Sofia/Bulgaria - A roller coaster of emotions!

After just 15 minutes I was done with this filthy country.

Pffft.... Bulgaria (or as it's called in 'A Fish Called Wanda': 'Vulgaria').

The train ride was really nice, really...

Yep!

I'm a fan of the Romanian and Bulgarian railways. Little men, with their big bellies squeezed under slightly too tight casual shirts... happily strolling through the compartment... and I'm thinking to myself: What does this guy up there at the front want with the train driver?

Ha, he was the train driver!

And you were even allowed to go up there, look around, take photos. It couldn't be dangerous, the train was too slow.

But pay attention, dear DB... with a travel time from 12.40 to 22.20, they were just 10 minutes late. 👍

The horror began upon arrival in Sofia. ☠️

My tried and tested plan:

Withdraw money from the ATM in local currency, Google Maps on and off to the hostel.

But not in Sofia on a Sunday at 10.30pm. ATMs were not working... and there was no Wi-Fi.

Oops!

I didn't really have a plan. Especially since without internet I couldn't get to the address of the hostel. But I knew it was in the city center. So off to the metro and quickly into the city.

But not in Sofia!

'No card! Cash!', the lady at the ticket counter heartlessly made clear. 'Over there... ATM.'

Hm....others might find that funny. 😡

So, I set off on foot with all my stuff towards the city.

The Romanians warned me about Bulgarian train station squares and Bulgarian taxi drivers, so I chose the underpass.

Sunday, 11pm.

Ha!

They should have warned me about that.

Dark, dark and it smelled so strongly of urine, vomit, and feces, eww....

Compared to that, the Passarelle Hannover in the 80s was a rose garden.

Then I walked on and at one of the next intersections, a taxi driver and a car driver were shouting at each other. (The taxi driver, the Romanian, had warned me.)

At the next corner, I met a pack of Ottoman clan criminals and asked them for directions.

The direction was correct.

But then they started having fun with me: 'Only 5km more, no 10km, no 20km, haha!' And I had the impression that they were making fun rhymes about me and playing pranks on me. But I let them do their thing. I was too heavily packed for an escape, and after a long train journey, I wasn't in the mood for a manageable fistfight '8 against 1'.

Still no sign of internet... but up there: McDonald's, my salvation, they have Wi-Fi.

But not in Sofia!

But then at some point the sun started shining internally:

The next ATM worked, the hotel 'Luise' had free internet, and with Google Maps I passed another 5 gaming halls and cautiously made my way through a construction site, in the middle of which my accommodation was located! 👍😍

The lady at the reception was really nice. I booked a 3(!)-bedroom. There was only one Russian guy lying there, who had to get up at 5 a.m. today to catch his train. He promised to be super quiet and not wake me up. And he was super quiet indeed. I didn't wake up from any noise he made, but I did wake up from the light he had forgotten to turn off. 😂

I turned off the light and thought of all the working people in Germany.

Man, it's so nice to lie down again on a Monday. ❤️

And now I'm sitting on the 'Terrace des Amis' and enjoying the 'coffee on the house' that comes with it. For breakfast, there are leftovers from yesterday.

I'm learning: In Bucharest at the train station, I put my remaining money on the counter of a bakery and said, 'Come on, just fill it up with whatever. My train leaves in 10 minutes!' So I had provisions for the journey and breakfast for the start of today.

I have to point out two things about the view from the balcony:

A) Yes, Bulgaria is black and white, like I remember from East German television.

B) Just now, a young Bulgarian woman was standing on the balcony opposite, smoking. But she wasn't like those hammer throwers of the 'Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR'. No, she was a Slavic beauty with melancholic longing in her deep, dark eyes. 😍

I'm going out now and see what will happen between the city and me....