at the next stop the women got off the train to make their way back to Serbia. The other 2 Aussies where in a different carriage and when passport control ...

... It's called "Hostel Mostel" for those who are checking in on me-- Momma, Dadda-- you can google that. It is in the center of Sofia. I'll soon be heading for some late lunch at what I'm told is a very good traditional Bulgarian restaurant, just around the corner. The hostel is very friendly and safe with lockers and a kind, attentive 24/hr staff. It has free internet, a free all you can eat breakfast until noon everyday, a free pint of beer a night ...

... Even the Lonely Planet puts it down. I had a strange feeling i would really like the place, and i do. Its brilliant here. Once you get past the fact that its rundown (negotiating the footpaths is a nightmare, especially at night when you cant see where your going), its pretty ugly in most parts, and there are lots of gypsy's begging everywhere, its really cool. Its so cheap here its not funny, coffee is like 30 cents and the accomodation 10 euro ...

... someone else and threw him into his old seat. The conversation was in Serbian, but it went something like this - "Sit here. These are your bags. Good luck getting through customs". "But boss........" "Shut up". So then the inspection came. The cops come to our compartment, ask the two old dears who had been crossing themselves for the last ten minutes where they're from... "Bulgaria" they say in unison. "OK", the guy says.... Then to me. "British", say I. "WHAT ...

... the country sandwiched between Greece and the Former Yugoslavia--on the Adriatic Sea (part of the Mediterranean Sea)...is a country full of recent turmoil and unhappy history. Albania was the world's first country (1967) to declare itself an Atheist State (denying the existence of God). Albania was a hardline Communist country which isolated itself first from the Western World (mid 1940s)...then...from the Eastern World (1960 ...