Veliko Turnovo,
Bulgaria
Friday, July 25, 2008
VT is my last stop on this trip. I arrived only about half an hour late and had a pick up by the hostel from the train station. That didn't stop me from getting accosted from hostel/private room touts at the station, including one scary one who looked like your stereotypical mugshot of a rapist and wouldn't take no for an answer. I just kept saying 'Ne, ne Hostel Mostel' until he went away and then I mercifully saw the Hostel Mostel guy. The hostel is gorgeous!! The best I've ever stayed in, in fact even better than Nathans Villa in Warsaw. It only opened fairly recently which probably explains its good condition. Proper beds, proper showers, free wifi and a portion of pasta and a beer for dinner for free as well!! That's the way to run a hostel! I just chilled out last night and had a beer, and then in the morning set off for the train bureau to book my train to Budapest as there was a notice in the hostel advising people the train bureau shuts at 12 on a Saturday. I told the woman, Budapest tomorrow and she rang up and booked it and then handed me the timetable which had it arriving about 7 hours after I expected it to! So I told her no I can't arrive at this time, and asked for a minute to think. I had thought about getting a v late train from here overnight to Bucharest to see the city for a few hours but then decided against it. But it seemed to be my only option to take a train tonight to Bucharest and then try and get one to Budapest from there tomorrow. This did not impress the woman. I said sorry and she got rather cross, jabbering away in Bulgarian going "blah blah blah 'sorry', blah sofia, blah harumph" or words to that effect! She rang up again and cancelled the Budapest ticket and I eventually got a train to Bucharest booked for midnight. I'm going to have to get a taxi to Gorna tonight, I was going to get a bus tomorrow but I'm not risking it at that time of night.
After that little interlude I came back to the hostel to try and sort my train to Budapest out and then went off to see the fortress and have a wander about. The views from the fortress are amazing. The whole town is set on a hillside and is very picture postcard pretty. But of course my batteries for my camera have died so I was taking pictures with my phone instead which is 3 megapixels rather than 5 but I hope I should still get some reasonable shots. I wish I was staying another day or two actually, I think there are a number of day trips that could be done from here (hill walking, monasteries etc), and the hostel will organise them if enough people want to go which is cool. I didn't bother with any churches or any other sights really, just wandered, had omlette and chips for late lunch/early dinner although the two managed to come separately, the latter about 10 mins after I had finished the first. The service everywhere I've eaten in Bulgaria has been terrible, but at least the food is cheap!
So I'm just hanging out here at the hostel, drinking a beer, thinking I should probably get some more food somehow and killing time until I head off.... homeward bound very soon..... :(
