Sofia, Bulgaria Day 2

Sofia Day 2

This last day in Sofia has culminated in a rumbling get together of friends at the hostel's lobby. During the time here we have made fiends, traded stories, and even gone out together in the city. The Rila monastery was spectacular and today we took a very involved tour of the city. The hostel recommended a free walking tour called "Free Sophia Walking Tour." We were a little late in making the tour and started walking around ourselves. After a little walking, we happened across the group and followed them around for the rest of the tour. The guide was well versed in the history of the city and only having a brief background of the history, we were quite overwhelmed. Pretty much my summation of the tour was that Bulgaria has an interesting past with quite a few dealings with the Ottomans, Russians, Germans, and now a democratic country. After most recently ditching socialism and possible communism, if it all went according to plan, there is still a great feeling of the past through interactions with people and the architecture of the town. We saw the presidential building with the guards, mosque, huge Eastern Orthodox church, and many of the busy streets. The history goes back far enough that the Romans even valued the area form the geothermal hot springs and set up a settlement and outpost. Today, close to the town center, locals fill their bottles with clean hot water only to cool and use to drink. When water becomes an increasingly valuable resource, Bulgaria should have plenty and comfortably be able to drink. The Romans had an extensive wall around the town for protection which is today still being discovered and displayed. The peaks surrounding the Sofia valley are huge and offered a natural protection to oncoming invaders.

Back at the hostel we mingled with all sorts of new people. There were Peace Corp volunteers finishing their 2 year obligations, Americans on long vacations, a professional traveler that has been out for 7 years, a Scotsman that returned from Malaysia, a French Canadian that plays college soccer that I went for a morning run with, a cyclist that has been riding across Bulgaria, some kiwis that were older and have traveled the world, students studying archaeology heading to Varna on the Black Sea to help with a dig and a few others. Conversations have been across the board and some don't even know where Las Vegas is. I love it when we get those people. They seem more normal than the rest. We had a pool table, but not like Atilla's, which made for an few intensive games. The hostel life is comfortable and I can see why people want to stay out for months at a time. As I finish this little report, we are on a night train to Varna in a room with our friend Nick from Nebraska and 2 other Bulgarian teenagers. They must think we are nuts! I thought sleeping on an airplane was difficult...

Sofia Day 1

Sofia Day 1

I write this entry after along trip up to the Rila Monestary. This took all day and involved a long drive across the country. The monastery is situated in the steep, tree covered, cloudy peaks of western Bulgaria. This is the place where St. John (Ivan)lived in seclusion for 12 years dedicating his life to prayer. We hiked up to this location and even went in the cave where he lived. Others heard of this and built a monastery since it is rumored the God told him of the location and for him to go there. I must say, it's very surreal and a magnificent perch for a monastery. It gets cold winters and the road is closed in the winter. People were praying in the church area and many candles lit the room. The surrounding area was huge trees and moss covered rocks. Hiking was a little tricky with roots and wetness, kind of like New Jersey at times. The ride up was in a private car with a driver the hostel recommended. This worked fine, but drivers around here sometimes drive so fast and do incredible passings which make you see your life flash before your your eyes at times. The music in the car was provided by the driver. It was his own mix off of his MP3 player and included some authentic Bulgarian dance, hip hop, and American dance. Sweet. We knew some, while others were new. I wrote down some rhythms and melodies in hopes of recreating them in something I create, or just to remember.

We have made quite a few friends in this hostel. And once again, after hearing stories about the town, it might be difficult not to spend a few more days in this capital city. There are more Americans here, but I have met a Scotsman, some Germans, and a nice French Canadian dude that I will run with in the morning. After the early run, we plan to go on a hike around the city to see the sites. With camera in tow, the shots will be something to talk about. I should sometime get those darn pics up into this blog, but it is too fun just writing and enjoying the trip. Maybe tomorrow I will break down and upload some pics. Now, the camera has 1400 photos. Oops. Maybe 50 decent ones, I hope.

Oh yeah, I have a cyclist, retired navy, miner, world traveler in the room. He is biking across the country and living the dream on bike. He is from Jacksonville, Fl and we have been chatting up a huge one. Cool guy. Must follow him on Facebook.

Almost forgot. I met some guys from the states and elsewhere in a ham radio club visiting the monastery. They are preparing for a large event on the air this weekend. I thought it was for ARRL field day, but this is the week after. They were all wearing their radio gear such as shirts and hats with logos. We had a little geek talk and split. They are really roughing it in Bulgaria staying at a golf and country club setting up their antennas. They seemed extremely wealthy and wanted to get going. Ok then. I talked a bit to the technical guy that sets up their antennas and he mentioned how crazy these dudes are. I guess you must be some sort of radio pimp when you can have people follow you around that just set up your antennas for you. News to me. I guess I did see the yacht with the helicopter on it in Istanbul. Maybe the same guys?

Goodnight.