The pictures here are of Jake with the Bulgarian flag and a neat building near our hostel. The first picture is the garage we had to go through to get to our hostel - a little sketchy, but it was fine once we were inside.
Our first day in Sofia was a tough one for me. First, we’d just been traveling for 27 hours. Granted, we were able to sleep a bit on the Bucharest to Sofia train, but you can only sleep so much in a confined area sitting up right waiting for passport control and with a group whose collective stench precedes its arrival. We checked into our hostel – whose approach was a sketchy garage, but more inviting once inside, and settled in for the night. Megan and I made our reservations together and were in a different room than Vivvi and the boys. This was my first experience with a true hostel in a long time. I have stayed at Hostels in Asia, but it was always with a room full of people I know and usually only a two person room. This was an 8 person room, that was co-ed. Yikes. I freaked out a bit upon this realization – but I got over it by the next morning. I usually tend to be hesitant with the small talk and bs that comes along with meeting new people. I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it much. Hostel life is a nice way to meet people though. For example, our first night, I met a nice Israeli guy who had been in Europe for a month, and two very nice Australians. I had breakfast with Mel and Phil (the Aussies) the next morning- I am a better morning person than night person and I beat everyone else up. They have been dating for four years, and traveling for three and a half. They were on their way to Istanbul and then to India for a month to finish this trip in Vancouver. They would settle in Vancouver for a year or so and eventually move back to Australia to settle down. I also met two Americans who were in Bulgaria for two years with the Peace Corps- they were in week 7 and have many more to go.
Once we gathered as a group, we decided to go on the walking tour of Sofia. It is a beautiful town, with the Cyrillic alphabet everywhere – so not necessarily easy to navigate. Luckily we had Jake with us, who was a linguistics major in college, and who brushed up on his Cyrillic Alphabet before we left. It was disconcerting thinking of the fact that I was just getting comfortable in small doses of Hungarian and now I know NO Romanian or Bulgarian and no Turkish. Yeesh. We made our way around the city and took in some really beautiful sights. In the center of town, there were people out selling their wares, and I purchased a cigarette holder with a swastika on it, a medal with Josef Stalin on it, and a Lenin button – supposedly authentic antiques. The most interesting that I purchased might be a little book that looked like a passport sized workbook with the Nazi swastika as the pattern of paper. I am going to have to bring it to school and ask my kids what it is exactly, but it looked cool. We had lunch at an authentic Bulgarian restaurant and it was delicious. It seemed to be a cross between Hungarian food – heavy with meats, potatoes and peppers- and some Greek influence.
After a long day of sightseeing, I set out to find a place to get my haircut. This was not as easy as I had hoped. First, it was a Friday afternoon – so not everyone had room, and secondly, I had NO Bulgarian so I couldn’t even tell them that I didn’t speak their language or ask for help. At any rate, I found a place that was in a bit of an alley who fit me in. There were only two chairs in there and she busted out a funky Eastern European haircut book from which I was to choose. I kind of pointed at one and hoped that she didn’t actually do that do, but it was the safest of them all.
All was well, and it was only about $6.00 which was a heck of a deal. After we rested a bit, we had dinner at the hostel. They served spaghetti and a free beer every night that you stayed there. It was interesting spaghetti and beer in Sofia Bulgaria. Afterwards, we headed out to a Bulgarian bar that was recommended by the Hostel workers. It was crowded and smoky but fun. I stuck near the bar area, and to my surprise, a man with a dog on a leash bellied up next to me. Weird – but apparently acceptable. I also spotted the man I want to marry – Nikolai from my spot. He was gorgeous – great smile and seemed friendly (from afar that is). Vivvi and I hung out by the bar, with Megan eventually joining us. The boys came in, and as they met up with us, Nikolai was following them – whoa… We talked for a bit, and then he told us to meet him at another bar after this one. So of course we did, because he was the man of my dreams – and at the next bar, I danced like an idiot- occasionally accompanied by one of my group, and then Nikolai showed up. We talked some more, and then he pointed out his wife. DAMN – Europeans wear their wedding rings on the other hands. Damn. Oh well, at least Vivvi documented it all on my camera, so life was good.
The next day in Sofia, we headed to the “laides market” which was just a big market with food, clothes and wares and then walked around the city more. Vivvi, Jake and I went to a covered market for lunch and had some good food. After a nice rest there, we headed back towards the Hostel – when along the route, I discovered that my camera was missing. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I kept it in a zippered pocket in the front of my purse, so either I took it out and didn’t zip the pocket when I put it back, or I was totally thieved. Either way – it was a bummer, especially since no one else had pictures of Nikolai… As we were heading to Istanbul that night, it was important to get a replacement so we stopped at a photo store and I got a new camera. Not as nice as the one I had, but it would suffice in this pinch. We spent the afternoon relaxing and preparing for our 7:00 departure from Sofia to Istanbul.
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