As I'm sure you're all aware of, it's not too difficult for me to find excuses to travel. Well, the Romanian government (in cohorts with the EU, of course) was just so kind as to hand me one without my ever asking! Since I don't have a residency permit, I'm only allowed to stay in Romania for 90 days. Since I'm here for six months, the easy solution is to cross the border and get your passport stamped, and 9 times out of 10 you won't have any problems. So there you have it: Kymber has to leave the country.
When my good friend Dan heard about my plans to cross into Bulgaria, he decided to come along and we made a weekend out of it. If we're going to go all that way, we might as well do some sight-seeing, right? We were pretty shameless with our American touristness, and got some great pictures. Somehow it's ok to look like a foreigner as long as you aren't actually living in that city.
Being the experienced travellers that we both are, we packed quite a bit into one weekend. It started out with a 10-hour night train to Sofia, which we almost missed. But after running through the metro and train station "Amazing Race" style, we were informed the train was 90 minutes late. It was kind of anti-climatic, but at least we got to eat a nice McDonald's dinner before we left! :)
We arrived in Sofia after a long night of border crossings and the first of what Dan refers to as "A Series of Uncomfortable Beds." We explored for a few hours, discovered a Dunkin' Donuts and the famous Yellow Brick Road, then hopped on another train for Plovdiv.
Plovdiv, the "cultural capital" of Bulgaria, is the second largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the oldest cities in Europe, dating back to the days of ancient Rome. Standing in one square, we watched a man clean the tower of the muslim mosque while artists sold their goods along the edge of a Roman amphitheater. The contrast of Roman ruins, muslim architecture, and the cryllic alphabet, side by side in a clean Balkan city free of gaping sidewalks and relentless traffic was fascinating and refreshing all at once. Not to mention the friendly people and the prices that were about a third of those in Bucharest! Our hostel, while virtually unheated, was right in the middle of the oldest part of the city, so we were able to walk everywhere and see most of the sights in about a day and a half before heading back to Sofia.
In Sofia we had a few more hours before our night train back to Bucharest, so we did some more exploring, this time finding a restaurant with the best salad either of us have had since we've left the States. Then another long night train back to Bucharest, and back to work and real life!
When my good friend Dan heard about my plans to cross into Bulgaria, he decided to come along and we made a weekend out of it. If we're going to go all that way, we might as well do some sight-seeing, right? We were pretty shameless with our American touristness, and got some great pictures. Somehow it's ok to look like a foreigner as long as you aren't actually living in that city.
Being the experienced travellers that we both are, we packed quite a bit into one weekend. It started out with a 10-hour night train to Sofia, which we almost missed. But after running through the metro and train station "Amazing Race" style, we were informed the train was 90 minutes late. It was kind of anti-climatic, but at least we got to eat a nice McDonald's dinner before we left! :)
We arrived in Sofia after a long night of border crossings and the first of what Dan refers to as "A Series of Uncomfortable Beds." We explored for a few hours, discovered a Dunkin' Donuts and the famous Yellow Brick Road, then hopped on another train for Plovdiv.
Plovdiv, the "cultural capital" of Bulgaria, is the second largest city in Bulgaria, and one of the oldest cities in Europe, dating back to the days of ancient Rome. Standing in one square, we watched a man clean the tower of the muslim mosque while artists sold their goods along the edge of a Roman amphitheater. The contrast of Roman ruins, muslim architecture, and the cryllic alphabet, side by side in a clean Balkan city free of gaping sidewalks and relentless traffic was fascinating and refreshing all at once. Not to mention the friendly people and the prices that were about a third of those in Bucharest! Our hostel, while virtually unheated, was right in the middle of the oldest part of the city, so we were able to walk everywhere and see most of the sights in about a day and a half before heading back to Sofia.
In Sofia we had a few more hours before our night train back to Bucharest, so we did some more exploring, this time finding a restaurant with the best salad either of us have had since we've left the States. Then another long night train back to Bucharest, and back to work and real life!
2 comments:
Hi Kymber...
Loved your pictures!! Looks like you and Dan had a great trip..... talk to you soon!
Love you & Miss you-
Dad & Mom
the hat looks rad! I'm sure there a lot of jealous people there.
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