Sofia, Bulgaria

I will start this post by talking a bit about my journey from Santorini, back to Athens, and then on to Sofia. Rather at the last minute, I ended up booking what I thought would be an 8 a.m. ferry out of Santorini back to Athens, but it turned out that because of the Easter holiday, the time was changed to 1 a.m.! I still could have taken one at a different time, but it was more expensive, and in the long run, I saved more by booking the 1 a.m. boat, because I then didn't have to pay for that last night at the hotel in Sanotorini, and the ticket was also the cheapest option. So, after stuffing ourselves with salad, pizza, and bread, Victoria and I said our goodbyes and George drove me down to the ferry port at about 11:30 p.m. While I sat there in the cold waiting area, two other ferries came to drop people off and pick others up, including the 2 a.m. ferry, which came and left before our 1 a.m. one did! Eventually, the right ferry came around 2 and I was happy to be inside the warm, cruise-ship-like boat where I could finally sleep. I practically had a whole, huge dining room to myself, which was great - I could stretch out and sleep on a couch. Due to the wild wind, the sea was rough and I felt the boat rocking back and forth quite a bit, which made me nervous as I have been prone to seasickness before. At one point I got up to look out of the huge round window near me, and watched the waves crashing against the side of the boat, and marveled at the vastness and strength of the sea. With the help of some benadryl, I was finally able to rest, and woke up to a sunny day when we were just about to Athens. I found this ironic, since all I had wanted in Santorini was for the sun to be out! When I got off of the ship, I didn't think it would be too hard to find my way back to the metro station that I had come in on initially, but I was wrong. I had no idea how huge the port was, and I just kept walking and walking, with my heavy pack on, not recognizing anything. I had to use my instinct, which I still can't totally trust, or believe that it is ever right, but surprisingly, it actually is fairly often! I asked a couple of people, who did at least point that I was going in the right direction for the metro, but still it was nowhere in sight. Eventually, I made it to the metro, and headed to the train station to see about getting my Eurail pass activated (stamped), and about a train to the north - to either Thessaloniki, Greece, or Sofia, Bulgaria. I was on the metro and all was going well until everyone got off but me - I wondered if they knew something I didn't. Turns out they did, as I found out when the train started going backwards! So I got off at the next stop and crossed over, and took the train back the other way again, to that original stop, got off and took the detour around the construction. When I got to Larissa train station, I asked at information what to do. The guy wasn't nice from the beginning. He told me that the trains were full because of the holiday, and pointed in a general direction as to where to get my pass activated. I went to a counter, and they directed me back to him. He wasn't happy about it, but he got it stamped and then told me to wait for the 1:20 p.m. train and talk to the conductor to see if I could get on (even though they were all full?!) so I sat and waited a bit, but started thinking that maybe they would charge me a lot of money, as the Eurail guide book says to get the ticket before boarding. I just felt uncomfortable about it, especially because it was my first ride, and felt that I needed more information. So, I went back to that same guy to ask where the Eurail aid office was, and again he was mean, exclaiming, "Oh my god!" over and over, but at least he told me which metro station to get off at! I went there and eventually found it, after asking two kiosk workers, and thankfully it was still open. The lady was helpful in that she told me there were no trains to Sofia anymore, but there should be a bus at 11 p.m.? She also told me that the trains were full, but then proceeded to tell me that if I was ready to go now, which I was, I could get a seat on the train leaving at 2:52 p.m. - in barely more than an hour!? They printed me a ticket and I went back to Larissa. I tried to avoid the mean guy and figure out for myself which platform to go to, but everything was in Greek and so confusing! I asked a girl and she directed me to one platform, which I went to, but then was still unsure, so I ended up going back to that guy, who told me which platform to wait on. I did, and when the train came about 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time, I asked a guy next to me who told me that was my train. I got on and found the seat number, but it was the wrong car - how to know this?! The girl whose seat I was in told me it was the next car over, and the conductor confirmed it (he was very nice!) when he came through checking tickets. He even told me that Thessaloniki would be the last stop, which is always nice to know. I was SO excited to be on my first train, using the first day of my pass, heading to my first destination - even if it wasn`t the exact one I wanted! It was so exciting to be on my way to see Europe! The sad thing was that there was graffiti covering my window, so I wasn`t able to see the Greek countryside passing me by, and also we were moving backwards which was strange to me. Either way, I was starting this new chapter in my journey!
Once I got to Thessaloniki, I confirmed that indeed Greece is no longer running international trains, due to their economical depression. So, I tried to find out if there was an 11 p.m. bus, but the bus ticket office was closed, so I realized I had to stay the night there. By then, it was about 10 p.m. and I had to walk down the street that the train station was on to try to find a hostel that was listed in the Lonely Planet. The problem is, my book is 6 years old, and so that hostel no longer existed! This wasn`t too exciting to me, especially since I was so tired, it was late, and I was carrying my pack. Thankfully, there were several cheaper hotels nearby, and I was able to get a private room with a shared bathroom for €20, which was definitely more than I had been spending, but I am pretty sure I wouldn`t have been able to get anything for cheaper. I had to go next door to pay for internet, too, which was also disappointing. I was able to take a nice shower, sleep for only about 6 hours and then it was time to get up and head back to the station to see about the morning bus. When I initially got to the bus station in the morning, the guy told me that the bus was full, but that I could give him my name, and he would let me know if a seat became available shortly before it was scheduled to leave. I sat there, and did think I heard him yell my name once, but he didn't look at me at all, so I thought I was just hearing something that sounded like Caroline in Greek. Eventually, he yelled it a couple more times, still never looking even in my general direction, so I went up to the counter and loomed there. When he looked up, he seemed to be bothered, and said my name a couple of times again, as though letting me know that I had been delinquent. I had been granted a seat on the bus, for 25 euro, but still, I was happy. The bus ride took about 6 hours, and included my first European border crossing, which went well other than that the lady took my passport, said "stamp" to me, got off the bus, and didn't return. I started to get nervous when the bus started moving, and my passport was nowhere in sight. Once we crossed through the border, though, the bus pulled off into a parking lot, well within walking distance of where my passport had last been seen. I got off the bus, and the driver was standing there with my passport in his hand, saying "Minnesota," which is where I was born, and therefore what it says on my passport. I was happy to have it back in my possession, as well as to be in Bulgaria!
As we drove through the Bulgarian countryside, I found myself overwhelmed suddenly with a feeling of such happiness that tears actually welled up in my eyes. I am uncertain of why exactly, but I think it had to do with the realization that I was on this trip, had made it this far, and was doing ok. That, and the fact that Bulgaria was so beautiful. What I saw consisted of snow-capped mountians, rolling hills with shepards tending their sheep, newly blooming trees in perfect rows, rivers and streams, and quaint little villages. It is a country that I had been interested in seeing ever since Tedi, my sister-in-law, came into our lives. She grew up there, and her parents still live in Sofia, the capital city. I was so excited to finally be able to actually be there.
When we arrived at the Sofia bus station, which is next to the train station, I was pretty confident that I knew where I was, and how to get to the main city center. I was sure that we had just driven through it, and so I knew that if I followed the road the way we had come in, I would get there no problem. I was wrong. I walked for awhile, until eventually nothing was looking anything more like a city, and so I asked a nice young man on a bike, who told me politely that I was indeed going the wrong way. So, I trudged all the way back to the train station, and asked them to point me in the direction of the city center, which they did, and I realized it was still quite a long walk, but at least this time I knew I was going the right way. There was a lot of construction going on down the main street, so it wasn't exactly a straight walk into town. Also, Bulgaria uses the cyrillic alphabet, so the street names listed on the map in the Lonely Planet didn't match up with the street names on the actual signs. As you can imagine, this made it basically impossible for me to know where I was. I kept walking towards the center for awhile, and eventually stopped to take a rest from the weight of my pack, and to study the map a bit more closely. Honestly, I still didn't have a good idea of where I was - it's pretty hard when you don't know even which street you are on! Finally, I walked up to a sign at a nearby church, and was able to figure out where I was. The whole time, I was also on the lookout for an internet cafe. Eventually I found the location of the one that was listed in my 6-year-old Lonely Planet, and it wasn't there anymore. By that point, I was completely sick of carrying around my heavy pack, not finding anywhere to use internet, and in general not knowing where I was or really where I was even heading, and so I went to McDonalds! It was something familiar, and somewhere that I could take a rest, as well as get some much-needed food. Of course, they had free wi-fi, which I could not make use of due to lack of any kind of wi-fi device! I must say, I enjoyed my meal, including the ketchup that I had to pay for, very much. While eating, I decided that I was going to find a hostel that was listed in my Lonely Planet, and hope that it still existed. It wasn't very far from where I was, but still, once I found the general area, I had to walk around a few streets for awhile before locating it. Once I did, I was happy to see that it seemed to still be in existence, and even still had the same name! I went upstairs, and found a very sweet older man who was the owner, and who spoke limited English. Still, he was so nice as I tried to tell him about my search for an internet cafe, and he pointed to the computer that I could use, and then asked if I would like coffee or tea. I was immediately in love:) I was supposed to stay with Tedi's parents while I was there, but that ended up not working out, and this place was a great substitution. Every morning, he got up to make sure that I had breakfast, and he made me coffee with his American-made coffee machine, which he has thanks to his daughter who lives in the US. The breakfast was interesting, and very delicious. It was toast with a Bulgarian tomato and red pepper spread, their version of feta cheese, and sausage, which was basically hot dogs. I put some of the tomato paste on my piece of toast the first morning, and he took it away from me, saying "no, no" and spread quite a bit more on the toast until he was happy that there was enough on it. He also took some taziki sauce out of the fridge and put it in front of me, saying "Snejanka," which I thought was funny since that is Tedi's mother's name! Turns out it just means "white" I think, which makes sense, since her mom's name translates to Snow White. On Easter morning, he had traditional colored hard-boiled eggs for us, which was nice. One night, I came back late and could smell that he had made dinner, and he asked if I had already eaten, which I had - otherwise, I think he wanted to give me dinner, too! The next morning at breakfast, we had been talking about Bulgarian food, and bop came up, which he then said he would make for us that evening, and he told us when to be back. It is a soup made mainly with beans, in a tomato broth, very much resembling chili to me, and very delicious! I couldn't believe he made us dinner, and kept refilling our bowls! I want to find a good recipe for it when I get home.
One day, while I was taking the walking tour that was mapped out on a free map from the hostel, a guy started speaking to me in Bulgarian. I gave my typical look of confusion, and stated "English" and it turned out he was an American traveler as well. We ended up walking around for awhile, and then went to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant that had been recommended to him by several people. There I tried the two dishes that Tedi had recommeded: shopska salata, and kebapche. The salad was delicious, and very similar to Greek salad - mainly all cucumbers and tomatoes, with a ton of grated white cheese on the top, and then as much olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper as I wanted on the top! The kebapche, which Tedi told me consisted of beef, pork, and some inside parts, was a pretty tasty sausage, of which I am not normally a fan, but it was good. The couple of days I spent in Sofia were filled with wandering around to see the sights, which were mostly really close to my hostel. The impressive Aleksander Nevski Church was definitely my favorite. I also saw the Sveta Nedelya Cathedral and the Banya Bashi Mosque, and the National Palace of Culture, which is a nice park with fountains and a huge performing arts complex.
Once again, I want to apologize to everyone for my delay in writing, as I know you are all waiting by your computers with baited breath for my next post! I have been traveling basically nonstop since leaving Athens, and my new life consists of arriving to a new city/country, seeing everything I can in 2-3 days, and then heading for the next city and/or country. As I mentioned previously, this really is a whirlwind trip through Europe, and while I am loving it, it is often exhausting doing all of this constant moving and sightseeing. I think I went through 6 countries in the first 11 days of my pass! So please continue to be patient, and I will try to get caught up soon! I am writing this post in Prague, where I am enjoying free internet at my hostel for the first time in awhile, which helps considerably for me to be able to spend time in front of the computer, writing a post. I just enjoyed a delicious traditional meal of knedlo-zelo-vepro (bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and roast pork), and am having a Krusovice beer while writing, so I can assure you all that I am indeed highly enjoying this trip, and am excited to continue telling you about my journey! So please stay tuned! (Pics have been difficult, will post as soon as possible....I figured I had to post something! I know it's been awhile!)