Corinne CrawfordI left the bunker site in the morning and decided to take the bus to the airport outside of Edinburgh. I wasn’t in a huge rush, I had to be at the airport around 10:00am and the bus would only take about 25 minutes. I stopped in the common kitchen to get some coffee and the only one up at that time was Robert. We chatted over coffee and instead of grabbing my phone to check the time, I asked Robert. He checked his watch and he told me it’s was almost 9:00am. I figured I had about 15 minutes before walking the few minutes to the bus station. We continued to chat and then I decided to look at my phone. It was 9:45. There was no way we chatted for 45 minutes so he checked his watch again and sure enough, his watch was 30 minutes off. I had missed the bus that would get me to the airport in time so I arranged an Uber instead as it would only take about 15 minutes in a car rather than the bus.
I was at the airport in plenty of time and my plane was even delayed for about 30 minutes so I grabbed a coffee and found a nice quiet place to sit for a while. I was connecting in London and had planned for the possibility of a delay and I am glad I did, although even with the 30 minute delay I still had plenty of time. I boarded my flight to Sofia. I was arriving after dark and I could have taken a tram/bus to the apartment I rented but I decided that because I didn’t know the city and where I would be walking with my luggage, I wanted front door service so I took a taxi even though it cost me 10x as much. The host’s mother met me at the door and showed me to the apartment on the second floor. It was a lovely small 1 bedroom apartment with a balcony and a common rooftop garden reachable by an elevator and 1 flight of stairs. I went right to bed and then found a grocery store the next day that was just about a 10 minute walk away.
I stocked up on my now customary yogurt, granola, bananas, ham and cheese sandwich ingredients and found stuff I recognized that I could make for dinner- pork loins and ingredients to make a wine and onion sauce and brussel sprouts. There were not of lot of English language signs or labels so I had to go on visual cues alone.
I worked most of the day and then researched a bit for things I wanted to do while I was there. I decided to do one of those free walking tours that are offered in almost every major city. You don’t pay for the tour but tip the guide what you feel the tour was worth. I think they typically expect somewhere between 10 to 15 Euro. Bulgaria was not on the euro so I had to stop at an ATM to get Bulgarian money for the time I would be in the country. I also booked a “Bohemian Culture tour” for the last night I would be in town, which was a Saturday. I thought it might be nice to see the “nightlife” on a Saturday night and the tour started at 6pm and said it would take us through some of the art districts and secret pubs. The free city tour was great, the guide was very nice with great English and I learned a lot about the history of the City and saw most of the major sites which weren’t all that many to be honest. But we did see all of the old houses of worship, from churches to synogogues to mosques, ranging in age from the 1400’s to present. There was also the ruins of an old Roman neighborhood that was discovered during the building of the main tram station. As in many countries that I have traveled to, cats are everywhere. They are well taken care of and feb by everyone in the neighborhood. I also got to see the changing of the guard at one of the official government buildings.
On one of the days, I decided to walk the 30 minutes to the train station to inquire about the night train to Istanbul. Ever since I had visited Istanbul 11 years ago, I vowed to return. I loved the history, friendliness and vibe of that city and because I was pretty close to it now, I thought that now was my chance to return. The online information about the train indicated that I had to buy my ticket in person at the Sofia train station but when I got there, the ladies at the ticket booths were less than helpful and either didn’t speak English or refused to. I didn’t really get the information I was looking for so I thought maybe I would go back another day when the general information booth was open as I had arrived after 5pm on this particular visit.
On Thursday evening, I wanted to take myself out to a proper Bulgarian meal so I researched a bit and found a couple of options walking distance to my apartment. I didn’t make a reservation though so I was turned away. To be honest, I didn’t find the Bulgarian people very friendly. Almost bordering on rude, which was a little disappointing. One of the things I love about wandering about the world is meeting people from different cultures and countries and having good conversations. But alas, apparently that was not the Bulgarian way I suppose. At one of the places that turned me away on the Thursday night, I asked if there was any availability for Friday night and I got success with a reservation at 8pm at Momas. The following day, I treated myself to a pedicure and after wandering more around the city, I took myself to dinner. I didn’t eat much that day because I wanted to fully enjoy my dinner and when it came, I was disappointed as it didn’t look like a very good portion. But my eyes deceived me and as I dug into the delicious meal, I couldn’t even finish the entire thing.
On Saturday, I met my guide for the Bohemian tour at a central spot in the city and then went on a 4 hour walking, eating and drinking tour. To be honest, even though I learned some history and we stopped at a place to hear some wonderful music and then a super cool underground pub, it really felt like I just paid for someone to walk around with me and listen to his politics.
But he was a good conversationalist and not aggressive with his views so it was interesting in any event. He had recommended that I check out Plovdiv, the other big city in Bulgaria so I looked into accommodations there and booked 5 days in that city before heading to Istanbul. It appeared as if you could catch the train from Plovdiv as well and perhaps I might get better help in that train station.