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#21
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Bulgaria Report Part 1
On Apr 17, 12:07*pm, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote: The scenery is as expected for an east European country, mostly dull and depressing with lots of semi derelict houses and a countryside that is littered with rubbish. I haven't seen much rubbish in Hungary, Romania or the Czech Republic. More in Slovakia and a LOT more in Croatia and Bosnia, where broken fridges roam the hills like sheep. *Maybe it's a south-Balkan thing? ==== j a c k *at *c a m p i n . m e . u k *=== *http://www.campin.me.uk ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: *Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts just orange air pollution.... |
#22
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Anyone for Bulgaria
Martin wrote: On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:57:20 -0500, "Gregory Morrow" wrote: Martin wrote: On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:33:55 +0100, (David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote: tim..... wrote: Having just come back from a trip does anyone want a report? Absolutely. We've considered a visit there. I'll consider a short one on Valencia which, somewhat to my surprise (after initial impressions) was well worth 5 days... indeed, could have stayed longer. We have a Bulgarian friend who is a professional pianist in NL. Who eats Valencian oranges...??? ;-) Are you suggesting she sucks? No...!!! -- Best Greg |
#23
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Bulgaria Report Part 2
"tim....." wrote in message ... (Sofia tomorrow) OK, 4 days later! Day 3) Back home this is Good Friday, but here it isn't, it's a normal day! Try and get breakfast at 8:00 as I want to catch the 8:45 bus, but no-one is in the hotel to serve it, they all appear to live off site. Go and pack and by the time they arrive to serve breakfast, it is time for me to go. Oh well, I can grab some pastries in the bakery for not very much! Walk to the bus station (next to the rail station) and the bus is just arriving. Sometimes you pay in the office, and sometimes you pay the driver. On this bus, it's the driver - 12 Lev to Sofia, more than the train fare. We leave early at 8:35, perhaps it's the one before running late? Running out of Bansko we pass some of the missing hotels and lots of half finished apartments, lots of opportunities for foreign investors here(!). After one more stop at a bus station (Razlog) we run fast along the main road, just picking up a couple of people at village bus stops. It's a small 30 seater bus and has about 20 people on it, so not many people do this route. We stop half way at Bladoevgrad for a toilet/cigarette break. Most people get of the bus, I assumed to take a break. The toilet is disgusting, but I have little choice but to use it, I can't survive 3 hours on the bus otherwise. When the bus restarts, most of those that got off, stayed off, there are now only 6 on the bus, and one of those gets off at the next village. Hm only 5 go all the way, is it worth running this bus? (Well obviously it is for me, but is it really viable?). The main road into Sofia is awful, they need to spend some money on this (but as it will be me paying for it if they do, perhaps not!). Approaching Sofia I'm expecting to go to the shiny new bus station by the main rail station that I saw two days ago, but no. We are dropped off at some "out of town" bus station. Fortunately, it's right next to a tram route so there must be any easy way to the town centre. (Though I don't know how I would have found this if I were doing the journey in reverse.) Including departure day I'm to be in Sofia for 5 days, and the "bus" company offer a "5 day" travel pass. I find the kiosk for this, having taken the precaution of printing off the Bulgarian description of the ticket that I want from their web site, I'm not expecting a problem. However, I have great difficulty in making the lady understand that I want it from "today", just why would a foreigner be buying a ticket in this out of the way location for any other day? Just how hard is "Da". And then I realise my voice is saying "yes" and my head is saying "no". I'll never get used to this (and I don't). Catch the tram to my hotel which is a quite nice three star at 43 Euro per night by "lion" bridge (Lavov most). As it's a nice day (which it has been so far, every day) I decide to do the sights of Sofia first in case the weather gets worse. I wander through the town centre which is quite compact and easily walkable. TBH there isn't really that much of interest. The only interesting buildings are the (if I counted correctly) 7 churches. All the other "interesting" buildings are not very. On this walk I find one restaurant with a (English) menu outside, it's by the Russian church. I note this location in case I don't find anything else. As I return to my hotel I pass a "workers" style cafe. These sometimes make an interesting experience so I go in and point to some food. I get a bowl of soup and a "burger" floating in mashed potato. The soup is very oily, but otherwise tastes OK, but when I get to the "meat" I cannot chew it. I realise I have the Bulgarian speciality of tripe soup! The main course is completely cold - um, won't be doing this again. Back in the hotel I find that the room is exceptionally warm just like the one in Riga, what is it about these ex"soviet" states? Why is it compulsory to provide heating that can't be turned off? Day 4) The breakfast in the hotel is offered by the adjoining cafe which is separately managed. It is not particularly good, with a poor fixed choice served with two day old sliced bread instead of the advertised fresh baguette. As this is the only breakfast that I have so far actually had, I can't compare it with anything else, so perhaps this is normal or perhaps not? Today, for no reason other than it's the end of a line and it has several services a day (so I won't get stuck there) I'm going to take the train to Kyustendil. This is a little diesel train (again a new "German" one) and by the time that it leaves (9:55) it is standing room only. On the outskirts of Sofia we pass a shanty town of even more derelict houses than seen elsewhere, surrounded by even more rubbish. I learn on the return journey that this is "gipsy-town". We make good progress to Pernik, where most of the passengers get off, but from there we trundle along really slowly, no faster than the Bansko train. The fifth half hour of the ride is through some stunning mountain scenery and there's a station in the middle where a dozen or so walkers get off. The other five "half hours" are dull and uninteresting (except for their dullness!). When we get to Kyustendil I find that it isn't even the end of the line, there is an onward branch, but the last service of the day (for Saturday) left 30 minutes before we arrived, well that's useful! I have an hour here, which I expect to be enough! Kyustendil is surprisingly nice. It's one of the most clean and tidy east European towns that I have even been to. It has one very large hotel and a pedestrianised main street full of cafes and restaurants and a nice main square, not what I expected at all. I could easily have spent longer here though it doesn't have any real "sights". I discover that this "niceness" is because it has a spa, but I fail to actually find it. The return train is almost full, mainly of people returning from Saturday shopping to the local villages. We stop at the mountain station and pick up a dozen walkers. I wonder if they are the same ones, they will have had three hours here? This train only goes as far as Pernik. I was expecting to change into an "express" from a different branch, but we are all herded by a load of "security" guards onto the last carriage of the most tatty train that I have ever seen and are given a lecture about what to do by one of these security people (not that I understand these instructions). Is this a return to Soviet style domination, no I'm sure that you have worked out (as I did) that this is a "football"special! In the evening I ride the one metro line. In fact it's only half a line, running from the town centre north westwards to a lucky(!) suburb. It not the slightest bit useful for anything else. It is currently being extended to the south-east and as previously noted will have two town centre stations and will be useful(?) to the tourist for travelling between them (opens some time in 2009). This new part also serves the football stadium which will be useful to foreigners should their team ever play Bulgaria. A second N-S line is also under construction (completed 2012) connecting the current one city centre station with the railway station, Lavov most and NDK (see below), so at that point the system may be of some real use to tourists. Day 5) Sunday. I decide to spend the day touring the tram network and visiting some minor sights. The latter are mainly the parks to the south of the centre and the soviet monuments within them. But first breakfast! I arrive and am told "there is no breakfast today". The manager of the cafe has resigned and decided not to come in to work today, so we are given a packed lunch of a cheese and ham sandwich made with some more of yesterday's stale bread, an apple of the "tastes like chalk" variety that I refuse to buy from my local tesco and a bottle of water! Sofia has a network of about 15 trams lines and I like to take the opportunity to ride these. It gives one the opportunity to see parts of a town that wouldn't normally be seen, derelict factories, soviet housing blocks and the occasional pretty part. Sofia is a bit short on the pretty parts! I get my ticket checked on this trip and note that a couple of people are fined for not having one. I visit Bulgaria square with the "monument of the Bulgaria state", which is now surrounded with scaffolding because it was so badly built it is falling down and dangerous, and NDK - the National Cultural Centre, a monstrosity of a building which houses cinemas, a theatre and various other things, and then I walk to Boris Gardens, via the National football stadium to see the Russian Army monument, another monstrosity (that you ought to see). As I haven't seen any other restaurants at all (really) I go to the one that I found two days ago (it's called the Victoria and is in my guide book as a "pizza" restaurant). The outside tables are fully reserved, a couple in front of me decide that they don't want to wait, I wonder what else they will do. I haven't seen any other restaurants, let along ones with seating outside! I ask the waitress to confirm the story about the tables and she says that there are tables inside, that's OK by me! I am offered a choice of smoking or not! The menu on the outside offers a choice of about 15 things and I have already decided on a couple that I like, but inside I am offered a menu of about 200 things, can they really manage this much! I note that very few of them come with accompanying vegetables, so I choose one that comes with "chips". I also choose an "appetiser" of potatoes with cheese and ham (baked in the oven). My main course comes first and I wonder if they have forgotten the appetiser, but as it has to be "baked" they are still cooking it. The chips that come with my filet of veal are about enough to make up half a small potato, and they are cold, but the meat is good. Then my appetiser arrives and it's about the size of 4 appetisers, well that makes up for the lack of veg on the main! I note that other things served in the restaurant are large, the people next to me have soup that has a arrived in a bowl as big as the one that I do my washing up in (though obviously it's not made of plastic!) Quirks aside, I quite liked this place, perhaps I should have come here more often. Day 6) Today the weather is dull and miserable, and guess what, no breakfast today either, the same stale sandwich as yesterday, but there is coffee/juice on the table today! Look guys, there's a bakers three shops away selling the most wonderful bakery items and you think that serving stale sliced bread is acceptable? Well I don't! (Not that I say so at the time). I have decided to go on the train to Mezdra because it runs though another scenic mountain area. Before I catch the train, I nosey around the bus station. Boy am I glad that I didn't need to catch a bus. It's a mass of separate counters for each of about 30 different bus companies and if you want to go somewhere, you first have to find the right counter. But it's all in unreadable (for me) script. Between the national bus station and the rail station is the International bus station. This is being rebuilt to have a nice new facilities, but even as it is, at least there is an acceptance that the customers need information in a script that they can read. Go here for buses to Greece/Serbia/Hungary etc. Another interesting scenic ride, but it isn't really worth it. Mezdra has nothing of interest to offer for my two hours and I just wander around the, very small, shopping area. The only thing of interest is the chaos on return. The train that I am catching requires reservations and the ticket office has to have the piece of paper with the free seats on that I mentioned previously, but they don't have it. Everyone is trying to buy a ticket, but they can't sell any because they don't know how many seats are free! With 10 minutes to go the list arrives and they sell tickets. As before, when the train arrives, there are more than enough seats available for everyone. Why do they persist in this farce? When I get back the weather is even worse and I stay in fo the rest of day. Day 7) I need to be at the airport by 9:30 and horary, there is breakfast. A new cafe manager has started and he has provided a buffet breakfast. It is quite basic, with things that are different to what I get at home -colourless jam and florescent yellow cornflakes, but it is all quite tasty and, at last, someone who's capable of serving bread made today! And finally I have to pay, and for today's cock up the credit card machine isn't working. He expects me to pay cash, though he will take Euro. Not that that helps me. I have to go across the road and get some from the Bank, But he can't give me the exact change (not that it would be any use to me) so I have to over pay. Hang on a minute. I had two days with crummy breakfast, you inconvenience me by making me pay in cash when I specifically selected a hotel that took cards and YOU want to round UP the bill. I don't complain as the amount is tiny in comparison with the total bill, but I think it says a lot about the (lack of) movement by Bulgaria into the commercial world, even after almost 20 years! Finally for my return journey to the airport I find a connection that only gives me with a five minute walk, instead of the 20 minute one on the way in. Though the usefulness of this information will depend upon which hotel you stay at. tim |
#24
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Bulgaria Report Part 2
On Apr 19, 6:50*pm, "tim....." wrote:
"tim....." wrote in message ... (Sofia tomorrow) OK, 4 days later! Day 3) Back home this is Good Friday, but here it isn't, it's a normal day! Try and get breakfast at 8:00 as I want to catch the 8:45 bus, but no-one is in the hotel to serve it, they all appear to live off site. *Go and pack and by the time they arrive to serve breakfast, it is time for me to go. *Oh well, I can grab some pastries in the bakery for not very much! Walk to the bus station (next to the rail station) and the bus is just arriving. *Sometimes you pay in the office, and sometimes you pay the driver. *On this bus, it's the driver - 12 Lev to Sofia, more than the train fare. *We leave early at 8:35, perhaps it's the one before running late? Running out of Bansko we pass some of the missing hotels and lots of half finished apartments, lots of opportunities for foreign investors here(!). After one more stop at a bus station (Razlog) we run fast along the main road, just picking up a couple of people at village bus stops. *It's a small 30 seater bus and has about 20 people on it, so not many people do this route. We stop half way at Bladoevgrad for a toilet/cigarette break. *Most people get of the bus, I assumed to take a break. *The toilet is disgusting, but I have little choice but to use it, I can't survive 3 hours on the bus otherwise. *When the bus restarts, most of those that got off, stayed off, there are now only 6 on the bus, and one of those gets off at the next village. *Hm only 5 go all the way, is it worth running this bus? *(Well obviously it is for me, but is it really viable?). *The main road into Sofia is awful, they need to spend some money on this (but as it will be me paying for it if they do, perhaps not!). *Approaching Sofia I'm expecting to go to the shiny new bus station by the main rail station that I saw two days ago, but no. *We are dropped off at some "out of town" bus station. *Fortunately, it's right next to a tram route so there must be any easy way to the town centre. *(Though I don't know how I would have found this if I were doing the journey in reverse.) Including departure day I'm to be in Sofia for 5 days, and the "bus" company offer a "5 day" travel pass. *I find the kiosk for this, having taken the precaution of printing off the Bulgarian description of the ticket that I want from their web site, I'm not expecting a problem. *However, I have great difficulty in making the lady understand that I want it from "today", just why would a foreigner be buying a ticket in this out of the way location for any other day? *Just how hard is "Da". *And then I realise my voice is saying "yes" and my head is saying "no". *I'll never get used to this (and I don't). Catch the tram to my hotel which is a quite nice three star at 43 Euro per night by "lion" bridge (Lavov most). *As it's a nice day (which it has been so far, every day) I decide to do the sights of Sofia first in case the weather gets worse. *I wander through the town centre which is quite compact and easily walkable. *TBH there isn't really that much of interest. *The only interesting buildings are the (if I counted correctly) 7 churches. *All the other "interesting" buildings are not very. On this walk I find one restaurant with a (English) menu outside, it's by the Russian church. *I note this location in case I don't find anything else. As I return to my hotel I pass a "workers" style cafe. *These sometimes make an interesting experience so I go in and point to some food. *I get a bowl of soup and a "burger" floating in mashed potato. *The soup is very oily, but otherwise tastes OK, but when I get to the "meat" I cannot chew it. *I realise I have the Bulgarian speciality of tripe soup! *The main course is completely cold - um, won't be doing this again. *Back in the hotel I find that the room is exceptionally warm just like the one in Riga, what is it about these ex"soviet" states? *Why is it compulsory to provide heating that can't be turned off? Day 4) The breakfast in the hotel is offered by the adjoining cafe which is separately managed. *It is not particularly good, with a poor fixed choice served with two day old sliced bread instead of the advertised fresh baguette. *As this is the only breakfast that I have so far actually had, I can't compare it with anything else, so perhaps this is normal or perhaps not? Today, for no reason other than it's the end of a line and it has several services a day (so I won't get stuck there) I'm going to take the train to Kyustendil. *This is a little diesel train (again a new "German" one) and by the time that it leaves (9:55) it is standing room only. *On the outskirts of Sofia we pass a shanty town of even more derelict houses than seen elsewhere, surrounded by even more rubbish. *I learn on the return journey that this is "gipsy-town". *We make good progress to Pernik, where most of the passengers get off, but from there we trundle along really slowly, no faster than the Bansko train. The fifth half hour of the ride is through some stunning mountain scenery and there's a station in the middle where a dozen or so walkers get off. The other five "half hours" are dull and uninteresting (except for their dullness!). *When we get to Kyustendil I find that it isn't even the end of the line, there is an onward branch, but the last service of the day (for Saturday) left 30 minutes before we arrived, well that's useful! *I have an hour here, which I expect to be enough! Kyustendil is surprisingly nice. *It's one of the most clean and tidy east European towns that I have even been to. *It has one very large hotel and a pedestrianised main street full of cafes and restaurants and a nice main square, not what I expected at all. *I could easily have spent longer here though it doesn't have any real "sights". *I discover that this "niceness" is because it has a spa, but I fail to actually find it. The return train is almost full, mainly of people returning from Saturday shopping to the local villages. We stop at the mountain station and pick up a dozen walkers. *I wonder if they are the same ones, they will have had three hours here? *This train only goes as far as Pernik. *I was expecting to change into an "express" from a different branch, but we are all herded by a load of "security" guards onto the last carriage of the most tatty train that I have ever seen and are given a lecture about what to do by one of these security people (not that I understand these instructions). *Is this a return to Soviet style domination, no I'm sure that you have worked out (as I did) that this is a "football"special! In the evening I ride the one metro line. *In fact it's only half a line, running from the town centre north westwards to a lucky(!) suburb. *It not the slightest bit useful for anything else. *It is currently being extended to the south-east and as previously noted will have two town centre stations and will be useful(?) to the tourist for travelling between them (opens some time in 2009). *This new part also serves the football stadium which will be useful to foreigners should their team ever play Bulgaria. *A second N-S line is also under construction (completed 2012) connecting the current one city centre station with the railway station, Lavov most and NDK (see below), so at that point the system may be of some real use to tourists. Day 5) Sunday. *I decide to spend the day touring the tram network and visiting some minor sights. *The latter are mainly the parks to the south of the centre and the soviet monuments within them. But first breakfast! *I arrive and am told "there is no breakfast today". The manager of the cafe has resigned and decided not to come in to work today, so we are given a packed lunch of a cheese and ham sandwich made with some more of yesterday's stale bread, an apple of the "tastes like chalk" variety that I refuse to buy from my local tesco and a bottle of water! Sofia has a network of about 15 trams lines and I like to take the opportunity to ride these. *It gives one the opportunity to see parts of a town that wouldn't normally be seen, derelict factories, soviet housing blocks and the occasional pretty part. *Sofia is a bit short on the pretty parts! *I get my ticket checked on this trip and note that a couple of people are fined for not having one. I visit Bulgaria square with the "monument of the Bulgaria state", which is now surrounded with scaffolding because it was so badly built it is falling down and dangerous, and NDK - the National Cultural Centre, a monstrosity of a building which houses cinemas, a theatre and various other things, and then I walk to Boris Gardens, via the National football stadium to see the Russian Army monument, another monstrosity (that you ought to see). As I haven't seen any other restaurants at all (really) I go to the one that I found two days ago (it's called the Victoria and is in my guide book as a "pizza" restaurant). *The outside tables are fully reserved, a couple in front of me decide that they don't want to wait, I wonder what else they will do. *I haven't seen any other restaurants, let along ones with seating outside! *I ask the waitress to confirm the story about the tables and she says that there are tables inside, that's OK by me! *I am offered a choice of smoking or not! *The menu on the outside offers a choice of about 15 things and I have already decided on a couple that I like, but inside I am offered a menu of about 200 things, can they really manage this much! *I note that very few of them come with accompanying vegetables, so I choose one that comes with "chips". *I also choose an "appetiser" of potatoes with cheese and ham (baked in the oven). *My main course comes first and I wonder if they have forgotten the appetiser, but as ... read more » did you manage to learn any Bulgarian ? |
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Bulgaria Report Part 2
"Kris Tonastik" wrote in message ... On Apr 19, 6:50 pm, "tim....." wrote: "tim....." wrote in message ... (Sofia tomorrow) OK, 4 days later! Day 3) Back home this is Good Friday, but here it isn't, it's a normal day! Try and get breakfast at 8:00 as I want to catch the 8:45 bus, but no-one is in the hotel to serve it, they all appear to live off site. Go and pack and by the time they arrive to serve breakfast, it is time for me to go. Oh well, I can grab some pastries in the bakery for not very much! Walk to the bus station (next to the rail station) and the bus is just arriving. Sometimes you pay in the office, and sometimes you pay the driver. On this bus, it's the driver - 12 Lev to Sofia, more than the train fare. We leave early at 8:35, perhaps it's the one before running late? Running out of Bansko we pass some of the missing hotels and lots of half finished apartments, lots of opportunities for foreign investors here(!). After one more stop at a bus station (Razlog) we run fast along the main road, just picking up a couple of people at village bus stops. It's a small 30 seater bus and has about 20 people on it, so not many people do this route. We stop half way at Bladoevgrad for a toilet/cigarette break. Most people get of the bus, I assumed to take a break. The toilet is disgusting, but I have little choice but to use it, I can't survive 3 hours on the bus otherwise. When the bus restarts, most of those that got off, stayed off, there are now only 6 on the bus, and one of those gets off at the next village. Hm only 5 go all the way, is it worth running this bus? (Well obviously it is for me, but is it really viable?). The main road into Sofia is awful, they need to spend some money on this (but as it will be me paying for it if they do, perhaps not!). Approaching Sofia I'm expecting to go to the shiny new bus station by the main rail station that I saw two days ago, but no. We are dropped off at some "out of town" bus station. Fortunately, it's right next to a tram route so there must be any easy way to the town centre. (Though I don't know how I would have found this if I were doing the journey in reverse.) Including departure day I'm to be in Sofia for 5 days, and the "bus" company offer a "5 day" travel pass. I find the kiosk for this, having taken the precaution of printing off the Bulgarian description of the ticket that I want from their web site, I'm not expecting a problem. However, I have great difficulty in making the lady understand that I want it from "today", just why would a foreigner be buying a ticket in this out of the way location for any other day? Just how hard is "Da". And then I realise my voice is saying "yes" and my head is saying "no". I'll never get used to this (and I don't). Catch the tram to my hotel which is a quite nice three star at 43 Euro per night by "lion" bridge (Lavov most). As it's a nice day (which it has been so far, every day) I decide to do the sights of Sofia first in case the weather gets worse. I wander through the town centre which is quite compact and easily walkable. TBH there isn't really that much of interest. The only interesting buildings are the (if I counted correctly) 7 churches. All the other "interesting" buildings are not very. On this walk I find one restaurant with a (English) menu outside, it's by the Russian church. I note this location in case I don't find anything else. As I return to my hotel I pass a "workers" style cafe. These sometimes make an interesting experience so I go in and point to some food. I get a bowl of soup and a "burger" floating in mashed potato. The soup is very oily, but otherwise tastes OK, but when I get to the "meat" I cannot chew it. I realise I have the Bulgarian speciality of tripe soup! The main course is completely cold - um, won't be doing this again. Back in the hotel I find that the room is exceptionally warm just like the one in Riga, what is it about these ex"soviet" states? Why is it compulsory to provide heating that can't be turned off? Day 4) The breakfast in the hotel is offered by the adjoining cafe which is separately managed. It is not particularly good, with a poor fixed choice served with two day old sliced bread instead of the advertised fresh baguette. As this is the only breakfast that I have so far actually had, I can't compare it with anything else, so perhaps this is normal or perhaps not? Today, for no reason other than it's the end of a line and it has several services a day (so I won't get stuck there) I'm going to take the train to Kyustendil. This is a little diesel train (again a new "German" one) and by the time that it leaves (9:55) it is standing room only. On the outskirts of Sofia we pass a shanty town of even more derelict houses than seen elsewhere, surrounded by even more rubbish. I learn on the return journey that this is "gipsy-town". We make good progress to Pernik, where most of the passengers get off, but from there we trundle along really slowly, no faster than the Bansko train. The fifth half hour of the ride is through some stunning mountain scenery and there's a station in the middle where a dozen or so walkers get off. The other five "half hours" are dull and uninteresting (except for their dullness!). When we get to Kyustendil I find that it isn't even the end of the line, there is an onward branch, but the last service of the day (for Saturday) left 30 minutes before we arrived, well that's useful! I have an hour here, which I expect to be enough! Kyustendil is surprisingly nice. It's one of the most clean and tidy east European towns that I have even been to. It has one very large hotel and a pedestrianised main street full of cafes and restaurants and a nice main square, not what I expected at all. I could easily have spent longer here though it doesn't have any real "sights". I discover that this "niceness" is because it has a spa, but I fail to actually find it. The return train is almost full, mainly of people returning from Saturday shopping to the local villages. We stop at the mountain station and pick up a dozen walkers. I wonder if they are the same ones, they will have had three hours here? This train only goes as far as Pernik. I was expecting to change into an "express" from a different branch, but we are all herded by a load of "security" guards onto the last carriage of the most tatty train that I have ever seen and are given a lecture about what to do by one of these security people (not that I understand these instructions). Is this a return to Soviet style domination, no I'm sure that you have worked out (as I did) that this is a "football"special! In the evening I ride the one metro line. In fact it's only half a line, running from the town centre north westwards to a lucky(!) suburb. It not the slightest bit useful for anything else. It is currently being extended to the south-east and as previously noted will have two town centre stations and will be useful(?) to the tourist for travelling between them (opens some time in 2009). This new part also serves the football stadium which will be useful to foreigners should their team ever play Bulgaria. A second N-S line is also under construction (completed 2012) connecting the current one city centre station with the railway station, Lavov most and NDK (see below), so at that point the system may be of some real use to tourists. Day 5) Sunday. I decide to spend the day touring the tram network and visiting some minor sights. The latter are mainly the parks to the south of the centre and the soviet monuments within them. But first breakfast! I arrive and am told "there is no breakfast today". The manager of the cafe has resigned and decided not to come in to work today, so we are given a packed lunch of a cheese and ham sandwich made with some more of yesterday's stale bread, an apple of the "tastes like chalk" variety that I refuse to buy from my local tesco and a bottle of water! Sofia has a network of about 15 trams lines and I like to take the opportunity to ride these. It gives one the opportunity to see parts of a town that wouldn't normally be seen, derelict factories, soviet housing blocks and the occasional pretty part. Sofia is a bit short on the pretty parts! I get my ticket checked on this trip and note that a couple of people are fined for not having one. I visit Bulgaria square with the "monument of the Bulgaria state", which is now surrounded with scaffolding because it was so badly built it is falling down and dangerous, and NDK - the National Cultural Centre, a monstrosity of a building which houses cinemas, a theatre and various other things, and then I walk to Boris Gardens, via the National football stadium to see the Russian Army monument, another monstrosity (that you ought to see). As I haven't seen any other restaurants at all (really) I go to the one that I found two days ago (it's called the Victoria and is in my guide book as a "pizza" restaurant). The outside tables are fully reserved, a couple in front of me decide that they don't want to wait, I wonder what else they will do. I haven't seen any other restaurants, let along ones with seating outside! I ask the waitress to confirm the story about the tables and she says that there are tables inside, that's OK by me! I am offered a choice of smoking or not! The menu on the outside offers a choice of about 15 things and I have already decided on a couple that I like, but inside I am offered a menu of about 200 things, can they really manage this much! I note that very few of them come with accompanying vegetables, so I choose one that comes with "chips". I also choose an "appetiser" of potatoes with cheese and ham (baked in the oven). My main course comes first and I wonder if they have forgotten the appetiser, but as ... read more » did you manage to learn any Bulgarian ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Da :-) tim |
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Bulgaria Report Part 2
On Apr 20, 12:06*am, "tim....." wrote:
"Kris Tonastik" wrote in message ... On Apr 19, 6:50 pm, "tim....." wrote: "tim....." wrote in message ... (Sofia tomorrow) OK, 4 days later! Day 3) Back home this is Good Friday, but here it isn't, it's a normal day! Try and get breakfast at 8:00 as I want to catch the 8:45 bus, but no-one is in the hotel to serve it, they all appear to live off site. Go and pack and by the time they arrive to serve breakfast, it is time for me to go. Oh well, I can grab some pastries in the bakery for not very much! Walk to the bus station (next to the rail station) and the bus is just arriving. Sometimes you pay in the office, and sometimes you pay the driver. On this bus, it's the driver - 12 Lev to Sofia, more than the train fare. We leave early at 8:35, perhaps it's the one before running late? Running out of Bansko we pass some of the missing hotels and lots of half finished apartments, lots of opportunities for foreign investors here(!). After one more stop at a bus station (Razlog) we run fast along the main road, just picking up a couple of people at village bus stops. It's a small 30 seater bus and has about 20 people on it, so not many people do this route. We stop half way at Bladoevgrad for a toilet/cigarette break. Most people get of the bus, I assumed to take a break. The toilet is disgusting, but I have little choice but to use it, I can't survive 3 hours on the bus otherwise. When the bus restarts, most of those that got off, stayed off, there are now only 6 on the bus, and one of those gets off at the next village. Hm only 5 go all the way, is it worth running this bus? (Well obviously it is for me, but is it really viable?). The main road into Sofia is awful, they need to spend some money on this (but as it will be me paying for it if they do, perhaps not!). Approaching Sofia I'm expecting to go to the shiny new bus station by the main rail station that I saw two days ago, but no. We are dropped off at some "out of town" bus station. Fortunately, it's right next to a tram route so there must be any easy way to the town centre. (Though I don't know how I would have found this if I were doing the journey in reverse.) Including departure day I'm to be in Sofia for 5 days, and the "bus" company offer a "5 day" travel pass. I find the kiosk for this, having taken the precaution of printing off the Bulgarian description of the ticket that I want from their web site, I'm not expecting a problem. However, I have great difficulty in making the lady understand that I want it from "today", just why would a foreigner be buying a ticket in this out of the way location for any other day? Just how hard is "Da". And then I realise my voice is saying "yes" and my head is saying "no". I'll never get used to this (and I don't). Catch the tram to my hotel which is a quite nice three star at 43 Euro per night by "lion" bridge (Lavov most). As it's a nice day (which it has been so far, every day) I decide to do the sights of Sofia first in case the weather gets worse. I wander through the town centre which is quite compact and easily walkable. TBH there isn't really that much of interest. The only interesting buildings are the (if I counted correctly) 7 churches. All the other "interesting" buildings are not very. On this walk I find one restaurant with a (English) menu outside, it's by the Russian church. I note this location in case I don't find anything else. As I return to my hotel I pass a "workers" style cafe. These sometimes make an interesting experience so I go in and point to some food. I get a bowl of soup and a "burger" floating in mashed potato. The soup is very oily, but otherwise tastes OK, but when I get to the "meat" I cannot chew it. I realise I have the Bulgarian speciality of tripe soup! The main course is completely cold - um, won't be doing this again. Back in the hotel I find that the room is exceptionally warm just like the one in Riga, what is it about these ex"soviet" states? Why is it compulsory to provide heating that can't be turned off? Day 4) The breakfast in the hotel is offered by the adjoining cafe which is separately managed. It is not particularly good, with a poor fixed choice served with two day old sliced bread instead of the advertised fresh baguette. As this is the only breakfast that I have so far actually had, I can't compare it with anything else, so perhaps this is normal or perhaps not? Today, for no reason other than it's the end of a line and it has several services a day (so I won't get stuck there) I'm going to take the train to Kyustendil. This is a little diesel train (again a new "German" one) and by the time that it leaves (9:55) it is standing room only. On the outskirts of Sofia we pass a shanty town of even more derelict houses than seen elsewhere, surrounded by even more rubbish. I learn on the return journey that this is "gipsy-town". We make good progress to Pernik, where most of the passengers get off, but from there we trundle along really slowly, no faster than the Bansko train. The fifth half hour of the ride is through some stunning mountain scenery and there's a station in the middle where a dozen or so walkers get off.. The other five "half hours" are dull and uninteresting (except for their dullness!). When we get to Kyustendil I find that it isn't even the end of the line, there is an onward branch, but the last service of the day (for Saturday) left 30 minutes before we arrived, well that's useful! I have an hour here, which I expect to be enough! Kyustendil is surprisingly nice. It's one of the most clean and tidy east European towns that I have even been to. It has one very large hotel and a pedestrianised main street full of cafes and restaurants and a nice main square, not what I expected at all. I could easily have spent longer here though it doesn't have any real "sights". I discover that this "niceness" is because it has a spa, but I fail to actually find it. The return train is almost full, mainly of people returning from Saturday shopping to the local villages. We stop at the mountain station and pick up a dozen walkers. I wonder if they are the same ones, they will have had three hours here? This train only goes as far as Pernik. I was expecting to change into an "express" from a different branch, but we are all herded by a load of "security" guards onto the last carriage of the most tatty train that I have ever seen and are given a lecture about what to do by one of these security people (not that I understand these instructions). Is this a return to Soviet style domination, no I'm sure that you have worked out (as I did) that this is a "football"special! In the evening I ride the one metro line. In fact it's only half a line, running from the town centre north westwards to a lucky(!) suburb. It not the slightest bit useful for anything else. It is currently being extended to the south-east and as previously noted will have two town centre stations and will be useful(?) to the tourist for travelling between them (opens some time in 2009). This new part also serves the football stadium which will be useful to foreigners should their team ever play Bulgaria. A second N-S line is also under construction (completed 2012) connecting the current one city centre station with the railway station, Lavov most and NDK (see below), so at that point the system may be of some real use to tourists.. Day 5) Sunday. I decide to spend the day touring the tram network and visiting some minor sights. The latter are mainly the parks to the south of the centre and the soviet monuments within them. But first breakfast! I arrive and am told "there is no breakfast today".. The manager of the cafe has resigned and decided not to come in to work today, so we are given a packed lunch of a cheese and ham sandwich made with some more of yesterday's stale bread, an apple of the "tastes like chalk" variety that I refuse to buy from my local tesco and a bottle of water! Sofia has a network of about 15 trams lines and I like to take the opportunity to ride these. It gives one the opportunity to see parts of a town that wouldn't normally be seen, derelict factories, soviet housing blocks and the occasional pretty part. Sofia is a bit short on the pretty parts! I get my ticket checked on this trip and note that a couple of people are fined for not having one. I visit Bulgaria square with the "monument of the Bulgaria state", which is now surrounded with scaffolding because it was so badly built it is falling down and dangerous, and NDK - the National Cultural Centre, a monstrosity of a building which houses cinemas, a theatre and various other things, and then I walk to Boris Gardens, via the National football stadium to see the Russian Army monument, another monstrosity (that you ought to see). As I haven't seen any other restaurants at all (really) I go to the one that I found two days ago (it's called the Victoria and is in my guide book as a "pizza" restaurant). The outside tables are fully reserved, a couple in front of me decide that they don't want to wait, I wonder what else they will do. I haven't seen any other restaurants, let along ones with seating outside! I ask the waitress to confirm the story about the tables and she says that there are tables inside, that's OK by me! I am offered a choice of smoking or not! The menu on the outside offers a choice of about 15 things and I have already decided on a couple that I like, but inside I am offered a menu of about 200 things, can they really manage this much! I note that very few of them come with accompanying vegetables, so I choose one that comes with "chips". I also choose an "appetiser" of potatoes with cheese and ham (baked in the oven). My main course comes first and I wonder if they have forgotten the appetiser, but as ... read more » did you manage to learn any Bulgarian ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Da :-) tim I'll always remember eating Krap ;-) |
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Anyone for Bulgaria
On Apr 15, 8:01*pm, "tim....." wrote:
Having just come back from a trip does anyone want a report? tim http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...cheap?page=all Bulgaria In addition to boasting some of Europe's last deserted beaches, Bulgaria's mountain ranges are a delight in summer. For a scenic, culture-rich trail, drive and walk through the heart of the Balkan ranges; take in the medieval tsars' capital Veliko Tarnovo, with its hilltop fortress and breath-taking Preobrajenski monastery; or breathe in the Rose Valley, where most of Europe's rose oil is produced. On the way to Sofia, stop in the quiet 19th-century village of Koprivshtitsa, where every house is a masterpiece. The Rodopi mountains in the south are more beguiling yet: explore pine-forests, caves, national revival villages such as Shiroka Laka, and Bulgaria's Ottoman heritage - Muslim villages frozen in time. This region, home of the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices choir, is the birthplace of Orpheus; visit the scary Devil's Throat cave, where Orpheus reputedly entered the underworld. Value for money The pound used to be worth three Bulgarian levs, but has dropped by a third recently. Still, if you avoid the overpriced seaside resorts, Bulgaria is still astonishingly good value for money. Boutique hotels outside the big tourist spots are startlingly affordable. Best beaches Some of Europe's last deserted beaches survive along the Bulgarian coast. Most white-sand gems are in the south, part of a secretive and under-visited region, the forested Strandja national park. Ropotamo, south of the ancient town of Sozopol, is set in a lush, protected lagoon, while Sinemorets, a few miles from the Turkish border, has several dreamy beaches. And up near the Romanian border, the natural reserve of Durankulak has some very private wild spots for diving, bird-watching and romantic getaways. If resorts are your thing, try Sveti Konstantin, a boutique complex with a classy beach near Varna, or the grand-sounding Riviera holiday club, set in a private park for an exclusive feel. Albena, with its 4km strip of beautiful sand and clear waters, boasts good water sports. Family favourites The excellent-value Hotel Kaliakra (albena.bg) in Albena is ideal for families - right on the beach with a kids' swimming pool, playgrounds and kindergarten (at an extra charge). If you don't need a beach, the five-star hideaway spa-hotel Park Hotel Pirin (parkhotelpirin.com) at the foot of the Pirin mountains offers family suites with two or three bedrooms that work out quite reasonably. The speciality here is decadent beauty and spa treatments, but little ones can enjoy the children's pool and playroom, and in the evening the open-air garden restaurant is great for families. Cultural highlights The capital, Sofia, boasts the Balkans' most extravagant cathedral, Alexander Nevski, the funky ethnographic and archaeological museums, and attractive art galleries, all within a 10- minute trot across the emblematic Communist-time yellow tiles. Loiter with intent in hilly Plovdiv, a gorgeous ancient town bristling with cobbled streets and impressive Roman remains. Varna on the coast is the kind of stately, pedestrianised belle-epoque town you didn't expect here. Hear some top talent in the turn-of-the-century opera house, wander around the Roman thermae, and gawk at the world's oldest gold treasure in the beautifully appointed archeological museum. Summer climate Summer in Bulgaria runs from June to early September and it is reliably warm, dry and sunny. The seaside enjoys a breeze that cools it down at night. The mountain regions can get hot and sticky, but nights are always fresh. You can expect 25C to 30C this summer and rain is highly unusual, but take the usual precautions against sunburn. Culinary treats Food is a fusion of Balkan, Middle Eastern and central European cuisines; head for the traditional tavernas called mehana and don't miss the traditional pastry banitsa and delicious chunky dips lsuch peppery lyutenitsa and aubergine-based kyopolu. Must-try regional dishes slow-cooked in earthenware dishes are Bansko's kapama, kavarma, and mussaka. Bulgarian red wines are outstanding, too. How to get there Direct return flights for under £200 from London to Sofia take three hours (Wizz Air, Bulgaria Air, EasyJet, British Airways). All these plus Thomson Airways also fly to Varna and Burgas on the coast. Kapka Kassabova |
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