Kari and I have traveled together before, and not only within Costa Rica (never really within Hungary), but to actual "foreing places", which are, of course, actually "foreing" for me. Such have been our trip to Cracow, Poland, and our trip to Vienna, which is my "must" trip. These two trips happened this year in Spring, but for this trip home of mine, the destinations selected were Vienna (as always) and Sofia, as many of you must already be tired to death of hearing it.
The first trip was to Sofia, and this is were we are now. We arrived yesterday after some funky flying from Budapest up North to Praga and then down South to Sofia. No, don't ask me, it was my boyfriend who arranged the trip. Really. I would have gone for the shorter version, specially one that excludes the trip with a Fokker. No, you ain't no idea what it was like. My hand luggage couldn't be taken to the cabine because it was too big, and the hatches of the overhead compartments were clearly made of wood or plywood! It wasn't as bad as those tiny planes called "avioneta" in Spanish, but I've seen better. Oh, BTW, if you ever have to travel on a Fokker, don't waste your money on a Business Class ticket because the seats are just the same.
Sofia is an interesting city that really reeks of poverty. Houses are in quite a bad shape and none curb appeal, unless you are into the "banlieu" groove, and wanna feel a bit ghetto-like. In the middle of amazing natural landscapes stretches a town full of rundown buildings and rundown people. Not many beautiful girls and no handsome men. Their knowledge of English is so extremely limited I had to make use of the little scraps of Russian I still remember to ask for things. However people are usually nice. Those who happen to know some English actually jump to the chance to use it and help you. I can but be marvelled by them. It is a really intriging place to be and to know. There's no trace of the usually overly done, exceedingly artificial ornating and presenting that's so usual in Russians, which always give you the feeling that they would really want to make you think they are French, when they are clearly not, and only end up looking like tacky clowns. Bulgarians are simple in every way. Simple dressing, simple coiffing and basically no make up. Today I saw make up on a lady that, from the looks I presume it's Russian or a prostitute, and that was it. Then, today I saw also a lady, perhaps in her fifties, sixties with a mustache. So it is true, they do exist.
After breakfast, we went to explore the city a bit. At diner yesterday, with our "trusty" lonely planet Bulgaria book, we picked up some of the places we wanted to visit and divided them by location on those alotted for Today and those left for tomorrow. Now, if you ever consider in buying one of these lonely planet books, you must know this: they are not accurate. (Thanks Hyne mine was a gift from my favorite bookstore!) Sure there are a lot of things that can help you, but these are a few I found while in here:
1. Fares in the book don't match real life. Then again, okay, that might be due to the fact that these books were published some years ago, so okay, they can stand corrected, but for instance the taxi fare from the airport to our hotel was 13 lv (lev), and not the "less than 8 lv" the book said. The entrance to the Archeological Museum was 10 lv and not the 5 lv mentioned by the book, and the tramway ticket was 1 lv and not 0,50 lv according to the book.
2. It's a poor restaurant guide. If you want to find a place to eat traditional Bulgarian food you'll have to learn Bulgarian and hit the road, because the number of places listed in the book are few. Then, outside the little square of "down-down-downtown" you won't find a place to eat, according to the map. Anywhere. They are out there, but "the book" will prevent you to see them. So, if you are outside "the box", like us, you will be forced to take a cab or a tramway or a bus and enter "the box" to find food. So yeah, the book must be limited and all that, but I'd say that covering a bit more is possible. I would at least list, even if briefly, the hotels and hostels in town and the restaurants, clubs, pubs and main attractions that can be located around it.
3. It's misleading on main attractions. Well, perhaps to the "Bulgarian level" it's fine, but when I go to a museum I actually expect to see more rooms of display and more "history" to the pieces. Honestly, a number besides a lot of ancient Thracian, Roman or Greek trinkets that say "various items, place unknown", really, I don't need to read it to know that! Or "offerings to the Three Nymphs". No introduction to the meaning of the Three Nymphs, who they are and why are they important or why would people present offerings to them or what kind of offerings were given for what reason. No, you go ahead and figure it out or Google it later! Also, you may often find vitrines marked only in Bulgarian. Hence the need to know the language. Now, not only the museums are small in size and somewhat unorganized, but churches are also very small. Both in Sveta Nedelya and Church St. George the inside was so small it could hardly hold in 50 people. Church St. George actually indicated that groups no larger than 10-15 people should be in it. As for the sitting: hardly any sitting.
Sveta Nedelya
Church St. George
4. A mess with the streets. The first thing you must do before you leave to Bulgaria is to get yourself a map of the city. Do not rely on the map inside the book because it is REALLY HARD to match the "big map" with the "little map". I finally, somehow managed, through our specifical needs, in both maps. I managed to match bul Stamboliyski, which is the one of the many that gets to Sveta Nedelya. In the "big picture map" it's in the B2 square and in the A3 square of the "downtown" map. Why would that be important? So that if you are somewhere outside "the box" you can find your way INTO the box. Regarding the distances in the "detailed map" or "little map" or "downtown map", in real life they are suprisingly short. I would pretty much dare to say that everything within "the box" it's at walkable distance. However, inspite of the map and all, many of the streets are not marked up, or not the same way as they are in real life. So there you are with a handful of street names, a little bit of knowledge about how to interpret Cyrillic letters, and yet you can't find your streets. So a decent, big, normal map is IMPERATIVE.
For visiting Sofia you must come with love and an open mind, otherwise you are wasting your time. I came here with an ideal of the city, which turned out to be wrong, but at the same time I found myself gladly surprised as it all happened to be "cannon" with what I wrote some time ago about the people and the country. There is poverty, yes, and loads of simplicity, but a huge spirit that takes you off the ground, lifts you, inspires you and makes you... feel. Simple, poor, rundown maybe, but I love this city.
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