Bulgarski

Our travel into Bulgaria was a bit of a mish - 24 hours of bus travel to be precise! We got on a 12 hour bus from Goreme in Turkey, intending to spend a day in Istanbul before taking a night bus on up to Sofia. But, a bit of smooth talking from a travel agent saw us getting straight on the next bus to Sofia - with only about 15 minutes or so break in between buses...nice.

Border crossing (one more stamp!) and a change of bus later we made it to Sofia and one of the best hostels we've had so far - Rossi Rooms for anyone who's planning on visiting Sofia in the near future. It was a bit out of town in a completely authentic Communist era apartment block, complete with graffiti, overgrown gardens and smashed window panes. Inside was a different story - basically our own apartment, so we made some great vege filled meals (after Turkezy's ekmek (bread) and butter diet, it was needed!).

We were traveling with two of the crew from the Blue Cruise, Anika and Shelley, so we all went out to explore the town. Sofia is filled with fantastic sculptures, particularly the 'Golden Lady' that Adrian was very taken with... There were also some massive churches, rather ugly Communist architecture, and our first non Turkish kebabs (not too bad actually!).

Annika, Shelley and Amelia went for sushi in the basement of the National Library - I don't know what we were expecting, but it was probably the most expensive sushi I have ever eaten! Just craved some Asian food though so it was well worth it...

We also went to a couple of markets, one in the centre of town where we picked up some nicknacks and also the Women's Market, which was a ginormous food and stuff market near the river. It was basically a food tour, complete with free fried bread with sugar on top...mmm...

We were also fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) to be there in May when all the schools break up. All the final year students get all dressed up, then drive around town in big groups of about half a dozen (minimum) cars all honking, with ribbons and tooting like their lives depend on it. They're all hanging out the windows of the cars drinking tequila or vodka and shouting their heads off - not exactly the same tradition as the school ball in NZ that's for sure!

Next stop: Belgrade, Serbia.