Veliko Turn-over
Trip Start
Jun 19, 2008
1
47
69
Trip End
Sep 04, 2008
Veliko Turnovo,
Veliko Tarnovo,
Bulgaria
Monday, August 18, 2008
We got in here around noon via a 3 hour bus ride from Sofia, and the hostel manager picked us up from the station. Easy enough. The place is sooo pretty! We strolled around, visiting churches (closed on Mondays...), taking in the scenery, stopping at several coffee shops... such a lovely afternoon. We eventually made it to the midieval fortress, which was like middle school fantasy come true. There was a hiking trail on one side that we got lost in for a while. When it got dark, we went to see the sound and light show at the fortress with two other girls from the hostel. But it started raining and we got was a natural lightning show. Apparently the light show starts at different times each day, if it starts at all (enough tourists have to pay 6 leva for it, and most of the time people vie for a free show)
train ride
. We ended up hanging out with a group of Bulgarian college kids in front of the building across from the fortress. One of them spoke incredibly impressive English. They were drinking and getting belligerently vulgar. Apparently "taxi" is a euphemism for penis. Enough of the show, we came back to the hostel, which is seriously superb in atmosphere, facilities, and everything else. Gosh I love this life. I thought a lot about the meaning of traveling and "relaxing". It seems that many of us simply cannot relax completely. Doing nothing makes us nervous. We impose goals, time and money limits on ourselves. Even on holiday, we feel the need to do something, continuously entertain ourselves, and be on-the-go. We must see these things, we must finish off those sites by tomorrow, we must take photos to show people that we have been there. Can we ever truly relax and live in the moment? I want to be able to enjoy the simple things about traveling and not rush about things anymore. I think I finally understand what it means for the process to matter more than the actual destination.
