Spa-Hotel Tsarsko Selo Sofia

... work we didn't get it set up to work abroad...oops. go outside to find the father...he's not there. ask where to get change and get pointed to a small exchange office. decided that we'd just get a drink at the cafe and get changethat way, picked up a can of coke and went to pay for it....5 LEV. gave a 10 and got a 5LEV note back. but we need change please....go to the bank we don't give change ...

... on you. We also ran straight into a large union rally or protest closing down the center of town. After asking everyone we could what it was about...no one knew. It seems there is a protest or rally every other day in Sofia.

We met up later with our friend from Ohrid, Danny. He is Spanish and teaching Spanish at the university in Sofia. He gave us a brief but excellent tour of the city, which he obviously had done before and ...

... just checked passports and waved the bus through, the Turks decided that 3am was a good time to start acting like total *****. First I was made to get off the bus and walk to a ****** little hut to pay fifteen Euros for a visa, then all the passports were checked in a second little hut. Ok, reasonable enough so far (even if that visa was a massive rip off). Then it got absurd. We all had to get off the bus and stand around with our bags for half an hour before ...

... was surreal as I've never been in a country before where I couldn't read the text. The Cyrillic text is confusing but with the help of our Lonely Planet guidebook we found a taxi that was fair (but didn't speak english). The ride is was really long as we hit rush hour but interesting nonetheless. At the hotel I was really underwhelmed by the hotel so we decided to switch to a swanky hotel right on the main square in Sofia. I'll have pics for you ttomorrow of that.

... did have a better day on Monday though when I conquered the public transport! In the morning I did get miles out of the way of where I wanted to be trying to find a bloody street kiosk to buy a day travel ticket (one of those little annoyances I mentioned, they were all closed and I had to walk for ages to find an open one) but on the plus side it meant I accidentally came across the women's market which was cool. Fruit, veg, street kids selling cigarettes, old ...

... of the city is a big Orthodox cathedral, but even that manages to look a bit communist too. Though I did find it interesting how different the inside was to the various Catholic cathedrals I've seen on my travels. The walls and ceilings are covered with intricately drawn icons. I also happened to be there when a group of men were performing some type of religious chant/prayer. The music was beautiful. After I returned to the Hulletts, I made ...

... happy to help us and very soon we were merrily bunny hopping down the road (I should add that I was too chicken to drive myself, although I blamed the fact that my license had been stolen when I was in Edinburgh). We firstly drove about 20 ks north to a Monastery, where we were met by a monk who happily chatted to us in Bulgarian for about 5 minutes, of course none of us could understand him, but at least he was friendly. Behind the monastery was a track that followed a ...

... You buy 100 grams of Bulgarian cheese and two tomatoes for dinner (to make a pseudo-salad or whatnot), and it costs you a total of 30 eurocents. 9) The ministry of silly walks rules at the changing of the guards at the President Building. The soldiers shout "huss" and then high kick their way a couple feet forward while slapping their boots back down on the pavement. I have pictures - no joke! 10) You go see Pirates of the Caribbean (finally!!) and there is an ...

... the hotel room until 2:00 or 3:00. And that ruins the day for sightseeing, and cannot be done if I have to catch a morning train or plane. (It also means I don't get any housekeeping. Ack!) Lastly, it just seems wrong to me - 6:00 p.m. is Happy Hour, not the time to be having your breakfast coffee at a cafe, and I find it hard to make myself wait to start the evening. Hence, my conclusion that the 2:00 a.m. cutoff is good.

... a church, beside which the filming of something was going on. G was quite intrigued, so we hung around for a while, but nothing much happened; people with electronic equipment hanging from their belts walked to and fro, a prop helicopter was wheeled around, that was about it. The central part of Sofia is a pleasant place, with lots of shops, stately buildings and things to see. After we got settled into our room, we ...