OFF THE RAILS, PART 2- Slow Train Through Bulgaria

.....here is the first part of Off The Rails.......

After a few days, we moved down to the dramatic setting of river side Veliko Tarnovo. We decided to stay at our first and only hostel in Bulgaria, and found it good value (especially with the enormous breakfast AND dinner that were included!), with lots of lovely sunny places to sit and chill, but rather noisier than we'd become used to. It was full of young people travelling around Europe, although many of them seemed to be on the same trail.

Universal drink, Bulgaria

Decorated electric box, Veliko Tarnovo

More cats than dogs in Bulgaria :)

We immediately liked the rough around the edges town, and spent a lot of time walking and exploring in the old quarter. First to the huge Communist style monument with wonderful views over the town, then to the Byzantine buildings in the Asenova area down by the river, with wonderful views up to the fortress, various churches, view points, squares and back streets, and finally, to the fortress itself presiding over the city. We are self professed Indian/Rajastani fort fanatics, and to be honest, they are pretty awesome and hard to beat. However, the fortress in Veliko Tarnovo was pleasant, and we even found some forest paths around the bottom away from the hoards of tourists.

Simple back streets of Veliko Tarnovo

View of Veliko Tarnovo

Church dome, Veliko Tarnovo

Gorgeous Byzantine architecture, Veliko Tarnovo

Asenova area, Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo fortress with moody sky

The church inside the fort, Veliko Tarnovo

Inside the church, inside the fort, Veliko Tarnovo

A town of views, Veliko Tarnovo

Fortress gate, Veliko Tarnovo

Close up of Byzantine window detail, Veliko Tarnovo

Forest path away from the crowds, Veliko Tarnovo

After a few weeks of traveling, we decided to head to what we knew in advance was the most touristy place in Bulgaria and home to many package tourists- Slanchev Bryag, or the horribly English named Sunny Beach. Sal had never been to an European beach resort before, and we thought it might be fun to embrace the tackiness and relax in the sun for a week or so. The quite swish apartment we found for a bargain price on Air B and B was also a good incentive. Well, it was tacky and built up; developed just for tourists; full of overpriced restaurants offering full English breakfasts and fish and chips; gaudy shops full of crap; overweight Russians and Brits; sex shops and nightclubs. Needless to say, it was not our scene at all, but we still had a good relax on the surprisingly lovely and warm beaches, enjoyed our comfortable room, people watched from our balcony, ate good Bulgarian food from a cheap cafe we found, and cooked for ourselves in our own kitchen. Our apartment complex was quite deserted, as were many of the hotels in town, and we were glad we hadn't come in July and August when the thousands of hotel rooms are full and the crowds must be horrendous. After a not very "Bulgarian" experience at the beach, we were ready to head back to the capital, Sofia, for our last few days. We won't be rushing back to Sunny Beach!

Sofia was not the most inspiring capital city we have visited, much of it having been destroyed in WW2, when Bulgaria chose the wrong team, sided with Nazi Germany, and were extensively bombed as a result. There were bits and pieces that interested us, such as the magnificent St Alexander Nevsky cathedral with it's multicoloured murals of icons and black and white tiles, and the small but fascinating market out the front filled with lace items, old photography equipment, paintings, Soviet and Nazi memorabilia, including old uniforms, pins, daggers, watches and medals. It was charming to discover the three gorgeous buildings of the old synagogue, the Ottoman style mosque and the Russian style Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker all within a block of each other. The people were friendly enough, apart from the mean priests in the churches who shouted at Rich for taking photos. Most of the churches we saw in Bulgaria were topped with round domes, which from the inside had a mural of Jesus looking down, lots of sweet smelling incense and bearded black-robed priests.

Church of St George, oldest building in Sofia

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia, a real beauty

Detail above the door, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia

Solemn looking mosaic, Alexandra Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia

Russian style Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker, Sofia

Moorish revival synagogue, Sofia

Colourful former Turkish baths, Sofia

Millions of icons, market, Sofia

Monument to the Bulgarian Army, Sofia

Public transport in Bulgaria was generally wonderful. We tried to take the train everywhere we could, although locals told us the bus was faster. We loved the close up views of the countryside, the rocking rhythm of the train, and the interaction with people. They were incredibly cheap, and apart from one occasion, usually on time.

Excited before our first Bulgarian train trip!

Lovely scenery, Bulgarian train ride

There is an excellent train website, that we often pored over finding the best and most scenic routes to places. An strange sight was the elderly women employed to keep the tracks clean of rubbish and weeds- definitely successful, as we have never seen such spic and span tracks! Buses we took we also fine and the tram system in Sofia was very free and easy (as in no one pays!)

Typical railway station kiosk, Bulgaria

Funky Bulgarian ticket office

Ticket in Bulgarian- had to learn quickly!

Incredibly clean train tracks, Bulgaria

Station master waving the train off, Bulgaria

Bulgarian food has a lot in common with Greek, with the national salad shopska being the same ingredients as a Greek salad, just cut up differently. They eat a lot of pizza, kebabche (spicy sausage), and kofta, (rissoles) as well as doner kebab in fast food joints. Other national dishes we tried were bob, a kind of bean casserole, and tarator, a cold yogurt based soup, both liberally sprinkled with the national herb, dill. Most places we stayed didn't include breakfast, but in Arbanasi, we took advantage of our host's good cooking and tried the continental style breaky one morning, and the far more exotic banitsa- a filling and delicious cheese pie with Bulgarian yogurt the next day. They love their cheese here- it's either sirene, a white feta cheese, or kashkaval a mild yellow cheese. The famous Bulgarian yogurt lived up to its name, and many mornings we enjoyed it with fruit and muesli. A meal in a cheap cafe or restaurant for two with beers was about 10-15 lev/AU$7.50-AU$11, and a slice of pizza roughly 1.50 lev/AU$1.10. Local beers were very cheap (less than 2 lev/AU$1.50 even at a more upmarket cafes), as were bottles of Bulgarian wine (less than 3 lev/AU$2.20 a bottle), and there were coffee machines absolutely everywhere in the streets (0.50 lev/ AU0.40 cents a cup).

Enjoying a Bulgarian beer in Koprivshtica

Bulgarian shopska salad- same same but different to Greek salad

Kebabche dinner, Bulgaria

Unidentified berries, Bulgaria

Tarator, a cold yogurt soup, Bulgaria

Mmmmmmm, we loved bob, Bulgaria

Breakfast, Arbanasi

Banitsa for breaky, Bulgaria

Our selection of Bulgarian wines, Slanchev Bryag (Sunny Beach)

Hazelnuts there for the taking! Tryavna

All the rooms we stayed in were immaculate, and cozy, sometimes with attached bathroom, sometimes shared, always hot water, TV (Bulgarian TV leaves much to be desired!), WIFI, and very comfortable and friendly. The cost was on average 35 leva/AU$25/£15, which, of course isn't cheap by our usual Asian standards, but certainly is in Europe.

Cute little kitchen area at guesthouse in Koprivshtica

Great room in Tryavna

Guesthouse garden, Arbanasi

Outside guesthouse, Arbanasi

Our "apartment" in Sunny Beach

Even though Bulgaria is in the EU (but has it's own currency, the lev), there is a certain mentality that separates it from Western Europe. It seems much more laid back in it's interpretation of "the rules", with things like smoking in public areas very prevalent. Although we don't like the smell of cigarette smoke, it was refreshing to see people being sensibly considerate with their fags, but still able to smoke outside cafes, train platforms and on room balconies.
The extremely Indian look of the local gypsy people was unexpected- nothing like the appearance of the "gypsies" in the UK. Most of them were ragged and poor looking, and there were a few beggars in Sofia, but mostly they stayed to themselves. We were very shocked to see a shanty town from the train, full of gypsies, rubble, falling down shacks and rubbish that would not have looked out of place in India.

Bulgarians have an extremely confusing tradition of shaking their head from side to side for "Yes", and nodding their head up and down for "No". Nothing like the Indian head wobble, which can mean various things, this was a definite unmistakable opposite gesture to what we know. You can imagine the puzzlement this caused in conversations. For example, on the train we asked a man "Is this stop Karlovo?", he shakes his head, we sit down, then have to jump up again when we pull into Karlovo. He meant yes. Another time, we asked a lady on the street if she spoke English, and she nodded. We were confused when we asked her a question in English and she had no idea what we were talking about!

Overall our month in Bulgaria was an enjoyable, easy and relaxing  time, and a great way to spend our last weeks in Europe.
We've been so lucky for the last eight months to be able to see so many of our lovely friends and family in the UK/Europe, and we are so sorry for those we were forced to miss, due to an unexpected lengthened stay in the UK due to Rich's health problems. The biggest thank you of all is to our sister and brother in law in Cambridge for their generosity and putting up with us for long!
Now, it was time to leave this part of the world, and head back to Asia and see what has been happening since we left eight months ago!

The man in seat 66!

.....a lovely pictorial of Knobs, Knockers and Doorways of our Europe trip......