Sofia and Koprivshtitsa

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009--Sofia (Continued)

I explored about 2 km (1.2 miles) in all directions from the center of town. The main streets are all cobblestone. The shops along the street do not have that successful look. Instead, they look like local shops that were probably there in communist times and remain today. Of course, they all have better stock than they would have had then. Back in those days, a store that sold cosmetics might have one type of each thing. And a supermarket back then would spread their merchandise out so that there would be one package of cookies every meter (yard) along the shelves to make it look "full." Today, at least, these shops just look out-of-date and look like the merchandise has been there for a while. But there is merchandise both in the the windows and on the shelves.

Speaking of supermarkets, it is a bit strange there in relation to elsewhere. There really are no true supermarkets. There are small shops that are called supermarkets, but they are like the stores the rest of the world had in the 1950s--small, much of the merchandise behind the counters, etc. I called the one place I mentioned in my previous post a supermarket, but it was really like a local convenience store. And it is the only modern version of that kind of store I have found in all my walking through Sofia.

There is also a shortage of cyber cafes in Sofia. I found only two in all my exploring. And they were both over-priced. One charged $2.50 per hour, and the other one charged a beginning fee of $1.00 plus $1.25 per hour. In the exploring I did away from the center, I never saw a "local" cyber cafe where the neighborhood children would go to play games. I didn't even see children. School is out for the summer, but I wonder where the children are? They certainly weren't on the streets or in the parks.

There were a group of Mormons at a park I crossed. About 8 of them were singing religious songs, and the other 3-4 were stopping people to talk to them. One stopped me and was surprised to find I was American and speaking American English. We visited for some time. He was a nice young man and was quite considerate in terms of explaining his beliefs and accepting that others may believe differently. As he talked and tried to explain his religious feelings, I could not help but think of Arne and what he used to say about the facial expressions of the people when we would watch celebrations in communist countries. This young man had that same look on his face that the North Koreans have or the former East Germans had when they would have festivals with singing, dancing, etc. It's a glow that seems to come from believing that they know it all and trust everything they have been taught. It always gives me the feeling of a person who has been put under a spell. I was considerate, however, with this young man. At the end, however, I left upset without having said so. Before leaving, I had said, "I'm Randell, by the way." When he didn't respond, I said, "And your name...?" His response was, "Elder Adams." I imagine it is Mormon policy that they use formal titles, but using the last name when someone older has introduced himself using his first name was a real turn-off for me. I walked away thinking that the distance he placed between us by calling himself Elder Adams rather than something like Elder Mike would have caused his sales pitch to have been lost on me even if I had been interested up to that point.

People here in Bulgaria have a different look to those I have been seeing in Greece, Albania and Macedonia. In the previous three countries, the majority of the people have a Mediterranean look--dark hair, heavy beards, dark skin, etc. Here, most of the people are of Slavic descent, I guess, because they look more fair. To be honest, I do not think they are as attractive.

Pizza is very popular here in Bulgaria. My guidebook talks about Bulgarian food, then it mentions "the other Bulgarian food--pizza." It is amazing how many places are selling pizza by the slice as a fast food. The slices are huge--from round pizzas that are maybe 3/4 of a meter (3/4 of a yard) in diameter. And there may be 2-3 outlets selling pizza within one block. All are not the same, however. It's obvious from looking at the crust and the toppings that some are of a better quality than others. They also have a range of price even though the sizes of the slices are the same everywhere.

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009--Sofia to Koprivshtitsa

The sky looked cloudy, but not dark, when I got up. I had already told the hotel that I might stay another night if it rained today. I decided to check out anyway, since it wasn't raining at the time. We had already had heavy rains during the night, so I was hoping that the front that came through had pushed far enough ahead for this to be the end of the bad weather. I went downstairs and checked out and walked to the bus station.

About 5 minutes after I arrived at the station, the rain started again. Thank goodness I left the hotel when I did. I had an hour to wait for the bus, but there was an overhang so that I could stay dry. I bought a sandwich (ham, cheese, grated carrots, and grated cabbage) at a shop and ate it as I waited and tried to keep dry.

The bus was only about 1/3 full. Maybe that's because of the rainy weather. Anyway, it left on time and the air conditioner worked. The rain continued, and it bothered me that the driver didn't use his windshield washers regularly. That seems to happen in many countries (including India especially). Are they "saving" the wipers? Also the driver talked on his cell phone about 3/4 of the trip. Thankfully, we arrived safely and on time 2 1/2 hours later. During the trip, I visited with Michelle and Pierre, a French couple making the same trip. Pierre loaned me their French guidebook to see the photos of some of the places where I will be going later this month. While I had it, I copied some information about hotels from the cities I will visit.

Although the rain ended just before we arrived in Koprivshtitsa, there was enough water on the cobblestone roads to cause my sandals to get wet and squishy. I hate that. What made it worse, however, is that everywhere I have been has been so dusty lately that dust had settled into the soft fabric base of the sandals. By the time I found a room and got settled in it, my feet and sandals were muddy from the combination of the water and the dust that formed mud that squished out with each step. I washed the sandals under running water, then I used soap and water on my feet.

The tourist office was locked when we arrived. Maybe the lady who runs it was on lunch break, since the time was 12:30. Anyway, I needed a room and had expected her to put me in touch with someone. I went to a nearby shopkeeper. She didn't understand English, but I made the motions of using my hands as a pillow and laying my head on them. She understood. She motioned for me to follow her. She took me to another stand where there was a man. Apparently he did not have anything, but he took me next door to a woman. She motioned for me to follow her. We walked down the street and then up a cobblestone street--FAR up a cobblestone street. I had to carry my bag, because the road was too rough for it it to roll. She took me inside a gate, then inside a house and upstairs. At the end of the hall was a clean, large room with a balcony, a private bath, and cable TV. The price was only $13 per night including breakfast! Although she didn't speak English, I understood that two of the other rooms were occupied by a Spaniard and a Frenchman.

Koprivshtitsa is a very nice small town known for its old wooden-gated courtyards and homes of wood and plaster inside. There are over 400 homes that are from the middle 1800s. Six of them are museum homes that tourists visit. But so many others are just like them that it is possible to roam the streets and see fantastic home after fantastic home.

The sun was out in the early afternoon, so it made it easy to start exploring. I bought a joint ticket for visiting all the home museums and saw two of them and decided to save the others for visiting tomorrow. Then I wandered the streets and the hillsides for the rest of the afternoon just exploring on my own. There is a large statue of a warrior on top of one of the hills. All the homes that are not museums are so nice that I took photo after photo of homes both from the outside and looking through the gates into their courtyards.

As I went through the central area of town, I noticed the tourist office had opened. I went there to ask about internet services in town. Apparently there is nothing other than one slow computer there at the tourist office which can be used. I used it only to get into my e-mail to see about a reservation request I had sent for a room at my next stop. They had availability, so I wrote a quick e-mail confirming that I would be there on Friday.

Rains returned at 16:30. Fortunately, I was back in my room before it got too heavy. I stayed there and watched CNN. By 18:30, the rains had stopped again, so I went out looking for food. The lady at the tourist office had told me there is a bazaar with supermarkets down the street past the bus station. I went there only to find out that their supermarkets are the same as in Sofia--small shops with food on display behind a counter. There were others there, and I became frustrated with trying to see and to get service. I left and went to a nearby pizza restaurant. There were only 3 slices of pizza left. I bought two of them and ate them there at the restaurant.

Bruno, the Frenchman staying in the same house, knocked on my door when he returned from his hike in the mountains. We had met earlier in the day when he returned briefly while I was there. We sat and visited about 2 hours. He has returned to university to get certified as a science teacher. He has a science degree, but has lost his job he had. So now he is taking the science education courses. He's already working in the schools, but they won't let him be a teacher until he completes his studies. He showed me photos he has taken at some of the places I plan to visit in the next few days. It was a nice visit, and the timing was perfect. Lightning had cut off the cable service for the night just about 15 minutes before he arrived at the door.

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009--Koprivshtitsa

The breakfast that comes with the room was nice. It started with a bowl of fresh, homemade yogurt. Then I was served coffee, tea, two pieces of cheese toast (one with just a slice of tomato on top and the other with a slice of tomato and slices of salami on top), two slices of brioche, and a slice of cake. Too bad I have to leave too early tomorrow to have the breakfast!

Although it rained off and on during the night, it was dry today with the sky sometimes cloudy and sometimes partly sunny. I saw the rest of the house museums that I had not visited yesterday. All are interesting homes. People here were quite rich in the 1800s. Also, this was a hotbed of revolutionary activity against the Ottoman rule that existed then. I was able to get some interesting photos of the interiors of the homes with their ornate wooden ceilings, their colorful woven fabrics covering the floors and the sofas, their assortment of pots and pans for cooking, their fancy lacework, etc. (This computer will not let me open a second window to do searches for images, so if you readers want to see them, do a search yourself today.)

For lunch, I just snacked on peanuts I had and two apples that Bruno had left for me. After resting a while and reading, I went back out to hike in the hills. There are wonderful views across the valley without going too far out of town. And it was a nice day to climb the hills, since the air was cool and fresh rather than hot as it has been recently. In fact, I wore my pullover all day--the first time I have used it since being in Canada in May.

I considered eating in a restaurant tonight. The first place I stopped, however, did not intrigue me. Their prices seemed high, and their selections were not exciting. Bulgarians eat lots of organs and offal. Every main dish on the menu consisted of things such as liver, heart, kidneys, intestines, etc., cooked in a sauce. I reviewed the soups, and they were limited to similar meet ingredients except for one that was a cold soup of yogurt, dill, and cucumbers. The only other choices on the menu involved eggs. That didn't appeal to me either. Therefore, I returned to one of the grocery stores and just happened to be there when it wasn't crowded. I bought a salami, some Italian-flavored bagel chips, some plum honey cakes dipped in chocolate, and one liter of beer. I took all of that back to my room and had a picnic there.

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009--Koprivshtitsa to Plovdiv

The only bus from Koprivshtitsa to Plovdiv leaves at 6:30 each morning. Yuck! I set my alarm last night for 5:40, but I found myself awake at 5:25 and decided not to delay getting up. I was out of my room and at the bus station at 6:05, the first passenger. Within a few minutes, others started arriving. By the time the bus came, there were 11 local people and 9 tourists. It was the same cell phone-talking driver and bus that I had taken coming here two days ago!!

We went to small villages on back roads. Sometimes, the roads were in quite bad shape. It was not an easy trip, but we were in Plovdiv at 8:45. Unfortunately, the rain started again just as we arrived. I stood under an overhang for a while, then I just gave up and took out my umbrella. I knew that I had about 2 km (1.2 miles) to walk, but I didn't want to wait longer.

I had to ask directions once, since the bus station was off the map I had. The route I took was as direct as I could have taken, fortunately. Furthermore, it took me through town on the pedestrian street which made walking with my luggage much easier than going block-to-block with traffic lights.

When I arrived at the office I had contacted about housing, no one was there. The light was on, and I could see soap suds in a bucket of water. Therefore, I knew that the person working had been there and had not been gone long. A woman saw me waiting and tried to call the woman who runs the office, but there was no answer. Within a few minutes, however, she walked in with a huge dog. Apparently, she had taken the dog for his morning walk.

She made a call, filled out the paperwork, and took my 20 Euros (about $30) for the two nights of housing. She pointed to a map she had, but I could not get her to show me directly on it where the room would be. Instead, she tried to extend my map off the edge to show me where to go. If I could just have looked a moment at her map with the spot marked where I needed to be, things would have gone much smoother, because it would have all been in my head. Instead, I had to ask 3 times for directions to the street. Eventually, I made it.

The apartment seems to be the home of a single man. At least there was no woman present when I arrived. He took me to my room, showed me where the bath and toilet are, and gave me keys. It's a nice, newly remodeled apartment. My room is big and seems comfortable. There is a fan if it gets warm, but so far it does not seem that I will need it. The bath and the toilet rooms are very clean and nice. I got another bargain!! And the location is not too far from the center of town. Now that I know where it is, it will be easy to get there and back anytime I want.

My sandals and feet were muddy again from the rainy weather, so I cleaned them before heading out. I returned to the center of town and asked about buses to my next stop. I will have to return to the bus station where I arrived which is fairly far away, but taking the bus will be much more convenient than taking the one train of the day which will not arrive there until the evening. I will spend today and tomorrow here, then I will take the bus out on Sunday morning.

I explored some of the old Roman ruins here in town--the forum and the theater. Both are near the pedestrian street. I stopped at a fast food place on a side street and had a roll that is similar to a pizza--a long strip of dough rolled over with a filling of cheese, ham, and mushrooms. I'm tired from getting up early. So I will probably go back to my neighborhood, get something to drink, and relax for the rest of today. I have all day tomorrow to explore the old town and other parts of Plovdiv.

Spending Updates: I never updated my spending from India. So here is information about it and about my travels up to now here in the Balkans. I spent $247.94 over 13 days in India for an average of $19.23 per day. Since arriving in Eastern Europe, I have spent $947.48 over 21 days for an average of $45.12 per day. I've now spent $3,457.18 over 87 days since leaving Texas for an average of $39.51 per day.