Well there is no doubt that on the laptop emails will only send from the hotmail address. I will just live with that until I meet up with Hammy and get him to sort me out!
Well Sofia…I’m reeling from the change compared to Turkey and it’s taking a bit of adjusting I have to tell you.
Firstly I wake up and it’s grey and raining, and has rained steadily all the bloody day. A sort of drenching persistent rain. I set out this morning in my Tshirt as per usual! A bit slow at adjusting to change, I know! About 10 mins in I was freezing and wet and had to head back to the hotel for the Merrill jacket, which actually failed to keep me entirely dry but was an improvement. Tomorrow I think it’s jumper and Merrill jacket!! This is not to mention wet shoes and wet socks but all this is minor.
Setting out this morning was completely overwhelming. I had no idea where I was and how I needed to proceed. The hotel is completely unhelpful…annoyingly so and I was a bit at sea. I decided I had to find the Tourist Information place…not something I had to do even once in Turkey(they are all tourist information offices). The difference here is that people don’t try to help they just say ‘NO” if they don’t know what you’re talking about! Anyway ages later and with considerable difficulty I found the tourist office. Best thing I could have done because when you find the right people they are incredibly helpful. I walked in looking like a drowned rat but walked out with a plan.
So they set me straight and suggested I go on a 2 hour walking tour with volunteers. I could just make it if I got on the subway…oh shit another challenge to work out but with her clear instruction I managed to work out the ticket, which train to get on etc and made it in time for the tour.
The other thing she did was tell me about a shuttle bus service that goes to Rila Monastry and Boyana Church both of which I really wanted to do but thought I wouldn’t be able to given that there was so little information available about how to get there. That was exciting and that is tomorrows adventure.
So today, 2 hours of walking this city to start with. The highlight was the story that Del had given me about his grandfather and how he had saved the king, Boris, from an assassination attempt. He died in the attempt and the king went to his funeral. He was therefore late for another funeral and the cathedral it was being held in was blown up by communists killing over a hundred people but the king again survived as he was late. Well the guide was telling this story, or just part of it because she didn’t know, or didn’t relay, as much as I knew…it absolutely sent shivers up my spine. It was amazing, honestly, to feel so connected to it across both time and distance.
Anyway, the tour really oriented my and after it I retraced my steps and went into all the places we had walked by. It took me all day but at the end of it I know my round the city and feel much happier.
Tomorrow my activity is locked in as above and then the next day(is that Sunday??) I’m off to Plovdiv for a couple of nights. My plan at the moment is to go from Plovdiv to Veliko Tarnovo then over to Burgas so I can visit Sokopol and maybe Nesebir. From Burgas I’m hoping I can directly to Bucharest. From what I can see the transport from the coast is fairly easy.