The last part of the trip was Bulgaria. I got the over night train from Istanbul to Sofia. I was sharing the carriage with two English brothers, seemed pleasant enough, one worked on law, think the younger brother was called Barnabus or something like that. The train and bed was surprisingly comfortable, it was a great service, but…..border control checkpoints are a pain in the hole, especially in the middle of the night.
As daylight broke, the scenery seemed nice, as we got into Sofia train station, parts seemed a bit run down or closed up. I then walked to the hostel, and it seemed a place of many contrasts – part nicely laid out, other parts looked a bit run down and drab.
My turn here was brief. I seen as much as I could. On the Sunday it seemed a bit of a ghost town, Monday a bit busier. There are nice places to see here, and I’d say things have really come on since I was last in Bulgaria (1996).
I even checked out a wee rock bar, where they were having some table football (think some competition was on, got speaking to some Russian dude, and the barwoman gave us free shots – Yeeogh!)
However, although you can get similar things as you can get back home, and the people seem ok, I just couldn’t warm to it. It’s worth checking out for the first time, seemed nice enough, but I wouldn’t be in any mad rush to head back to it.
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