Three days after leaving Sofia, Bulgaria, I finally get around to telling you about it! I have been rather busy going to class and getting settled in Istanbul, so please forgive the delay. In spite of the fact that I only spent two days in Bulgaria, I have a lot to fill you in. I’ve decided to divide this entry into a few subsections in order to arrange my thoughts. So here they are:
My impressions of Bulgaria (and Sofia in particular)-One of the most notable things about my short trip to Bulgaria was the language. Unlike Romanian (which is a Romance language and uses the Latin alphabet), Bulgarian is Slavic and uses the Cyrillic alphabet (or maybe the Greek alphabet, I’m not entirely sure). But the long and short of it is that it was absolutely incomprehensible to us, and to make things worse, the tourist map that we bought at the train station was labeled using the Latin alphabet, making it difficult to match the street names on the map to the Cyrillic street signs. Here is an example of Bulgarian writing:
Continuing on the theme of cultural differences, it is worth noting that in Bulgaria shaking your head from left to right means ‘yes’, while shaking it up and down means ‘no’ (i.e. the opposite of what we are used to). This led to some interesting interactions, because although some of our Romanian friends had warned us about this, it was very difficult to process. It was surprising how ingrained the meaning of those two gestures is for us. And it makes me wonder why it evolved differently in Bulgaria.
Aside from the slight culture shock, Sofia was beautiful. It is full of beautiful old Orthodox Churches and Cathedrals and old buildings, and it is very clean and well kept up. However, the thing that fascinated me most about Sofia was their commitment to history and archeology. Everywhere you go in Sofia, you will run into well-preserved historical sites. In the tunnels leading to the subway system, there are walls, buildings, streets, and columns from the Roman town that stood on where Sofia now is. These ruins are beautifully incorporated into the modern city around them. I thought that was absolutely wonderful. Rather than simply bulldozing the remains of their past or transporting it to museums, they work around it. It is really neat. The archeological museum was also really cool, but I will tell you about that later on.
Ruins of a Roman city incorporated into Sofia's metro system
The ruins of an old Byzantine Church, now located at the entrance to another metro stop
Our hostel-One of the goals of our weekend getaway in Sofia was to save money (I know that doesn’t seem to make much sense, but traveling by train to Sofia then to Istanbul was significantly cheaper than flying straight to Istanbul, even if you take into account our accommodations). Therefore, I did my best to find the cheapest hostel available. It cost us $8 per person per night for a 4 person private room. It was an ideal set up for the Maggie, Bonnie, Jack, and me because it allowed us to lock our luggage in our room during the day and not worry about it. It also saved us from the possibility of having to share a room with creepy strangers. However, when you are paying $8 a night to stay somewhere, you can’t expect it to be luxurious, and it sure wasn’t. Not that I am complaining, because we had a very good experience with the hostel, and it was perfect for what we needed. That being said, it was an adventure staying there. The proprietress was a sweet woman who spoke about as much English as we speak Bulgarian (i.e. none), and the hostel is located in a small alleyway surrounded by machine shops and auto parts stores. Also, the shower consisted of a hose and a showerhead connected to the sink in the bathroom. That meant that when you take a shower, you shove your towel and clothes up on the window sill to keep them dry, dump your shampoo and soap in the sink, shut the bathroom door, and shower right there in the middle of the tiny bathroom. It was highly amusing, but still as effective as any other shower. There was also a small balcony near our room and the bathroom that overlooked the alleyway. It was full of things that looked as though they had been left behind by previous guests, and it provided access to clotheslines where our lovely hostess would hang laundry to dry after washing it for 3 Leva per load. All in all, the hostel was worked out perfectly for us, and was an adventure all the same.
The room I shared with Maggie, Jack, and Bonnie at Intersof Sofia Hostel
The balcony at Intersof
Two days of sightseeing and adventure-Saturday- Day 1
We (Maggie, Bonnie, Jack, and I) arrived in Sofia by train at about 6:40 am. The information that I had about the hostel said that we could check it at 9 am, so we hung around the train station for a little while before catching a couple of taxis to our hostel. We were all pretty tired from our day and night on the train, so we settled in at the hostel for naps and showers. We finally got moving again at about noon, but after getting up so early on the train, it felt like it was 5 or 6 already. All of the guidebooks and tourism websites that we had consulted about Sofia gave the St. Alexander Nevski Memorial Church top billing, so we decided to grab some lunch and then head over to check it out. We took the bus downtown, but soon discovered that our hostel was within easy walking distance of the central city.
On our way to find an ATM and a place to eat lunch, we came across the beautiful Russian Church (which you can see in the picture below). We went inside the church, and unfortunately they did not allow you to take pictures inside. So you will have to take my word for it that it was beautiful. The walls were covered in beautiful frescos depicting scenes from the bible, and the icons around the alter were gorgeous. While we were there, we saw a young couple get engaged in the church. At first it kind of bothered me that they were being so touchy-feely in the middle of a busy tourist attraction, but later Bonnie pointed out that the woman kept looking at her engagement ring (which we assumed had just been placed there).
After a delicious lunch at an Italian restaurant (we were too hungry to be bothered trying to find a Bulgarian restaurant), we headed back to the St. Alexander Church. On the way there, we came across a neat little antique and craft market. We spent some time there finding cool souvenirs and trying our hands at haggling. Below is a picture of the St. Alexander Church. It was also beautiful inside, with no cameras allowed just like the Russian Church. I bought some postcards, though, so that I can show you at least some of the beautiful interior of the church. Every surface (except for the floors) was covered in beautiful frescos, and the domes (which you can see from the outside view, are numerous) were very impressive. In the basement of the church was a museum of Bulgarian iconography dating back to the 6th century. The icons were fascinating, and it was amazing how old some of them were.
After visiting the church, we walked back to the hostel. I wanted to get my computer because I had spotted a cafe with wireless internet, and of course I can't live without an internet connection for too long. :) The cafe was a refreshing taste of home. It was almost exactly like a Beaners or Caribou Coffee (and like Starbucks, except for the fact that I don't like Starbucks so that wouldn't be as favorable comparison in my mind). We ended up spending several hours on Saturday and Sunday in the cafe drinking iced mocha and using the internet. It was funny to discover that I might actually miss the heartless capitalism served with coffee as it is in the U.S.
After I finished sending emails and posting a few of the earlier updates on this blog, I let Jack and Bonnie use my computer, and I went off to explore Sofia a bit. As I've mentioned before, the thing that I love most about traveling is the chance encounters that you have with people and the interesting stories that you can tell about them afterwards. So anyway, here is the story: I was walking along a main street in Sofia, heading towards a mosque that looked rather interesting. There were people sitting at little booths and tables on either side of the sidewalk, which is not uncommon in Sofia. What caught my attention, however, was a man sitting at a table with two guinea pigs on it. The pigs were not in a cage or anything; they were sitting on a cafeteria tray eating hay. I was very curious when I saw this; "Is he selling guinea pigs?" I wondered. So I approached the table and asked if I could pet them. The man spoke only a little bit more English than I speak Bulgarian, so it was an interesting exchange for that reason alone. He pointed to the pigs and said "Tell your fortune!" So I gave him 50 Stravinski (I think that is what they are called, but in any case, 100 of them make up one Leva), and gestured to the guinea pigs and said "Pick one." I chose one of the pigs, and he produced a long thin box full of little envelopes from underneath the table. He placed the pig on the end of it, and it proceeded to climb up on the box and pull one of the envelopes out of the box with its teeth. I opened my fortune only to find that it was entirely written in Bulgarian. But I decided that since guinea pigs are such gifted clairvoyants, the fortune is probably so right-on that I don't even want to know what it says. After having my fortune told, I stayed to pet the pigs for a bit longer, and their keeper told me that their names are Johnny and Gabrielle. I wish that I had had my camera with me at the time, because I wanted to get a picture of Johnny and Gabrielle telling fortunes. I even tried to go back and find them the next day, but they were gone.
Sunday- Day 2
On Sunday morning, we got up at about 10, and decided to go our own way until lunch time, when we planned to meet up at the National Museum of Art. I wanted to walk around the area of Sofia that I explored the night before, but this time i took my camera with me. Bonnie came along with me, and we walked through Sofia for a while, and visited another beautiful church, where we saw part of an Orthodox Baptism ceremony. Here are some pictures from our stroll around Sofia:
After walking around for a bit, we sat down in a little part where a group of old men were playing an accordion, a clarinet, and various other instruments. The music was very pretty, and we stayed there for a while listening to the music and people watching. Here is a picture of the musicians:
After our brief rest in the park, we visited the Archeological Museum. As I mentioned before, Bulgarians seem to be very concerned with historical preservation, and the vast and impressive collections in the archeological museum were another testament to that. The museum contained artifacts from Bulgaria the paleolithic age all the way through Roman and Ottoman occupation. It was amazing to see the statues, tools, carvings, and other artifacts. Below is one of the pictures I took before they told me that cameras were not allowed:
Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the entire museum because at one o'clock we had to meet Maggie and Jack at the art museum. At the museum there was a display of the work by a contemporary Bulgarian painter who worked during the communist period, but it was difficult to tell what his relationship was to the communist government. We also walked through the permanent exhibits of Bulgarian art. Below is a picture of a self-portrait by a Bulgarian artist whose name I forget:
Later that evening, the four of us went out to dinner at a Greek restaurant. The food was very good, but the most exciting thing about this restaurant was the fact that they provided FREE WATER. I know that isn't very exciting in the U.S., but in Europe, it was a cause for celebration. One of the things that I miss most about the U.S. (other than the people I miss, of course) is getting free water with ice in restaurants. At home I usually order water when i go out to eat because it saves me money, and I like it. But here, most of the water is carbonated, it is never served with ice, and you almost always have to pay for it. So when our waiter started pouring us all non-carbonated water and said that it was "on the house", we almost hugged him.
After dinner, I walked across town to see the Palace of Culture, which is the "largest multifunctional complex in southeastern Europe" according to my tourist map. From what I can tell it is pretty much a city within itself, with a shopping mall, conference center, cinema, nightclubs, restaurants, etc. When I arrived at the palace of culture, it was a happening place. There was an exhibition of graffiti art taking place, and there was live music. I walked around for a while, checking out the exhibit and taking pictures before returning to the hostel for the night.
The Palace of Culture
A sculpture (or something like that) near the Palace of Culture
A particularly interesting bit of graffiti art, entitled Religion
My ride home was yet another adventure as I tried to explain to my non-English-speaking cab driver why I wanted to go to number 37 Racovski Street. I told him it was a hostel, and he didn't seem to understand, so I told him "hotel", which confused him further (remember, the hostel is in a little alley surrounded by machine shops, not exactly the kind of place you would find a hotel). So we spent the entire ride trying to have a conversation using the few words of English that he knew and the zero words of Bulgarian that I know. By the end of it, he taught me how to say "left", "right", and "straight ahead" in Bulgarian, which I have forgotten by this point.
