Vega Sofia

... very day (the Italian prime minister came for a political visit and we saw him while he watched a military parade). The country is cheap though and we only spent 7 euros for 2 people for an entire day.

Special thanks to Bernhard for letting us use his shower before we got on the evening bus to Istanbul. We are not necessarily looking forward to the 2nd night on the bus in a row, but we are hardcore backpackers and that's the way a world trip should start!! ;)

... were the first to tire out once the semi-live music came on. Splitting a taxi home was a straightforward enough affair -- which is worth stating given the frequency with which tourists are ripped off coming back downtown from the clubs -- but it wasn't until we were about to swipe into the hostel that we realized we needed some food. Our usual kebab shop was closed -- clearly they don't share the same culinary role as in London, which are ONLY frequented at 3am ...

... the old generation those who grew up with Communism, they dint speak any English and all the youngsters do, you see the young people on skateboards and blades and hippies and the old people are totally different. Anyway like I said Bulgaria has been an inter sting place. I am off to Macedonia tomorrow which I am quite interested about I dint know much about it so it will be inter sting thats for sure, hopefully less travelers as well fingers crossed!!!

... and I went back to Olive's with Hannah and had some drinks for a few hours. It was nice to relax and have some idol conversation. We met back at the apartment and decided to find a place that was authentic Indian food. When we got to the place, there was a sign outside that was different than in the travel guide, so we milled around wondering what to do next. While we were waiting, we bumped into a couple of Frenchmen who were looking for the same place to eat. Together we decided ...

... is housed in an old Mosque, no longer in use. My ears pricked up at that! !! From there we walked back along the road to the National Art Gallery where we went inside but only as far as the souvenir shop. This was an excellent shop with good quality artefacts on sale. From here we stopped outside the church of St Nikolai, an Orthodox church built in russian style. this was was relatively recent, from the 1920s. However, our next visit was great. This was at the church of St Sofia ...

... with him. We were really tired, but this trip has taught us one thing - people shouldn`t be refused. Despite the fact that Jaser didn`t speak any other language than Turkish, we really got along with each other. We`d been eating, drinking and talking till almost 2 am, when we went to bed and slept like babies. In the morning each of us took a shower at the gas station, 20 km later on we ate a breakfast - a soup at a bar, and right before Belgrade ...

... salads at smoky restaurants (everybody here smokes except small children) and had a really cute blue room. headed out the next day for Plovdiv. It was POURING rain, but we were brave, put on shorts and sandals and went out to see stuff. It was just too much, so we gave up, went out for chinese food and a movie. Typical theatre experience, it was a huge old place, full of empty coat racks and grand staircases and a lady with an apron who took our ticket to go into ...

... have it on the dance floor (those that know me well will realise the humour in that, those that dont will think Im extremely arrogant... Im happy with either). We spent the night raving to some funky early 90s tracks, which they really love in this part of the world, including such greats as Snow (informer) Ini komoze (hot stepper), Bon jovi (who cares...not the name of the song... its just that I really dont care for Bon Jovi and the only pleasure he gives me is to Cuss him ...

... to a pretty damnable race. It was funny - stereotype or not, he was getting more Irish by the drink. Also, we didn't really pick up on it at the time, but we agree in retrospect that Bryan the American was starting to show signs that he was a little naive - We were talking about the South Park episode on Alcohol Anonomous being a religious cult, and his defence was that you didn't have to believe in God, it was just whatever higher power you look to ...

... It involved mostly getting on and off the bus (about 5 times), and standing in long slow-moving lines. Obviously all went ok or I wouldn't be here typing this now, but it was something of a surreal feeling to be straddling the Turkey-Bulgaria border in the wee hours of a spring morning. From Sofia I made my way eastward, first to the city of Veliko Tarnovo and then to Varna on the Black Sea Coast. Like the Czech Republic, Bulgaria is a country still struggling in ...