Post-Communist tour part 1: София

As you probably know from my most recent posts I have not been particularly happy in Wienna recently. When a friend of mine found cheap flights to Bulgaria (I think they were 57 Euros return) I jumped at the chance to go. There were 8 of us altogether; 2 Brits, 5 Americans and a German. On the whole it was a pretty good group, though obviously as the intolerant person I am, some people got on my nerves. So, we arrived at Sofia airport and were pounced on by about a million taxi drivers, all of whom seemed desperate to take us to our destination. It all seemed a bit dodgy, especially when one of them followed us to the cashpoint, but we managed to escape and find someone who looked a bit less shady. Even though we were still in the European Union (just), it was like a completely different world. Bulgarian is a Cyrillic language so I couldn't even read things and guess what they meant like a couple of the others who could read the letters. I think I will learn. So anyway... we arrived at the hostel and although it was not in the nicest area it was really good and cheap. I think the thing I liked best about the hostel was that we could play Scrabble in the lounge area. After unpacking (read: dumping stuff in the room) we decided to go out for food. We ended up in a traditional Bulgarian place:

Because we were such a large group they ended up giving us our own private room. I think it was quite a posh restaurant actually but to us it was incredibly cheap. This obviously gave us license to have a lot of wine, huuuuuge main courses and puddings. The waitress was very friendly and surprisingly understanding about how late we stayed there. When we left all the staff were waiting to go home. Story of my life, I always seem to be getting thrown out of places for staying too late, like every time I go to the Hind. Oh the Hind, how I miss thee... But back to Bulgaria. 

Not sure whose meal this was but they all looked this good!

Bulgaria is another hour ahead of Austria but even though it was 1am, half of the group were not tired enough to go back to the hostel for bed so we found a club/bar. It was kind of weird (ie naked women plastered all over the walls) but it was fun so we stayed and danced to songs we hadn't heard for ages. We actually ended up going to sleep at about 6am because when we got back to the hostel we couldn't resist a quick game of Scrabble.

Next morning we were up bright and early for sightseeing. This is what we saw when we stepped out of the hostel:

As you can see, it is still very Communist looking. Having said this, they do have things like McDonalds, Subway and Starbucks just like every other capital city I've visited. Meandering through the town we came across a little market and I think it is quite a mixed up country with regards to political leanings. At one market by the cathedral I came across lots of Communist/Stalin memorabilia like this book:

and of course the obligatory furry hats for tourists such as ourselves:

However, what was slightly more alarming was the amount of Nazi/SS paraphernalia. Joe nearly accidentally bought an SS compass. There were loads of medals, uniforms, hats etc. I bought a ring with a snake on. Now I am a little scared that the snake is some kind of secret Nazi symbol but I googled it and can't seem to find any evidence for that so I think I'm safe. Funny story about the ring actually- I was trying it on and got it stuck on my fat man fingers. So I kind of had to buy it. I did do some bartering though and only paid 15 Wotsits  (the currency is actually the Lev, but we quickly christened it the Wotsit) for it which is about £7.

This is the cathedral, probably the most famous building in Sofia. It's beautiful, with lots of gold domes and fancy carvings. The weird thing was that you couldn't get anywhere near it because it was fenced off. We tried to go in in twice and each time there was a huge queue. Perhaps it's always like that but I have another theory. On the Saturday, Vladimir Putin was on a state visit, so we think people may have been queueing to meet him. The second time we went, some big shot Brazilian politician was visiting so it was probably closed for him. To be honest though I am not a huuuuuuge fan of going inside churches so I am content to have seen and photographed it from the outside

Communist prefab appartment blocks and signs in Cyrillic. My two favourite things.

There is not a whole of touristy stuff in Sofia, but there are some beautiful buildings. We went inside the Mosque which was beautiful and it was a shame we weren't allowed to take photos. The girls had to wear a robe to cover our hair. It was green and much nicer than the one I had to wear in Venice. One of the great things about the weekend was that it was so warm and sunny. Made a nice change from grey Wienna which is really getting on my nerves at the moment.

This building was marked on the tourist map as the "Tall Building". I'm not gonna lie, it was disappointingly stumpy. We visited the Lady's market which was... an experience. There were lots of peasants. I wanted to buy a headscarf as a souvenir but could not find one for love nor money! Next time. Every couple of metres there was a toothless crone trying to sell us imported cigarettes from Serbia. Also there were a lot of stray dogs wandering around. They were all mangy and scabby like the horrible cats in Rome.

We spent the evening eating more cheap food and drinking more cheap wine/beer/cocktails. We went in one really weird bar where we were not allowed to stand or sit anywhere as even the bar had been reserved. Not quite sure how that works but never mind, we went to a place where cocktails were only about £3. I had some wintry one which was delish, it was hot with apple and cinnamon. After being thrown out of this bar because it was closing we went back to the hostel and played Scrabble again (I know I know, very rock and roll!) and chatted to random people until the early hours.

Next day was mountain climbing day. Obviously I did not have sensible footwear with me. We knew it was mountain day very early on because one member of the group was exceptionally excited *coughTHEGERMANcough* and he was stomping around in his walking boots trying to wake everyone up at some ridiculous hour. It was about half an hour on the tram  to the foot of the mountain. The further out of the city we got, the further into Borat territory. As in, there were huts that looked like they were falling down and people using horses and carts to go about their daily business. The first thing we saw  when we got off the tram was what was obviously the village well. There were dozens of peasants clamouring to fill up their bottles, pots, pans, anything they could get their hands on. It was at this point that I decided that Bulgaria is a very good place to visit for cheap shopping/eating/drinking but living there would probably kill me. Actually maybe even three days there has had an adverse affect on my health- I have got a hacking cough and sound like a fully fledged crone! I know this is not very politically correct but it is funny, so sorry. Anyway... we'd heard that there was a TV tower halfway up the mountain with a nice restaurant beside it and that it was about 2 hours walk. LIES. After four hours we still hadn't found it and worked out that we were heading in completely the wrong direction. Not being able to read the signs was a big disadvantage.

lovely woods

climb every mountain...

So, after 4 hours of fruitless walking, Stella and I decided to call it a day and headed back down the mountain. It turned out that the others found a restaurant about 15 minutes further up but I don't care, forests and stuff tend to get a bit samey after a while. The highlight of the walk for Joe and I was definitely being greeted by a Bulgarian as we knew the correct response. I think saying "Dobry den" definitely counts as a conversation. Also on the way back down some children asked us something. When they realised we were English they said "Yes. No. Bye!" and carried on walking. It was cute.

After a hard day's excercise we went to the Ale House. Basically, you pour your own drinks at the table and pay at the end. It was good fun, esp as it was only 5 Levs (about £2.50) per LITRE!!! For the third or fourth time of the weekend, we got thrown out because the place was closing.

No need to tell you what we did after that. Except this time instead of Scrabble it was Ring of Fire. We tried to go out afterwards but because it was a Sunday none of the clubs were open, booooooooo. Still managed to stay up til 4 though.

Monday morning we did a few last bits of tourist shopping and wandering around before we had to head off to the airport to return to Wienna. Oh, to those of you whom I promised postcards: I have sent them, HOWEVERRRRRR... I doubt that they will ever arrive. After three days I had still not seen a postbox so I asked at the hostel where I could find one. The guy told me the postboxes are on the trams. I thought he was talking rubbish and that he meant they were at the tram stops. So I went outside to post them. I would never have found what I was looking if the man hadn't run after me shouting "it's next to the front door! There's a picture of an envelope! Next to the door!". It was literally a hole in the side of the tram. So if they don't reach you, I am sorry.

Now I think you are pretty much up to date on my travels and I will fill you all in on the other exciting (or not) things in my life when I have done a bit more tidying up in anticipation of the Boy's impending visit!