Highway to Hell

It's amazing the thoughts that stream through your head when you find yourself running across a deserted border crossing at two in the morning, your coach disappearing through the checkpoint  in the distance leaving you and your wife stranded with only some shit pizza and a few quid in Bulgarian coins for comfort. Strangely, my first thought was "God, I wish I was back in Sofia right now". Which is not, as I think even the most ardent Bulgarian patriot would agree, something which one hopes for very often.

We'd arrived in the Bulgarian capital about ten hours earlier, after our relaxing stay in Rila. As that evening's overnight train to Istanbul was full, we'd thrown caution to he wind and booked an overnight coach instead (you can read Lou's thoughts on Eastern European coach travel a bit later). That left us with best part of the day to explore Bulgaria's oft-maligned capital.

It is, in almost every sense, a city of two parts. The vast majority is bustling, ramshackle and alive with the intoxicatingly friendly buzz generated by the commerce of poverty and the extraordinary kindness of the local people. It is also, by any measure, pretty damned ugly. Pavements and roads are in poor repair, buildings dilapidated and bins overflowing. Though the sounds from the dusty playgrounds that populate the side streets are of happy children, the parks themselves are in sad repair, as are the fume-belching buses that wind their way through the city. In fact, the whole place seemed crying out for a hefty whack of European cash to help sort out the infrastructure and help the Sofians help themselves.

Twenty minutes later, after we'd walked past the Paul Smith boutique and Rotary Watch store into the "Old Town" that houses Bulgaria's Presidential residency and the Shearton Hotel, we found ourselves in the - much smaller - other part of town. Pavements are smoother here, the parks bustling with outdoor cafes and music, and the buildings beautifully preserved and gleaming in the afternoon sun. Government types and the Germans, Americans, Japanese and Brits working here can choose from an array of shops and restaurants that are undeniably priced way out of reach of most locals. European flags fly here too, along with the signs proclaiming the investment that EU membership has brought. There's no denyng that they've done a good job in this part of town. You just hope that the cash, and the planning, starts flowing round the city - and the country - soon.

In short Sofia was a city you couldn't help but like, but could in all likelihood never see yourself returning to.

Unless, that is, you find yourself shaking with panic at a Turkish border crossing, trying to buy a Visa in the wrong currency as your coach - and all your belongings - crosses the border without you. Then Sofia seems like the most attractive place in the world, which was exactly the thought running through my mind as I ran, in best Challenge Anneka style, looking for an ATM that the irate border guard had told me existed at the rear of an empty building. In the end, the guard came to help, I got some cash, and we made it into Turkey just fine. And so Sofia was filed once again in the box marked "nice enough, but never again", and we trundled onwards towards Istanbul.

TTFN,

Luke and Louise

(Posted by Luke)

Gotta Serve Somebody

Apparently, one of the joys of travelling is meeting and travelling with new people from around the world, embracing different cultures and backgrounds. And so it was that we met Marc from Cardiff (a Cardiff City fan like Luke) in Belgrade. Marc had the joy of sharing an overnight train journey with us to Sofia. Despite the fact that the train compartments were like a sauna, the train journey itself was very enjoyable, and we arrived, only an hour later into Sofia, than scheduled.

We had had already decided that we weren't going to stay in the city but would head straight out into the country for some more camping again, near to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Rila Monastery.

Sadly, we'd missed the only bus of the day, so had to get a 3 hour train to Balgoevgrad, then a 45 minute bus to Rila village and finally a half hour bus from there to the monastery -the “short walk from the village” we'd read about actually being a 22 kilometres trek uphill. The monastery is literally on the side of a mountain, in the fantastically beautiful Rila national park. You can imagine our joy, when we discovered that our camp-site was a 2 kilometre hike uphill from the monastery itself...

I won't pretend that we are some sort of intrepid explorers, but visiting Rila was a more more alien exerienc than the rest of our European trip so far, testing both our skills and patience. Having joined the EU less than three years ago, Bulgaria is a fast changing country, but outside of the Black Sea coast and the main cities, it doesn't yet have the transport infrastructure of its neighbours. Furthermore, opening times, sign posts and bus time tables, let alone tourist information are all hard to come by.

However, despite this, at every turn there seemed to be people keen to help us and give us directions despite our inability to speak Bulgarian, keen for people to visit and enjoy their country.

Bulgarians are also intensely proud of the Cyrillic alphabet that they, not the Russians, invented. Just to prove that it is their alphabet the Bulgarians use several extra letters that no one else uses just to confuse.


The Bulgarian language and alphabet, along with it's own Orthodox church stem back thousands of years, and Bulgarians credit the monasteries, particularly Rila, with keeping these traditions alive under 500 years of Ottoman occupation. This is one of the reasons why for many Bulgarians Rila Monastry remains a place of pilgrimage to this day.

The monastery itself was awe inspiring, truly beautiful and wonderfully maintained. With reaching arches in black and white, and a church covered in vivid murals, the whole place was made more stunning still by the scenery surrounding it. It is definitely worth a trip, and if anyone is thinking about it but doesn't like camping, you can stay with the monks for 15 Euros a night -  where they have their own restaurant!

The camp-site was not quite like it's German equivalent, being as it was several chalets, and a small stretch of grass (rocks) for tents. That said the bar and restaurant were really good. We were able to try some traditional Bugarian food including Kavarma, a kind of stew, and some Bulgarian Champagne (sparkling wine).

As we were in the middle of nowhere, we were surrounded by mountain ranges and colourful wildlife, including some huge bugs I'd never seen before! I'm sure we will surprise everyone by saying we did yet more hiking, this time crossing rivers and rocky paths, in the mountains around the monastery.

We were sad to leave this enchanting place after two nights and make the long journey back to Sofia. Rila Monastery is one of Bulgaria's greatest attractions but is still yet to be ruined by intensive tourism. I hope in the coming years when it inevitably gets more and more visitors it still retains its peaceful charm.

Louise and Luke

(Posted by Louise)