July 19, 2016 by Rae

First Weekend in Sofia, Free Sofia Tour Sunday Morning

Checking into the hotel on Saturday afternoon, I saw a flyer advertising a walking tour. I realised that that would be the best way to get to know the city. So I got on Google to see what English-language tours were available (I never trust anything advertised at the hotel) and found the Free Sofia Tour. It’s a great business model — you get a super high quality tour by a qualified guide who will take you to everything you need to see in Sofia and then then they tell you about their paid themed tours. I did one of those tours Sunday afternoon and hope to be back for the other one at a later day! Even though the free tour is free, I, of course, gave my guide a decent tip.

The free tour started at the court house at 11AM. It was a huge crowd and we were split into three groups. The tour takes two hours so there is no way I am going to remember everything our guide, Nikola, told us, but I will do my best! Follow the links if you want more information.

Our first stop was the Eastern Orthodox Holy Sunday Church, which was razed during an assault in 1925 and subsequently rebuilt. It was the worst terrorist attack in history up to that point, especially considering that high ranking members of the military and government were assassinated. It was an attempt to kill the king, who happened to be late to the service.

Our next stop was the statue of Saint Sofia, which is an embarrassment since Sofia was not named for this saint, but rather for a church. Adding insult to injury, the statue has pagan symbols and the woman’s dress is too revealing. Sofians are rather divided over this statue being the new symbol of their city. Personally, I love it. 🙂

This is the only Catholic Church in Sofia. It will have importance in a moment.

The tourist info centre is in the pedestrian underpass across from the Saint Sofia statue.

This is Church of St. Petka of the Saddlers. What’s interesting in this location is that you see how Sofia is a city that was built in layers and this is a prime location to see the major layers, from Roman to modern times. I was rather reminded of Seattle, actually. The church was built in medieval times from Roman structures. Those rocks out front are part of those Roman structures.

Sofia lies over the site of the ancient city of Serdica. While excavating for the new subway lines, all manner of ruins were found and delayed the project. The exposed ruins have been made part of a “pedestrian zone” and you can walk through them. We will see more of them shortly!

Behind the ruins is the only mosque in Sofia, complete with a minaret. I had hoped to visit inside, but they are doing renovations and weren’t allowing in tourists this weekend. I would have been welcomed under normal circumstances since I was dressed appropriately. Sofia does not have a large Muslim population and this is why there is only one mosque. There were others in the past, which were destroyed or repurposed.

And here is the roof of the Sofia synagogue.

So there is are an Eastern Orthodox and Catholic church, a mosque, and a synagogue all within sight of each other in Sofia, forming the “Square of Tolerance.” This was my favourite part of Sofia!

Next stop was the former bathhouse where people would come for a day to pamper themselves and chat.

I didn’t have time to go in this weekend, but appreciated my guide’s reaction when I painstakingly read the sign and said, “Oh, it’s the Sofia history museum!”

The bathhouse was left to fall into ruin, but was very recently made into the museum. The inside is apparently glorious. It’s on my list for my next trip!

Here is Nikola filling his water bottle at the mineral spring outside the bathhouse. The water is hot and very stinky!

Now, we come to the three buildings I photographed the day before not realising their importance. That one in the middle used to have a big red star at the top where the Bulgarian flag now flies. It was the former headquarters of the Communist party and now has government offices.

This is the Presidency Building and the one across from it is the Council of Ministers building. Now, we will go underground and see what that glass dome is covering!

Tah-dah! More ruins of Serdica!

This is the eastern gate into Serdica.

Guards standing in front of the presidency building. Let’s see if I can remember what Nikola had to say because it was hilarious. Something along the lines of, “There’s a changing of the guards you can see. It’s not Buckingham Palace, but it’s cute.” Bulgaria has both a president and a prime minister and the latter is the one with real power.

Behind the presidency building is a treasure, the Church of St. George, dating back to the 4th century. Apparently, it’s still the original roof?! The church is known for its frescoes, but I didn’t get to go in on this trip.

This is the national theatre.

I loved this building with its cheery colour!

This former police station became the royal palace…

This is where we stopped to do a bit of a reenactment of Bulgarian governance in the 20th century, with members of the group reluctantly agreeing to be the German and Austrian who would each become a monarch of Bulgaria, the Italian who married the Austrian and produced the first true Bulgarian monarch in a long time, and the Bulgarian monarch. Once all these roles were cast, Nikola asked for someone to play the Communist. Yours truly promptly volunteered. 😀 As it turns out, “I” did better than all the others in governing Bulgaria the longest since “I” was able to transition into democracy. Fun fact about Bulgaria: it is (as far as I know) the only country in the world that democratically elected a former king to be its prime minster!

The tour ended with Sofia’s famous Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

There was a wedding at the Saint Sofia Church, from which the city got its name, so we weren’t able to get good photographs of it.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is amazing!

This is where the tour ended. I have not even come close to conveying all the information I got about Bulgaria and Sofia. This is a country with a very messy history and I couldn’t do justice to Nikola’s attempts to unravel it all for us. I will have more when I move to my review of the Communist tour.

Nikola gave me a discount coupon for their the Communist tour later that afternoon and then I headed off to find some lunch.

I found myself back the Council of Minsters building. I will have more to say about these buildings when I review the Communist tour!

The pink building was not part of the complex, but was tied into it.

These ramps are used to move goods up and down into the underpasses. Women also use them for their push chairs.

These are really fancy. I saw some others that were just a metal rail going down the stairs.

I went back and got more exterior shots of the Church of St. George.

I thought this building was neat, with the way the windows were craved out of the corner.

I wanted pizza for lunch, something that is so ubiquitous in Bulgaria that the guide on my next tour said that it’s practically “Bulgarian food.” So I had lots of options on Vitosha Boulevard and only had to try two restaurants before I got service. I ordered a large beer and Margherita pizza (sauce and cheese). I wish I’d had more of that tomato on it because, dang! The pizza was the real thing. Mmm…

I’d walked for nearly three hours on the tour and knew the next tour would be three to four hours, so I decided to go all hog and order chocolate cake and an espresso after eating that entire pizza. I did not need to eat again all of Sunday, not even a before bed snack! So 15CAD for the meal, including a tip, was really good value!

I like how the restaurant built its roof around this tree:

So this takes us to about 3PM Sunday, with my next tour starting at 4PM. More after I do some work today!

July 18, 2016 by Rae

First Weekend in Sofia, First Evening and Morning

This post will share some general thoughts about my weekend in Sofia and then I will do a couple more posts about the tours I did on Sunday. I did some wandering around on my own when I arrived Saturday and saw some things that I revisited on Sunday. So future posts will have more details on some of the things I photographed in this post, which covers up to 11AM Sunday morning, ie. my departure from Malak Izvor, the ride to Sofia, my arrival in Sofia, the hotel, my first evening, and my first morning.

So Max showed up as promised Saturday morning. We discussed a few things, then he left me to book a hotel before driving me into Yablanitsa to catch a bus. I was surprised by how hard it was to find a hotel. I’m past the point of wanting to sleep in a dorm or in a roach motel and all the reviews for anything affordable were offputting. I finally found something that had the right mix of location, price, and positive reviews. More on the hotel in a few paragraphs. 🙂

Max thought there was a bus at 1PM, but there wasn’t… There are a couple of signs around the plaza in Yablanitsa showing the schedule and one of them had the 1PM bus crossed out. Damn. I managed to decipher the sign and figured out that there should be another bus at 2:15, so I sat down on a bench for a long wait. An old man came to me multiple times offering me, I eventually figured out, a lift to Sofia, but I wasn’t that desperate. It was just too odd!

Thankfully, the 2:15 bus did materialise! It was a whopping 6BGN/4.50CAD to go to Sofia. I should stress that I’m being sarcastic!

Off we went. At first, the scenery reminded me of the Okanagan.

But then, it got greener and more lush.

The villages all looked the same, white houses with orange roofs.

All the signage on the bus was en français.

I don’t know if all of Bulgaria looks like this, but, dang!

See what I meant about all the villages looking the same?

Approaching Sofia, we passed immense sunflower fields.

The bus had an ashtray!

Coming into Sofia, I saw a restaurant menu that made me hungry. The third item is what caught my attention, пица — peetsa. 🙂

I arrived at the huge and still fairly new Централна Автогара — Centralna Avtogara — the bus station. From there, I got a taxi to my hotel. I’d done my research on taxis and knew not to get in one without posted prices and a working metre. The price was 0.79BGN/KM and I’d calculated it shouldn’t cost more than 5BGN to get to my hotel… I was right! I was so pleased that taxis are as cheap as I’d been told they would be. Here is a map of my universe this weekend:

So I stayed at Hotel Zenith. The location was absolutely fantastic, just 10 minutes or so walking from nearly anything you’d want to see in Sofia, but on a quiet street. The staff all speak English. I forgot to grab a picture of the outside, but it’s really unassuming, just a small sign saying “Hotel Zenith.” The carpet inside is ugly, but the hotel is new and clean:

Here’s my room:

I hadn’t had lunch and it was almost 5PM by this point. Famished doesn’t even begin to describe my mood. I decided to head to Vitosha Boulevard, Sofia’s pedestrian street, as I figured it would be my best bet for finding food quickly.

I have no idea how I picked the restaurant I did, but it might have had something to do with the fact that someone asked, in English, if they could help me. I was seated and given a huge menu, in English, with pictures. It was more like a catalogue! They had everything from burgers to pizza to sushi!

I’ve been meat deprived since I got here, so I decided to take a chance on their bacon cheeseburger. I didn’t bother with the fries, but, damn, the burger was good! Look at that thick bacon! This was exactly what I needed. I asked for no mayo on the burger and it came with ketchup. Not my first choice, but mustard is not common here so I didn’t even try. I like dill pickles now, so I liked the added flavour in the burger. The meat was seasoned, too. A great burger by any standards.

The restaurant served gelato and I wanted some for dessert, but had no luck getting a dessert menu. So I decided to settle up and look for ice cream elsewhere. I did a quick Google and learned “smetkata, molya,” which means “the check, please.” I then walked around a bit and discovered there were at least a half dozen other gelato places on Vitosha. I picked one at random and got a huge chocolate waffle cone, figuring it was my belated lunch. 🙂

I passed a telenor store and popped in to buy some top up cards for my phone. I have not, and probably will never, figure out their pay as you go system, so please don’t ask about it. 😀 As far as I understand it, it’s like in Mexico, where you put money on your account and buy various packages. Because I only use my phone when I’m in town, I’ve just been putting 10BGN on my phone and using it until I run out. Probably not the least expensive way of doing it, but it’s been working fine. I’ve only spent 36BGN for my phone since I got here, and that’s, I’m told, super expensive compared to having an actual plan. Of that 36, I still have money on my phone and I have a 10BGN top up card I still haven’t used. The folks in this store was fantastic and went out of their way to find someone who spoke a smidgen of English even if what I wanted could easily be done with a bit of miming and holding up fingers.

It started to pour when I came out of the store. And I’d left my raincoat at the hotel! Thankfully, I was wearing my wonderful Ipanema‘s, so I didn’t care if my shoes got wet.

It ended up raining on and off for a bit longer, but I just got wet once the initial deluge was done.

I passed the courthouse (had to translate that from the French for a second — like in French, it’s a “palace of justice” in Bulgarian), and this would end up being an important landmark since the walking tours started from here.

I think I have an Irish pub radar. Remember that I found one in Mérida too!

Bulgarians, like Mexicans, apparently like cream cheese in their sushi. *growls*

Sofia has a tram system.

Holy Sunday Church. We will return. 🙂

I liked the paint job on this building.

I passed many Mac stores in Sofia, including one almost right next door to the hotel. Didn’t seen any PC stores…

That’s about the same price as I paid for my 13″ MBA.

Sofia is full of contrasting architecture like this.

Sofia has a fairly recent subway system that is expanding.

This is the south end of Vitosha Boulevard.

We will come back to this. 🙂

This is the cultural centre where there are exhibitions and business meetings.

Mount Vitosha. Wow! I knew it was close to the city, but not that close! Very popular for skiing in the winter.

So many billboards atop buildings.

This Starbucks is right by my hotel and I’m proud to say I did not make use of it even though finding other coffee was a challenge (there is coffee everywhere, but I haven’t yet figured out the etiquette for cafes).

I got in around 8PM Saturday night and went to bed around 11PM. I didn’t sleep nearly as well as I would have expected, considering how comfortable the bed was. I didn’t get up till 9AM on Sunday, with my tour being at 11AM.

I went to Vitosha Boulevard in search of breakfast. I ended up having all my meals there because it was the easiest option, if not the cheapest. I walked around for a bit until I saw a sandwich shop, Makis, that didn’t look too intimidating. They had a beautiful display of fresh sandwiches and a full coffee menu. I ordered a cappuccino and their Makis sandwich, which had ham and cheddar. It was a bit of a heavy meal, but I knew I’d be walking it off!

Let’s do a parenthesis here to talk about the value of learning to read Cyrillic before coming to Bulgaria (or Russia or Serbia or Ukraine or…). It is amazing how many words sound like English, especially on a menu. If you can read Bulgarian, you won’t go hungry. You might not get what you want, but you can very likely find something you like.

Examples:

бургер — burger

дунер — duner (donair)

пица — peetsa (pizza)

хот дог — hot dog

Чедар — chedar (cheddar cheese)

сандвич — sandvich (sandwich)

салам — salam (salami)

супа — soopa (soup)

салата — salata (salad)

I had fun reading everything I could see on Sunday and made out that this is the Sofia Hotel Balkan… then noticed the English next to it. LOL

I thought this luggage was well designed. Notice the built in zipper lock:

Pedestrians are controlled much like in London, with barriers to keep them from crossing streets where they’re not supposed to. For many “scary” intersections, there is actually a pedestrian underground passage, where you’ll find shops and restaurants.

I had no idea how important these three buildings are. We’ll come back. 🙂

McDonald’s was the first international company to take a chance on Bulgaria in the 1990s and it bought up the best locations in Sofia. There are now a lot of the restaurants around the city, but they’re not a popular chain.

This is what the word Russian looks like in Russian. 🙂 This phrase is Russian, not Bulgarian, and it says “Russian Standard Vodka.” What did I tell you about learning to read one Cyrillic language being the key to the others? 🙂

This is another Cyrillic font and it gives me a major headache! In this one, the m is the T sound (Т), the u is the I sound (И), and the g is the D sound (Д). WTFBBQ, as my best friend would say.

Looking down Vitosha Boulevard to Mount Vitosha.

Before I close up this novel and move onto the walking tours, here are some general thoughts on Sofia:

-The touristy part is very walkable and feels safe, but I was warned about pickpockets being abundant. I watched my purse! The city is pretty clean, but there is a lot of graffiti. I was struck by how varied the architecture is.

-I was warned by the Brits I know here that customer service in Bulgaria is very “European,” ie. there is very little. It was intimidating enough to go into a restaurant where I don’t speak the language, but being treated like a pest or ignored on top of that was a bit much. I did the path of least resistance thing my whole weekend. I just tried one restaurant after another until I got service. Makis sandwich shop was my favourite place as they were really nice. I ended up going again on Monday morning and the English-speaking guy wasn’t there, but the gal let me muddle through in Bulgarian and it was fine. It would be really nice to get someone to show me how to get seated at a restaurant since I passed a lot of nice little cafes where I would have liked to enjoy a coffee, but sitting myself down, saying “excuse me,” and trying to order at the bar did not produce results. The gelato place was also really good and even though they were more expensive than other shops, I went back several times. 🙂

-I found being in Sofia was exhausting because of how much work it was to do everything when you don’t really speak the language, but at the same time, it was easier than in Yablanitsa because there’s more of everything. I could wait until I found what I wanted, be it a bathroom, water, or meal, in an accessible and non-intimidating location. But for being a capital city in an EU country, I expcted a bit more effort to help tourists. I’ll do a write-up of my bus station adventure in a future post…

-Sofia is apparently the most expensive place in Bulgaria and Vitosha Boulevard is the most expensive place in Sofia. I found both to be inexpensive! I didn’t worry about prices at all.

July 16, 2016 by Rae

I’m in Sofia!

Getting to Sofia was an adventure unto itself, but I made it! I have neither my computer nor hotel wifi, so you’ll just have to wait for Monday night for all the details!

Bulgarian firsts today:

-correctly deciphering a bus schedule;

-giving an address to a taxi driver;

-requesting the cheque at a restaurant.

Checking into the hotel and ordering dinner were done in English. 😉

My hotel is lovely and the bed is soft, so I’m hoping to get some good sleep while I’m here. The dogs kept me up the last couple of nights, so I’m due for a good snooze.

Even in expensive Sofia, money goes a loooong way. Should be a fun weekend!

July 12, 2016 by Rae

Planning My First Trip to Sofia

My host, Max, will be here this weekend and has given me the green light to go to Sofia from his arrival on Saturday to Monday morning. I’m starting to get a wee touch of cabin fever, so this outing will be most welcome!

This won’t be my only trip to Sofia this summer, so this first outing is going to be more logistical than touristy in nature. I need to figure out how to get the bus there and back, how to navigate the city, and find out where to buy groceries and home goods. I’m really tired of my cooking (food options are very limited at the stores I have access to, so I’ve basically been eating the same four things since I got here) and can’t wait to eat at a Bulgarian restaurant for the first time.

That said, it’s my understanding that there really isn’t much in Sofia apart from lots of churches and a couple of museums and that most tourists find that two or three days there is plenty. So I may decide this weekend to squeeze in the few things I know I’d like to see in the Bulgarian capital so that for my next weekend off, I can go to Plovdiv, a more touristy city.

While doing a little research today (procrastinating on work), I spent quite a bit of time looking at bus schedules and maps, trying to figure them out. I need to find an English speaker who routinely takes the buses because I suspect that I can take a bus right at the exit to the village that would, in one direction, take me to Yablanitsa and on to Sofia, and in the other, take me to Teteven. Teteven is much larger than Yablanitsa and would be a much nicer shopping destination for me, but is really too far to walk to. This might be wishful thinking since just because the bus passes somewhere doesn’t mean it will make a special stop and, surely, someone would have mentioned this possibility to me by now. But, of course, the folks I’ve had contact with have their own cars and car owners tend to not be the best sources of information about public transportation. So it’s worth investigating.

I can’t believe that I’ll have been in Bulgaria more than two weeks by the time I get to Sofia this weekend. Time is flying by! I knew before I got here that my summer would be mostly about working and doggy sitting in a very small community, but it’s nice to know that my promised time off is going to materialise and I will get a chance to see some more of this intriguing country!

July 2, 2016 by Rae

London to Sofia

Before I get caught up, I want to thank everyone who expressed concern at my not checking in. I think I finally have proof that the Internet is sentient and hates me since I landed right as the local Internet connection point got hit by lightning and shorted out! Since I got in very late, there was no time to get me set up with a SIM card in Sofia, which we didn’t feel there was a huge rush to do since we thought there would be Internet at home. The next day, we were promised the internet would be back up by the middle of the afternoon. But then, there was a problem with my connection at home and getting online took much longer than expected. What did we ever do before the days of instant communication?! I am touched that Croft was all set to command a rescue operation! 😀

So London to Sofia!

I made the mistake of buying an airport transfer with my plane ticket. It seemed like a decent price and convenient as it would pick me up at Baker Street and take me right to Luton airport, which seemed difficult to get to. But when I tried to get confirmation on where to be picked up at Baker Street and around what time, my airline contacts said they couldn’t help me and I had to figure it out on my own! I had no idea what to Google and decided to just go back to Victoria London and take the coach there.

My exhaustion was catching up with me Wednesday morning and getting up and going was sheer agony. Packing was an ordeal since I forgot several things I needed and had to repack several times! I finally managed to leave my Airbnb at 11:00, with the aim of being at Victoria London for my 12:30 bus. I didn’t fly out till 4:30, but the bus information said to take the bus four hours before my flight.

I loved my set of keys in London. Look at the old fashioned room key!

At Victoria London, I turned in my Oyster card and got almost £10 back in unused balance and also my deposit. The latter confused me since I got to keep my Oyster card. I do have an Oyster post in the queue, but I know you’re all more curious about Bulgaria, so I’ll do the Oyster later.

By the time I’d stopped for a ham and cheese croissant and coffee, it was noon. I had to walk a few blocks from the train station to Victoria London coach station (very well marked). So by the time I got to my bus platform and bought some water, it was coming on 12:30. Perfect timing!

The bus ride took a full two hours, most of it spent stuck in London traffic.

You have to wear a seatbelt on UK coaches.

It would have been much cheaper and faster to make my own way from Kensal Green on the Overground and then a few buses, but I did enjoy seeing other parts of London and not having to worry about navigating.

That fuel is about 2CAD per litre or 6USD per gallon.

Most of the people on the bus did not pay attention to the note that said to take the bus four hours prior to your flight and got to the airport within 20 minutes of their flight taking off. There were a lot of very angry and rushed people on that bus!

UK motorways look a lot like interstates in the US and highways in Canada. I was on the right side of the bus and couldn’t see much signage, but I did catch one that showed that there was Starbucks and McDonald’s at the next exit.

Crappy caravan/RV park? Sales lot? I wish I’d had my camera ready when I passed a house in Hampstead with a HUGE 5er parked in its teeny driveway!

I wasn’t flying out till 4:30, but I was also nervous as I didn’t get into the aiport until almost 3:00 since the airport parkway was a driveway and nothing was moving. I let all the truly rushed people off when we finally reached our stop, then set off at a fast clip myself. I’d already done web check in, but the fine print said that, as a non-EU resident, I still had to go to the departure desk to show that I had all the correct travel documents. That went smoothly, although I fear for the UK education system… I was asked how long I plan to be in Bulgaria and when I said 85 days, the woman sharply told me that, as a Canadian, I need a visa to be in Bulgaria longer than 90 days. “But 85 days is less than 90…” I replied. The clerk did a double take and said, “Oh, yeah. Right.” Oh, boy… She gave me a physical boarding pass and I was cleared to go to security.

Wizz Air and its insane baggage policy will also get its own post, especially since I beat them at their own game by exploiting a loophole that people will want to know about. My host here, Max, flies Wizz Air all the time and did not know about this loophole, so it’s worth sharing.

Security was relatively painless, but my electronics bag is packed really tightly and it’s a pain to get my computer and iPad out. Other than that, I got through very quickly, with no secondary check. I am going to get myself a very thin cloth bag to hold my electronics and liquids when I go through security. I thought of packing one so I’d have a shopping bag, but forgot. I’m sure I’ll find something locally.

I had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before embarking, but all the fast food options had egg or mayonnaise. Even all the sushi had an egg centre! What?! I ended up finding a very good noodle bowl at the sushi place, something not too heavy, but still sustaining.

And then, it was time to go to departure. I’d paid the extra for priority boarding (hint at the loophole), but that ended up being a joke since we were all crowded into an area on the tarmac for about 20 minutes in the whipping wet and cold wind while they got the plane ready for us. When we were finally able to board, I was pleased that they have both rear and forward access doors since my seat was right at the back.

The flight was uneventful.

The bottom line is Bulgarian. I could understand the second word as being that for life vest because it is so close to the French word.

Apple Photos says that this picture was taken over Hammersbach, Germany!

There was no free beverage service and I’d neglected to buy a bottle of water before getting on the plane. So I bought a meal for 6 euro (drink, sandwich, and free chocolate bar) so that I’d have something to eat when we got closer to Sofia seeing as I was fairly certain I wouldn’t have a chance to eat when I arrived (I was correct). I used my Visa for that, but when I asked for a bottle of water later, they said I could pay with £2 worth of British coins, which was very convenient. I didn’t end up with too much British cash left, thankfully!

Gornya Baths natural mineral water… Google tells me the last line says “for every day use.” 🙂 A good example of how I can read Bulgarian and understand a bit of it, but that being able to read does not mean understanding!

This is the first time I saw the city name of Sofia in Cyrillic! It’s the first word in the clear line. София.

I don’t eat candy bars anymore, but my sandwich and water came with one, so who was I to say no to free chocolate?! I had no preference and told the flight attendant to give me whatever. I have now had Scottish, Canadian, US, and Bulgarian Snickers. 😀 These are such a rare treat for me that I actually remember buying one in Scotland all those years ago! That red word on the label in the yellow area is literally pronounced “sticker.” 🙂

Flying into a sunset as we approached Bulgaria.

We’d left about 20 minutes late and so were a little late coming into Sofia.

I’m really here!!!!!!!

I’d told Max to be there for 10PM. It was 9:50 when I got in line for passport control after taking a bus from the plane to the terminal.

It would have been much quicker to just walk from the plane to the terminal than to wait for the bus to fill. But it was nice to be greeted with a bus after being made to stand on the tarmac at Luton and then walk to the plane!

The queue was long, but moving quickly since most of the folks in the queues were either EU residents or Bulgarian citizens. I’d had several people tell me that Bulgarian authorities are very thorough and that I should have my address in Bulgaria, proof of health insurance, and proof of a ticket out of the country handy. I had everything, but that last bit. Well, I got asked how long I was staying, the purpose of my stay, and told welcome! It was faster than a good return into Canada! But to be fair, in both the UK and Bulgaria, passport control and customs are separate procedures while in Canada, it’s one.

I didn’t have to wait for luggage, nor did I have anything to declare, so once I was through passport control I breezed through the “nothing to declare” line and found myself in the arrivals area, where my host was waiting with a sign. It was exactly 10PM!

It was already very dark, of course, so I didn’t see much as we drove through Sofia and then got on the highway towards Yablanitsa. We stopped for fuel, which was much cheaper than in the UK. We arrived at the village at just past 11:00… as the power went out. It was dark. Max sorted out a flashlight and candles and did his best to show me around in the dark. The yard felt like a tripping hazard because of the cobblestones and I was really grateful that the power didn’t take long to come back on so I could properly see where I would be staying. More on that in a future post, too. 🙂

I met my dogs Mechka (bear) and Sausage, a sister and brother pair, who recognised me as the new housesitter and promptly adopted me. It was pretty much love at first sniff on their side and first cuddle on my side! Max made me a cup of tea and then I headed to my place to unpack, have a hot shower, and make sure I could get going in the morning since he was going to take me to “town” first thing to get some essentials before hurrying off on holidays. Unfortunately, the Internet was down…

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Sofia

First Weekend in Sofia, Free Sofia Tour Sunday Morning

First Weekend in Sofia, First Evening and Morning

I’m in Sofia!

Planning My First Trip to Sofia

London to Sofia