Mon. June 29 – Fri. July 3 * Varna-Bulgaria

Day 69 Mon. June 29

I woke up early and gathered my things, went down to the kitchen quickly to get something to eat and then checked out, got my deposit $ and walked to the train station for my early train to Varna.

The train was already there so I got in and picked my cabin, it was another 6 seater. I worked on my blog for awhile,and  we were stopped to get stamped out of Romania and again to enter Bulgaria. After that I took a nap as it was going to be a bit of a journey to get there, about 9 hrs. When I got up from my nap, this strange man who worked on the train came into my cabin, he tried to speak to me, but didn’t know English very well. He opened my window and I gathered he was trying to tell it was hot, then he left but came back shortly and was signalling to try and tell me to put all of my things in my pockets, like my phone and ipod, again I figured that out, I think he was referring to beware of pickpockets. He asked me my name and then asked me to write it down on his clipboard, which was fine but then wanted my address and phone number, so I said no. He sat in my cabin for awhile and I was feeling rather uncomfortable but one reason was to close my window at one point as the train goes by a spraying station, so that was good, as I wouldn't have wanted to get wet. Finally he left me alone and I just watched a few episodes of Curb again. Finally we arrived in Varna at approx. 3:30pm, the great thing here is the hostel offered a pick up, so I called to let them know I was here and waited for their arrival. I had to take money out again as they use Bulgarian Leva, which is 1 euro = 1.96 leva. They picked me up, it was an Brenda, an Australian guy who manages this hostel with Becky his English girlfriend. Pretty neat, they traveled here last year and stayed at the same hostel, and so this year they spoke with the English owner to see if they could come and work there, and so they got the job, pretty good deal. The hostel was quite a ways away from the town, so good thing they offered a pick up, buses do run up that way but always nice to have a pick up. They also offer to drop you off at the beach and town in the morning and pick you up later, so good deal.

Here is the hostel and my room, it was 3 bunk beds and it was co-ed, had a nice balcony and there was a patio area downstairs with a bar,a lounge area inside also with satellite t.v and a self catering kitchen. It was very affordable as well, and the view was great. That is my balcony on the second floor, the one on the right.

 

The patio area

The view from my room

 

I settled in my room and there was a laundry service available, so I gathered up all my clothes to get washed tomorrow and went downstairs to log online and find out my options for getting to Istanbul from here. I met another couple from Australia that also work here Leom and Jess. Then I decided to go check out some of the shopping as I needed some more cooler clothes for the next few countries of warm weather. They were on their way to pick up some other guests at the bus station so they offered to drop me off. I got there and it was suppose to be some great mall, but of course being from Canada, it did not compare to the malls that we have. It pretty much had all very expensive stores there, the prices were good but I did not find anything. I went down to the grocery store and got some snacks and food to make for my stay here and then caught the bus to head back. I had to take 2 different buses and unfortunately the second one never showed up so I had to take a taxi, but all good. I made it home safely, made something to eat and went to chill in my room. I met my roommate Darren from Ireland and we chatted for awhile, he was telling me about bungee jumping off the bridge here in Bulgaria, he did it and said it was quite a rush. Finally, I crashed fro the night.

Day 70 Tues. June 30

Good morning! Went down for a quick brkfast of the same as everywhere else, some toast and cereal, and packed a bag for the beach, today is going to be an easy day. I went down to wait for our ride and everyone was heading to the beach, there was Darren, myself and the new couple that came in last night James and Jess from England. We all sat together on the beach and I rented a chair and we got an umbrella as well, it was a very hot day. Here are some pics of the beach

Well, here was my first experience of the European way, topless sunbathing, and the speedos….lol. After sunbathing and swimming for a few hours we all decided to get something to eat, so we walked up to one of the restaurants along the beach and sat down for a little lunch. Then I decided to take a walk around to see what else there was in this area. I walked past these nice big pools they had and there was synchronized swimming practise and they also had water football.

I walked around some of the shopping area to see if I could find some shorts and things and didn’t really find anything again, as they had some expensive stores and very odd, they had a lot of fur and leather shops, ‘who would even think of buying that in this heat’ crazy. I finally made my way back to our pick up point and they arrived, everyone was there to go back at the same time and we met another guy Andrew, from England who has been living in Bulgaria for the past 4 yrs.We got back to the hostel and tonight was a bbq night, I took a shower and headed down, there was chicken, sausage, pasta salad, potatoes and salad, was really good, and you also get either a glass of wine, beer or a spirit. I met a few new people that came in Lucien from England, Maxine from Singapore but was living and studying in Wisconsin, an American couple Cassie and Ashley from Montana ( I am telling you I will meet someone from every state by the end of this trip…lol), Bella from England and Andrew also from England. Here are some pics of everyone

Andrew                                        AnnaBelle

 

Brendan and Becky

Jess and James

Leom and Jess

Lucien                                        Maxine

Gill and Rich

a group pic

It was a full house I think. A group of them were going to a Boney M concert tonight, too funny…….I noticed here that on the radio, they play very old music but it is new to them I guess. I stayed back along with Leom, Jess, Cassie and Ashley and we all just chilled and chatted. The others actually came back earlier then we expected and another new couple Gill and Rich told us about a beach party that was going on tonight so a group of us decided to catch taxis and head down to see what it was all about. There was Lucien, Maxine, Bella, Gill, Rich, Andrew and myself that all went. We got there and we were told that there was going to be free drinks and of course there was not, and they seemed to have upped the prices of drinks just for this party. We all got something to drink and enjoyed the music, danced and chilled out. It was a nice beach with some Cabana’s set up and there were a lot of people there. The d.j was someone special from Amsterdam and the music was pretty cool, better then the oldies on the radio….lol

Here are some random pics from throughout the night.

Andrew and Bella dancing it up!

 

can you see Andrew is crashed out, we tried to get him up several times, even by slapping him but to no avail, ended up leaving him there and someone thought it would be funny to take him and they dropped him off at another beach, haha, he said he woke up somewhere else a ways away from that beach, good thing he has been living there and kinda knows his way and he speaks Bulgarian. Too funny!

 

some random guy dressed as a sheik

was a good night all round, and right into the morning, Bella and I decided to find a way home at about 4:30 in the morning and luckily this one car stopped and it was a guy we were talking to earlier so his girlfriend called the cab company for us and we got a cab home.

Here are some nice pics of the sky before the sun coming up

 

and all the people still dancing away

So we made it back to the hostel safe and sound and crashed.

Day 71 Wed. July 1

Well, as you may have guessed today was a write off. I got up in time to have some brkfast and then checked some things online and after everyone else left to go to the beach, I decided to crash for a few hours, so tired. When I got back up, I changed an walked down to the store to get some water and a few snacks and back to the hostel to work on my blog. I sat there for pretty much the whole rest of the afternoon and then had a bite to eat, looked up some hostels in Istanbul and crashed for the night much earlier then last night.

Day 72 Thur. July 2

Today I decided to get my bus ticket for Istanbul and take a walk around some of the very few sights in Bulgaria. I had a quick brkfast, checked emails and then off we went to the drop off point. I went to the bus terminal and bought my ticket for 20 euro and then went to the town center area.

Some random pics

There wasn’t a lot there and I didn’t really learn too much about Bulgaria, as my trip here was more to relax and enjoy some sun and to see the country. From there I walked back down to the beach and found a nice spot to lay in the sun for a while. It was another hot, hot day. There are people walking up and down the beach selling inflatable toys and some guys with buckets full of corn on the cob, thought that was kinda strange but everyone loves corn here, apparently. I stayed in the sun for a just a few hours and then decided to check out the pools again to see what was going on today, they also have some training for competition swimming.

some more randoms at the beach and the pool

The pics of the volleyball was while I sat and had a few cocktails, they play very well. Then I walked to the pick up point again and waited. They got us and back to the hostel, I had a few wraps for dinner and then took a nice shower that didn’t turn out so nice. The hose was broken so there I was in the shower trying to fix it, so dum. I got online again to book a hostel and looked up some things in the next destination, loaded my pics and then turned in for the night, as I am hoping to go on the spear fish/ secluded beach excursion tomorrow, before I have to leave.

Day 73 Fri. July 3

Got up early, and packed everything up, went for brkfast and took my things into the luggage area. I was able to go on the excursion today, so myself, Cassie, Ashley and Rich waited for our guide to pick us up. Patrick was our guide, he was born and raised in Bulgaria, he spoke very good English and this particular beach he was taking us to was very special to him, he has been going there ever since he was a little boy. It was short drive away, and we parked and had to walk down past a few other beaches and found the secluded one.

This is Patrick

 

this is just behind the beach and there is a natural spring water fountain there

We spent about 4-5 hrs there, the boys spear fished and Cassie was trying to break the record that the hostel had of other travels who went on this excursion and he did pretty good, catching 12 fish, all pretty small but still good. I just relaxed on the beach in the sun, as did Ashley and Patrick, at one point a small rain shower came along and cooled us off a little. Then we headed back to the hostel and I was able to use the showers even after checking out, so cleaned up and they had another bbq, so I had some food and wrote out the information I needed for the hostel. I grabbed my bags and Brendan gave me a ride to the bus terminal. My bus was scheduled for 9:30pm so I waited for a short time and it arrived. I had an assigned seat and I was actually dreading a 12-13 hr ride on a coach. They were decent size seats and air conditioned, they served you a drink and a snack but trying to sleep was impossible, and of course I got someone else in the seat next to me. There were a few stops along the way as well to pick up other passengers and that was annoying but oh well.

So, since again it is an overnight ride, I will continue the rest in the Istanbul entry.
I know you are all wondering why I went to Bulgaria, and well the answer is that I heard good things about it from fellow travellers. They said it was beautiful and it was cheap and they were right. I enjoyed the beaches and the people were very friendly, not many spoke English, they understood you but they could not respond. Although there was not a lot of sights, I was ok with that, this stop was to relax and chill after rushing from place to place and sight seeing like crazy, so it was well worth the time and visit.

I hope you enjoyed it and feel relaxed as well, cuz we are moving along to Istanbul and I am sure there is a lot to see there.

So stay tuned……for the continuation of the bus ride, my arrival and adventures in Turkey.

Sun. June 28 *Bucurest-Romania

Just to let you know the stop in Romania was just a stop over and thank god for that as sorry to report, there was nothing in this city really. A lot of it was pretty derelict and not so nice. There was no tourist office, which should have been a give away that it wasn’t really a place people come to visit, however I was there for a day, so thought I would see what there was and share it with you. So here is the Bucurest stop over.

Day 68 Sun. June 28

I woke up on the train at about 7 am, I decided to pamper myself and do a small pedicure and then worked on my blog a bit more. We arrived in Bucurest at 10:25 well, actually 11:25 another time change an hour later now. I got off, had to get money again, it is Romanian Leu here and that is 1 euro = approx 4.21 R Leu. Then I followed the direction to the hostel, and found it no problem.

When I got there, check in was not until 3pm, so dropped my bags, checked emails quickly and then went and asked the reception some information about trains, which was really no help. So, I grabbed a city map and walked back to the train station to book my ticket to Varna, Bulgaria. There was only one available for 6:25 am, and it was only 95 leu which is 22 Euro, so good stuff and that was with a reservation. Then I had a quick bite to eat and tried to find tourist information in the station but that is how I found out there isn’t one in Bucurest. I also had to pay 1 leu to use the toilet and u get 2 small pieces of toilet paper….craziness! I left the station and started my adventures to see what this city was all about, so I decided to walk to the old town, I was told that was the area to go and see. Here are some pics of my walk along to the old town.

I don’t know what the buildings are, as like I said they weren't anything too special. One funny thing, while I walked around and searched for a souvenir shop, I stopped a few times to ask for help and as soon as you ask them if they speak English, they get all excited to say yes but when you ask them the question they don’t know…silly really. It started to rain and I was getting discouraged with not finding anything interesting, so I made my way back to the hostel to finally check in. I put my things in the room, it was a 4 bunk bed, co-ed room. The bathroom was outside in the hall and the kitchen in the basement, was ok, for just one night was fine.

I tried to find out where if any I could find a souvenir shop from the reception and he said maybe at the Arc de Triumf, I kinda giggled and asked if that was suppose to be something similar to Paris and he said yes, but much smaller. So I was intrigued to go check this out, so off I went. I decided to take the metro this time and grabbed the map for that, got on and off I went to check out the Romanian Arc de Triumf, it is spelt different so let’s see how similar or different it is from Paris.

It was pretty neat, I will give them that and it was in the middle of a large roundabout, but no souvenir shops in sight. There was some concert in Romanian going on in the park near by, but I just wandered past to get back to the metro. This is a pic of the metro car, it is just one long car, no breaks, so going around corners you see the whole things bend, wild.

I stopped at a shop and got some snacks and fruit for my brkfast in the morning and water of course and back to the hostel. I meet a couple from Japan, and a guy from India. Laid down and chilled for a bit and then logged online to book my hostel for Bulgaria, got that done, showered and off to bed, early morning tomorrow.

So there ya have it, was a rather boring and unproductive day in Bucurest, Romania.I am sure there are other great places in Romania and I actually had in my head to go see Dracula’s house but it was a 2 hr train ride each way, so I scratched the idea when I found that out. If you’re ever traveling through Eastern Europe and planning to go to Romania, skip Bucurest.

Next we get to see Varna, Bulgaria, where there is lots of sun and some beaches and it is very cheap. Good Stuff!

Until then…..see ya in Varna!