BEAUTIFUL BULGARIA

Again we were blessed with wonderful Couch Surfing Hosts, Iskren, Julia & little Bobi made our stay in Bulgaria a highlight of our trip to the Balkans. After Iskren's phone assistance getting us to their closest Metro station from where he was kind enough to collect us, we were made to feel very welcome.

Iskren, Julia & little Bobi (almost 3), with us
in case you have forgotten what we look like!

After a good night's sleep we made our way into the city via the Metro, found the tourist information & picked up a city map, very handy indeed. It was almost lunch time so we rang Julia, she had suggested that she may be able to get away from work for a bit if we wanted to have lunch together.



The High Court, bang in the middle of Sofia & just across the road from
Julia's office, how handy is that?

What a great lunchtime we shared with her, she gave us a short guided tour of the city centre, the roman ruins, the thousand year old church almost buried in the construction zone for the new metro station, we fluked seeing the changing of the guards at the President's Palace & then we enjoyed a beautiful traditional Bulgarian lunch at the cutest little restaurant nestled among the city highrise.

Look at that lovely leg lift, toes pointed, knees straight...perfect!

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the 'must see' sights & Grant walked to the fire station while I did a bit of window shopping.



Gorgeous little church which has over the years had the city rise around it,
now they are detouring the subway round it

Iskren & Julia invited us to join them on a mountain hike, the last of the season, as winter was fast approaching. They are part of a small group who walk regularly in the mountains & stay overnight in one of the many mountain huts, before hiking back on Sunday. This particular hike began at a historic village about two hours drive from the city, so we met the others & enjoyed brunch at a traditional restaurant in the township before starting the walk. Iskren & Julia gave us a quick tour of the most important sights in the township while the rest of the group finished up their brunch & then off we went.

A very traditional style home from the 'old Bulgaria' now one of three museums in the town, wonderful paint job!

It was about 20 kilometres to the mountain huts, all of it uphill, although I must say it was only steep in a couple of small areas the rest of it was a steady rise. Boy were my sticks handy!! The group leader Alexander knew the way & made regular stops at spots with great views or water, allowing us (well, me in particular) the rest up, we shared snackfoods & chatted while looking at the amazing scenery with the first snow of the season visible on the higher peaks, watching the mountain horses, drinking the water from the 'Rebels Well'.



Afternoon Smoko!  A chance to rest, take in the glorious mountain air &
appreciate the beauty



Iskren filling his water bottle, at the Rebel's Waterhole,
best water we have ever tasted

The huts are a hang over from the communist days and used to be holiday areas for the workers & their families, some near the seaside, some in the mountains. The mountain ones are a day's walk apart but can also be accessed by road & consisted of a large house with dormitories upstairs & a restaurant or communal kitchen downstairs as well as about 12-15 separate bungalows spread over the area. They were not plush by any means, very basic facilities with one shared toilet block (one male & one female squat toilet each) & a concrete trough with cold running water (that was the bathing facilities in case you hadn't guessed already). Needless to say brushing teeth & washing our face & hands in the sub-zero temperatures was as close to a wash as we came.  

Dawn, frost not snow unfortunately, that is our hut on the left

Now, apparently everyone is supposed to bring along a small bottle of their home made Rakia, Grant sampled some of each of them, boy they had a kick like a mule & tasted like strong vodka, he was more than a little seedy the next day but a few panadol made some difference. We got up, after a bad night on those horrendous soft-in-the-middle camp beds, to find the countryside white, unfortunately it wasn't snow just a heavy frost but it looked lovely anyway.

How many of these should I have? 
My tongue is numb!

Bit of breakfast & we hit the road for the downhill trip at about 9.30. The downhill proved to be a challenge for me in particular, I struggled with the long distance on consecutive days, the lack of sleep & the shinsplint type pain in my feet from my inadequate shoes. Alex took a couple of shortcuts through the forest to shorten the return journey a bit & we managed to get back to town about 2pm just in time for a late lunch & the long drive home. 

Now that is a scenic spot! The perfect place to share a chocolate
& eat sunflower seeds wouldn't you say?

It was a late night as we sat around chatting with Julia & Iskren (who had lived in Adelaide for 3 months, with a thought of emigrating unfortunately Julia's legal qualifications aren't transferrable so they decided to make their home in Sofia instead, Australia's loss I think) but eventually we all just had to go to bed, work for them the next day & a flight for us. We said our goodbyes over coffee the next morning & headed to the airport, easy just walk to the metro, then train to the city, then bus to airport....no worries!