![\"IMG_1775\"](\"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/IMG_1775.jpg\")
<\/a>There are lots of these basement shops in Sofia, where you have to bend down to speak to the shop attendant. There are also lots of tiny kiosks with a price list out front where you have to ask for what you want.<\/p><\/div>\n
I made my way down Vitosha Boulevard to Makis for a sandwich and a cappuccino, doing the entire transaction in Bulgarian. It was amazing to hear a bunch of bla bla bla and have meaningful words emerge from part of it, “za tuk,” and be able to reply without hesitation, “Za tuk!” She was asking me eat in or takeaway and I replied the former. My sandwich was really yummy, loaded with ham, cheese, and their “Makis sauce” that I could eat by the gallon (I think it’s a tomato chutney).<\/p>\n
By the time I was done with breakfast, it was 11:18. I thought of going to the history of Sofia museum, then realised I simply didn’t have time. I was still a good 15 minutes from the bus station on foot and I wanted to pop into Billa for some peanut butter and bacon before catching the 12:30 bus to Ribaritsa that would drop me just outside the village.<\/p>\n
Billa had Gala apples! This time, I knew that I had to weigh my produce before going to the till<\/a>. I made a note of the word for apple (which, as it turns out is very similar sounding to Yablanitsa —\u00a0yab\u016dlka — I sense a correlation), then went to the weighing machine. Like at Kaufland, it’s only in Cyrillic, but unlike at Kaufland, it did not have pictures. The first screen had two words, one of which I recognised as being “vegetables.” So I assumed the other one would be fruit. Clicked on that and got a menu of words, enough of which I recognised to know I was indeed in the fruit section. I spotted\u00a0yab\u016dlka and clicked on it. A label spit out, which I examined and was surprised to see said Gala. I guess they only stock one variety? My four apples were the price of one in Canada, but, to be fair, they were a bit smaller…<\/p>\n I found peanut butter, bacon, and, finally, baking soda. I cannot believe how hard that has been to find! People have seemed to know what I was asking for (I tried “bread soda,” per a couple of dictionaries, and “bicarbonate soda”), but no\u00a0one seemed to stock it. I tried the spice shelf at Billa (yes, shelf, singular) and was rewarded with this:<\/p>\n