Bulgarians are like Indians in at least 1 way

Bulgarians also do the funny head movements, maybe not as obvious as the Indians, but it's noticeable nonetheless. The movement up/down means NO , and horizontally across YES. However, I am told that SOME locals will swap this to our ways when in front of tourists...which (in combination with an impossible alphabet to learn) just adds to the confusion! it's all fun though!

the party train

I walked onto the 730 Express Train at Sofia this morning, and found a party in full motion: the train was packed to the rafters, and the only people on it were in their 20's. Most of them were either talking loud and swigging at bottles of every type of conceivable alcohol, or had passed the moment of no-return and where collapsed on the seat, or even worse, the doorway. or even worse (given the stench), collapsed on the toilet seat.

It turns out that ALL of Bulgaria's University Students are doing the same thing: December 8th is Bulgaria National Day for University Students. The plan as Nikolai pointed out is not a very elaborate one: DRINKING. I asked him to elaborate: DRINKING IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH FRIENDS, THE GIRLS COOK, WE GUYS JUST DRINK. (At this point, his girlfriend butts in: MEN ARE IDIOTS)

I was heading to Veliko Tarnovo (which is where I am now). It's Bulgaria's former capital, and conveniently half-way between Sofia and Bucharest. It also has to be one of the most dramatically-situated towns I have ever been to. The town is cut into 3 by a large meandering river, the mountains rise on all sides, and there is a huge fortress overlooking the whole place - beautiful.

I think I managed to find the only empty bed in town - with the university students having taken everything else and on a mission of never sleep, getting some rest is going to be tough.

Hope you're all well...

radoslav and nikolai

I met Radoslav and Nikolai yesterday night (during the rakia sessions) at the "Art-Hostel-we-spend-most-of-our-time-in-the garden" (this is the hostel's complete name, slight inappropriate for winter). So the name is crap, but the downstairs underground bar, accessible through what looks more like a trap door in the kitchen, is absolutely tremendous! Arty,funky (glass tables hanging from pulleys), and very laid back..

Radoslav and Nikola it turns out are musicians. And by what it sounnds like, excellent ones too. They had just come back from giving a concert in Holland, and Radoslav will be playing in Barcelona in a couple of weeks - we've arranged to meet. Or I should say him, and the Bulgaria Symphony Orchestra (all 50 of them). Should be at least entertaining, anyone up for it?

Aside their non questionable impressive music skills, they are very talented when it comes to drinking beers, I was doing 1 beer for every 3 of theirs...we must have knocked our bottles together (can't think of the right verb here), about 120 times, once every 2 sips..and in between Radoslav would go off and hunt down some girls to bring over to our corner of the bar...we spoke to Portuguese from Porto, then we spoke to Hungarians from Budapest, then we spoke to Romanians...then the locals..in my long-gone days of being single, this would have been tremendous 5 star service...

The night ended with big bear hugs & a promise to show Rasdoslav the best bars in Barcelona....

table top dancing

Freinds, flipping heck, we're at the equator of the trip, I thought I would post something, before you start imagining me table top dancing with bulgarian ladies..the fact is I wanted to post something yesterday night, but got a bit sidetracked by the Bulgarian beer, Bulgarian merlot and Bulgarian rakia.....

Bulgaria here we come, here we freeze. Subtilte: Cramming

Freinds, I am crammin´ the cyrillic alphabet at full speed and trying to memorise useful sentences such as:

go-vo.ree.lee nya-koy took an-glee-skee (Does anyone speak English?)

I´m told that anyone over 30 will probably not...

So what´s the plan? well, I´ll confess to it being more ???? than anything concrete right now, I think I´ll sort it out 'on the ground'. Fixed is that I´ll be landing in SOFIA and heading back out of BUCHAREST, and I´ll definetely see Veliko Tarnovo (former capital of Bulgaria).

I´ve packed the smallest bag possible (a-la-camila) - we´re in a tight, reduced community of freinds and family here, so I´ll confess that in the name of space (not in the name of Julen-is-a-filthy-bugger), it only has 1 pair of socks, 2 t-shirts, 2 underpants, some woolies, a toothbrush, a sleeping bag and little else. In case you´re wondering, there´s no fellow traveller to stink-out, I will be going ´solo´ this time....

More stories from the front line, over and out...

Ceausescu the megalomaniac

ABOVE: The Palace of Parliament (take my word for it)

Nicolae Ceausescu , ruled Romania (in brutal dictatorial fashion) during 25 years (he was executed by firing squad in the 1989 revolution). He was also a well known megalomaniac. There is no better evidence of this than the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, the 2nd largest public building in the world (after the Pentagon), 3rd largest in the world in terms of volume - all in all a monster of a building. It also happens to be the most visited tourist site in Bucharest - I had to go and see it for myself.

LP recommends you approach the building from Piatta Uniiri - it claims the building can be seen from a mile off. Yet that morning, when I stepped out the metro station at Uniiri, I found myself engulfed in the densest mist - even the 2nd largest public building had vanished behind the white blanket.

As you walk down B-dul Unirii towards the parliament, you realise some resemblance to Paris Champs Ely sees: The tree lined avenue is there, so too are the wide pavements, and the stone buildings . But that´s where the similarities end - the paint on the facades here is peeling fast and discoloured from the pollution - there´s no Gucci, Chanel, nor Michelin 3* restaurants. Instead you notice a lot of empty shops and, those that are operating are , anything, but classy outfits.

The actual Palace of Parliament is huge (no surprises here), more chandeliers than I care count (7000), 250 kg curtains, football-pitch sized carpets and so on. Impressive also is the fact that it is entirely made from Romanian sourced material.

Rest of day was spent drinking heavily and eating like a pig in a classy downtown restaurants - then straight onto the airport and a wonderful 7 hour delay. Long live the low cost airlines.

Peles Castle & Black Pistes

Peles Castle, Sinaia





















Take my word for it: Castles don't get any nicer than Peles Castle in Sinaia - It was to Ceausescu what for Bush is Camp David - a place to entertain politicians, the rich, the famous the world over. Having seen the magnificent outside facade, you walk in expecting a disappointing part B - but oh, no, no - it actually gets better, and, by the time you leave, you're in a state of total awe. The owner is the current King of Romania, and, if his initial words are to believed, the castle will go on the market for 35 Million Euros in 2010. A bargain if you ask me.

Lunch consists of a badly burned corn-on-the-cob, and then onwards (and upwards) to the cable car for a ride to 2400 metres, and the top of the Bucemi mountain range. The cable car is crammed with skiers - there are only a handful of snowboarders, the kings of the mountain , in Romania at least, are the skis - for how much longer I wonder. At the top, I get a 360 view and what a wonderful panorama - I snap my camera a couple of times, and tell myself I need to come back next year and try the black piste. That's until I realise there's a 2 hour queue to get back down the mountain. I'll leave it till they've worked on their infrastructure a bit...

Last day tomorrow, a short train ride down to Bucharest, a visit of the main sites (are there any?) and then off and away back home - it's been another great trip.