The last three days have been spent in Bulgaria which we decided is a Great country scenery and location wise that definitely deserves a longer visit, but that most of the locals are slightly lacking in the old social skills department. Plovdiv was the first stop, and unlucky for us, the nightbus got in at 6am three hours early so we found ourselves sat in the bus station not sure which way to go running on about 30 mins sleep as the bus stopped what seemed like every 5 minutes for toilets, borders, even a 20 minute duty free shopping sesh at half three- perf!
We made it to the hostel rang the doorbell- no response. Turns out the gate was open. Knocked on the door, no response. Turns out the door was unlocked. And that is how the poor owner awoke an hour or so later to find four random burglars asleep on the sofa in the basement. Luckily he was very chilled (probably still drunk from the night before), kicked a couple of people out the hostel and made room for us. Plovdiv was a really nice city, we climbed to a viewpoint to feel like we had done something with the day and then- more importantly discovered white-grape flavoured beer- delish! In the evening we did a free walking tour and found out that underneath the whole of the main street is an ancient roman arena. They had planned to dig out the whole thing and place glass on top so you can walk down it for 200m but apparently that cost too much. So, you have to make do with one section hidden down some stairs at the end of the street. Still cool! but strange to think that it just goes on under the ground!
Tried some local cuisine- very oily! and very fried! attempted cocktails but Laura informs me her sex on the beach was everything she did not want from a cocktail - not ideal! my rum and coke was just fine, but it didn't beat the cider we found at a corner shop that was blackberry flavoured- seriously- better than Kopperberg! Lazy morning followed by a pizza slice - hugeeeee for 40p! and then a cheeky 2 hour bus to Sofia the capital.
Having heard dubious things about the city, expectations were not high- but when we found a hostel that included a free bowl of spag bol and a beer every night we decided it had got to be worth a stop. Hostel Mostel was deffs the hostel with the mostel.
On our only full day in Sophia we decided some nature was in order and took the tram to a national park and began climbing up up up. Three hours later it was clear that we were pretty high up but, unfortunately, also in dense forest soooo no views there then. Sally had issues with her first nature wee experience but we got there eventually and after 5 hours up and down, and a random encounter with a guy from dundee who had just married a bulgarian on a tram- it was NAP TIME. We wanted to hit up the hostel bar crawl in the eve so lined our stomachs with some more bulgarian specialities. No idea what it was called but most of the offerings seemed to consist of hearty meaty stew type things with potatoes. Nom.
The sights of Sophia took an hour or so and then it was time to test out the 3 euro bottle of vodka- which was actually a success! By the time the bar crawl started the others were mingling like backpacking pros and we spent most of the night apart, but confusing people by pointing at eachother across the room trying to explain the family connections. We were ready to move on to a club by 2 but sadly was informed by the guy in charge that sofia is not a great one for midweek nights- especially in the summer when all the cool people are at the beaches apparently . Nightmare. How we ended up on a drunken kebab hunt im not sure but it was most definitely unsuccessful.
As was getting up in time for a leisurely breakfast before a leisurely walk to the bus station to be leisurely early for our bus. It turned into a nightmare-ish half hour of scoffing down free waffles and juice, running to atms, lying about lost keys and eventually calling a taxi when the receptionist looked highly dubious when I told her of our plans to make the 9.30 bus which we already had tickets for.
Another boring border crossing on the bus and mid afternoon we arrived in Skopje and discovered time had gone back an hour (time zone wise) and about 20 years fashion wise. we took the extra hour as an excuse for a nap. FInally left around 4pm to do some sightseeing- we are only here for one night after all! Sightseeing got off to an interesting start in an irish bar eating mexican food with a banterous waiter who spoke better english than us. But soon we got round to seeing the "beautifully ugly" (thats what the guidebook said) buildings of the city.
Most of this place was destroyed in the 60s by an earthquake so everything here now is either decrepit or brand new. The governement also seem to have a penchant for statues- of anything- anywhere. Oh- and fountains. I have never seen so many fountains . And these are not your average fountains. These are all singing all dancing light-show, musical co-ordinated to the different water patterns and mist while some guy sits on a giant horse at the top. So tacky. So great. We could have watched the routines for hours. (Videos to come on FB.
We had some chocolate cake to recover from the greatness of the fountain and now we're back at the hostel ready for an early night. Tomorrow we head to lake Ohrid to do some water activities- but mostly for the hostel which advertises free ice cream! xxx
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