Bulgaria: Sofia

Sofia

In Sofia I decided to stay longer, I really wanted to be in one place for a longer time to get some rest of moving around all the time, and it is the capital so for me it only sounded logical to get some rest here. This hostel (also named Hostel Mostel) was amazing, so big and also very full. All the other hostels were more empty because at this time of the year less people are travelling. I got in at 12 in the night and was so tired I went to bed immediately, when I woke up it was raining outside, I went down to have breakfast and the common room was really full, I thought I was in the most popular café of town or something.

The first day I would meet my friend Ivet, she was on exchange in Rotterdam and a friend of my roommate, it's so cool to meet someone from Rotterdam in Sofia. She picked me up with her car and we went walking around, had a drink and ate something. The city looked a bit grey unfortunately because of the rainy day, Ivet showed me the most important places. After walking around we went to see a movie in the mall, ate icecream (Ivet, bubbletea :(). We had a really nice day, I loved seeing a familiar person, because you meet new people everyday.
Ivet had to go and I went back to the hostel. I was tired but wanted to make the most of my time in Sofia, I went to a free walking tour (tip-based). The group was really big, the girl who gave the tour was very enthusiastic and told us some nice stories about the history. Something very funny happened! There was a Dutch guy and I could understand them of course. One said, do you know where we're going? the other replied; no but I'll just follow her nice ass. I had to laugh because I could understand him ofcourse and he didn't expect that I spoke Dutch, he was  a little embarrassed but it was funny. In the middle of the tour a street dog followed us, we gave him a name: Ivan. The tourguide said that he was just following us because dogs Always find a group to protect, one time he even walked first on the zebrapath and then we followed. In the end, a lot of people left the tour and with the 2 Dutch guys, two australian guys and a girl we all didn't like we went to eat something. This girl was so unlikable and so rude and impolite that the waiter started to make jokes about her, I think he sensed that we didn't like her either and he knew that we had just met as a group. The girl made an excuse and left earlier, she tried to leave without paying, so we called her back, she put 10 lev (about 5 euro) on the table and left very quickly. She gave us good joking material though, we compared her to the dog Ivan and decided that he would have been much better company (maybe you had to be there to find this funny!). After the meal we went to a bar and had some cheap (but nice) cocktails and we took a cab back to the hostel (like 50 cent per person). Holidays in Bulgaria are so cheap,  you don't even watch what you spend anymore). After the tour I liked Sofia a bit more, but I had expected it more beautiful or stunning, like Budapest. Mostly just big buildings. What was interesting during the tour was that you can feel that Bulgaria has been touched by communism in the past and it has a central place in the history.

The next day when I woke up I felt really bad (had salmon the day before), I still wanted to see some things of course. I wanted to go to Lady's market, a market with a lot of stalls, to find it proved difficult. My friend Ivet  advised me not to go here because she said it was dangerous and you had to really watch your bag. So  this made me more curious to go there. When I couldn't find it I just took a cab. The cab driver just put me somewhere and asked more money than it was worth, he literally put me 2 Streets further with a lot of detours. the street was under construction and I think that the market was smaller than usual, I had expected something huge. After this I felt really bad and went back to the hostel to rest. I watched a movie (the notebook!) in bed and then it was time for the pastadinner of the hostel. The hostel also gave me some pills to feel better. After the meal I met people in the hostel and they persuaded me to come to a café. It was really cool, it was a house that they had built into a café, every room had another theme and in the room we sat in we could even choose our own music. They had special drinks as well, homemade icetea with some special herbs and fruits in it, melon-honey juice and banana sangria (white wine), one guy got this and I was glad that I didn't got it and only tried some. This evening was my third night in the hostel and the day after I would leave in the morning to go to Plovdiv, my last city in Bulgaria.