Friday, Aug. 7, 2009--Plovdiv (Continued)
Plovdiv is an interesting town. The guidebook says that Bulgarians love it. I can see why. It is a city, but it is small enough to get around easily. It seems much more progressive (economically advantaged) than Sofia. It has more of a feel of the Mediterranean nations maybe because it is closer to them by being in the southern part of Bulgaria. It has a combination of modern city, old ruins from Roman times, and a nice old town from the 1800s. There are many parks. And there is a good tourist office with free maps and reliable information. I'm enjoying it better than I did Sofia.
Another advantage of this city is that the cyber cafe (the only one I have found so far) does not try to rob users the way the two in Sofia did. Here, I am paying only 73 cents U.S. for an hour. That's about 1/3 of the cost in Sofia.
When I returned to the apartment after my outing, there was a woman present. She introduced herself. Her name is the name on the buzzer downstairs and is the name I was given by the rental agency. She speaks little English, so I am not certain of her response when I asked if Donny, the man from the morning, is her husband. She mentioned the word "husband," but she also said, "another apartment" while pointing downward. I am not sure if they are married and kept both apartments so they could rent out rooms in the one where I am or if they are lovers and she rents out both her bedrooms and stays down in his apartment. Anyway, both of them are nice, and I feel welcome in the apartment.
The tourist office let me know that there is a large supermarket near where I am staying. In fact, it is only 1 1/2 blocks away. I stopped by there to get some supplies after my touring for the day was finished. I still had half of my salami from the night before, so I bought a bottle of wine, some more baked bagels, and a bag of small chocolate cakes dipped in chocolate and chunks of sugared orange peel. That served as my dinner at the room. I just stayed inside and ate and read. The wine, by the way, is from Melnik, a town I wanted to visit. Unforunately, Melnik is in a poor location and has very few transporation links; therefore, it is not an easy town to visit. I wanted to go there because the town is known for its local wine growers. They sell their wine directly from the casks by filling their customer's plastic bottles. It's not fine wine, but it is known to be good and has the reputation for not causing hangovers. The bottle I bought did not name a grape; it just said, "Melnik 2006." It was less than $3 U.S. for the bottle, but it tasted fine, especially with salami and bagel chips. I only drank half of the bottle, so I barely got a buzz; however, I can truly say that I did not get a hangover from it either!
Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009--Plovdiv
It rained again last night. It was accompanied by lightning and thunder. But I was comfortably inside and didn't worry about it. This morning, there were clouds and until about 10:30 a little bit of mist. But there has been no rain today and the sun has found its way through the clouds off and on.
I had saved Old Town for visiting today. It's on top of a hill, and I was too tired from getting up so early yesterday to try to attempt it. But I also knew I would be here all day today and would need some special things to see and do. It's a nice part of town. It is the urban version of what I saw in Koprivshtitsa. In Koprivshtitsa, they are rural farm houses of the wealthy of the mid-1800s. Here, they are townhouses of the wealthy of the mid-1800s. The look and the decor are similar, although the houses here tend to be bigger in general. Also, the houses here are more likely to face the street rather than being behind walls with gates.
I met two nice men from Greece while wandering through Old Town. They were taking photos of each other in front of one of the houses, so I offered to take a photo of the two of them together. We stood and visited for a while afterwards. They are from northern Greece and have just come here for a weekend trip. They plan to drive up to Koprivshtitsa also. I encouraged them to go as soon as possible, since the festival with music and dance is taking place there this weekend. I'm sorry that I had already seen the town and needed to move on, because it would have been nice and interesting to have been there for the events.
The local art museum is in one of the big building in Old Town. I visited it. (I was the ONLY visitor while I was there.) It had very nice work on display--esentially only paintings and sculptures. I enjoyed it and was especially happy that a number of the painters are local residents, but I didn't see anything that made me think it was different and unique.
I bought a delicious sandwich for my lunch. The lady made it to order starting with a nice long heavy bun covered in various seeds (8 inches or 20 cm long). She put cheese and pork inside, then she grilled it. Afterwards, she added tomatoes, lettuce, and mayonnaise. I walked across the street to a park to eat it.
I have wandered the rest of today trying to see places that sounded interesting in my guide or looked interesting on the map. I went by the local market and walked through. The town has several hills, so I walked to the top of the tallest one called Jendem Tepe where there is the large Liberation Statue that can be seen from most of the city. From there, I headed to the university as marked on the map. Actually, there are several buildings scattered around the nearby blocks in addition to the one block the map identified as the university. Since school is out for the summer, it was a quiet area.
I was so thirsty by then that I returned to my room to finish the second half of a 2 liter bottle of diet cola that I had bought yesterday. My landlady was cooking something with eggplant, meat, and peppers. It smelled so good! How I would love to have a plate of it for my dinner! Her "husband" arrived and said hello to me. It was obvious that he would have liked to have visited, but there is the language problem. He was apologetic about it, but I reminded him that I do not speak Bulgarian!
I've brought my book with me on my current outing. I plan to sit in a park and read until time to buy something for dinner. I may buy two slices of pizza to take to the room to have with the rest of my wine. Or I may go back to the supermarket and buy some things there to take to the room. None of it will be as nice as the smell of what the landlady was cooking!!
Tomorrow, I will be up early to take a bus. Because it is Sunday and the tourist office that rents local rooms in apartments will not be open, I've decided to go to a small town outside of Velika Tarnovo where my next stop should be. I can see the small town tomorrow afternoon and then go into VT on Monday when there should be no problem getting a local room. I only have a few more days here in Bulgaria, then I will be moving into Romania and later into Moldova.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Bulgaria
Monday, Aug. 3, 2009--Skopje to Sofia
What a horrible night. First, it was so hot that I tossed and turned unable to get comfortable. At the same time, I was so tense worrying about the noise that the crowd would be making as they returned to the hostel after a night of drinking and partying would be a problem. I slept eventually, but I am tired today. Therefore, I know that I didn't sleep well. Fortunately, the returning group was quiet (or at least with my ear plugs they were quiet enough that they did not disturb me).
Last night, I spent a long time visiting with Lionel, a 30-year-old Frenchman staying at the hostel. He is more mature than the others here and had no plans to go partying. I bought a watermelon, and he and the lady running the hostel and I enjoyed it on the patio while visiting. Lionel is a former actor who is currently involved in construction of homes (plastering and painting) in a rural area outside Lyon. He said he just needed a change of pace for a while. Eventually, he said he would like to be able to buy one of the old French farm houses and adapt it to be a theater for experimental works. We had been eying and smiling at each other in passing since arriving at the hostel, and with our visit really seemed to bond. He told me of another traveler he met one year from Austin and the fact that the two of them had also had that form of instant rapport.
Therefore, this morning, Lionel and I were both up around 6:30 to have breakfast before going to the bus station. He had not slept well either due to the heat. But he has a bright and cheerful attitude about life, so it was fun to have his company as we whispered over breakfast (toast, feta cheese, tomatoes, jam, and granola cereal with milk) and then walked to the station together.
Lionel's bus was scheduled for 10:00, while mine was for 8:30. But there was another bus leaving for his destination at 8:00. He asked inside about changing his ticket, and they told him there would be a fee. I encouraged him to ask the driver if he could just take the earlier bus. When he did, there was no problem. Therefore, I waved goodbye to him as his bus pulled out and then went to the platform nearby to board my bus.
A pleasant surprise was that an Australian couple, Sean and Louise--a young man and a woman who are living in London and teaching there temporaril--whom I had met in my travels a week or so ago, were also on the bus and heading to Sofia. Our seats were just across the aisle from each other. Therefore, I had another nice visit while making the trip. In fact, they split up for comfort (since the bus was only about 1/3 full), and I visited with each of them separately for about an hour each asking them about their teaching jobs (not great, since they teach lower-class and often immigrant children who have little interest in learning), their travels (which have been extensive while on holidays from school), etc. Also on the bus were an American man and two Dutch men who had been staying at my hostel.
The bus trip went smoother than the others I have had recently. First, the air conditioning worked! It was so nice and comfortable. And second, crossing the border went very smoothly. That's partially due to the fact that only 1/3 of the bus was full and meant there were fewer passports to process. We made it to Sofia in a little under the 5 hours that the trip was scheduled to be.
It was very obvious that we had crossed a border. Immediately, there was a different look to the buildings. Bulgaria is obviously poorer than either Macedonia or Albania (which was a bit of a surprise to me). The exteriors of the houses are in quite bad shape with crumbling plaster and often lacking in paint. Roofs, for some reason, do not have strong enough framework to support the tiles, and tend to have a wavy look where the tiles have weighted down their support. The countryside was different, too, with the hills looking more green and having more forest on them.
I had planned to rent a room in a private home. Most former Communist countries have many elderly people who cannot live off their small pensions, so they rent out a room to have extra money. My guidebook had given the address of an agency which coordinated these and had photos to see of the rooms available. I've often gone to such agencies in other cities and wrote just today to one in a city I will be visiting later this week. Unfortunately, when I got to the site where the agency should have been located, there was an empty lot that was boarded up. My guidebook is about 3 years old, and the grounds look as if they have been like they are at least that long. I, therefore, had to pull out my guidebook and see what else was near. Under the hotels listed in the "mid-range" pricewise, was the Hotel Iskar only one block away. I went there, and they had a single room available--clean, bright, well furnished, nice bed and linens, nice clean bath, cable TV., etc. All it lacks is a fan or a/c, unfortunately. Anyway, I splurged and am staying there for $36.50 per night. What a difference it is from the environment of the hostel!
Although tired from lack of sleep last night, I forced myself to go out exploring some. My hotel is really right in the center of town. Just two blocks away is the TsUM Market which was one of the two major shopping buildings in town in communist times. Today, it feels like a market building but is filled with a combination of market stalls and small individually-owned shops. Two more blocks from there is the TsUM Central Department Store, the big department store from old days which is now filled with exclusive international shops. I walked south of town into what is currently the main shopping/entertainment area of the city. Here in the center and south of the center, the city looks nice. Buildings are in good condition, and life looks successful for people. But most of Sofia does not look that way. North of where my hotel is, the shops and the shoppers look poor, the buildings are shabby, etc.
While out, I passed a small supermarket, so I went inside. I bought a bottle of mavrud wine (a Bulgarian special grape), slices of ham, cheese, sesame seed buns, cookies, and water. I took those back to my hotel for dinner, since I didn't want to go to a restaurant.
I enjoyed the pleasure of watching BBC and CNN for about 2 hours. Then I went to bed for the evening. Although my room is nice, it was still warm. Wish they believed in fans in this part of the world!
Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009--Sofia
I slept well and long last night. It continued to be warm, however, until maybe 2:00 or so. Then the air finally became cool and I needed use use my cover sheet.
Before leaving the room, I finished the other half of the ham, cheese, and bread that I did not eat last night and watched the news again. There seems to be a front headed our way. The good news is that it should help lower the temperatures. The bad news is that there will be rain associated with it. During the almost 3 months I have been traveling, I have not had rain interfere for a single day! It either rained at night when I was in my room, or at a time of the day when I was not out. I remember using my umbrella only once for a few sprinkles. I hope there won't be days of rain when this front passes.
There are some really majestic and beautiful buildings in the center of Sofia. I wandered with my camera this morning. Just a block from my hotel is a nice mosque and a building that used to house a baths that is ornate looking. All the government buildings are impressive, and there are many of them. In addition, there are many wonderful churches here.
Two interesting things about Sofia are the areas for drinking water and the basement shops. All over Sofia are springs that have been developed to feed multiple spouts for the public to come and fill their water bottles with water to drink. Just two blocks from my hotel is one where people are filling water bottles from at least 15 spouts that run constantly. The basement shops are something that developed in communist days apparently. People opened the window down at sidewalk level that let light into their basement and started selling products out of them. Therefore, along some streets in town even today, you can see people on the sidewalk bending over and negotiating a purchase through a small window down by their feet--for cigarettes, for instance.
Speaking of cigarettes, it is amazing how much smoke their is everywhere. My guidebook explains it by saying the only people in Bulgaria who don't smoke are those who are waiting until they are old enough to do so!
What a horrible night. First, it was so hot that I tossed and turned unable to get comfortable. At the same time, I was so tense worrying about the noise that the crowd would be making as they returned to the hostel after a night of drinking and partying would be a problem. I slept eventually, but I am tired today. Therefore, I know that I didn't sleep well. Fortunately, the returning group was quiet (or at least with my ear plugs they were quiet enough that they did not disturb me).
Last night, I spent a long time visiting with Lionel, a 30-year-old Frenchman staying at the hostel. He is more mature than the others here and had no plans to go partying. I bought a watermelon, and he and the lady running the hostel and I enjoyed it on the patio while visiting. Lionel is a former actor who is currently involved in construction of homes (plastering and painting) in a rural area outside Lyon. He said he just needed a change of pace for a while. Eventually, he said he would like to be able to buy one of the old French farm houses and adapt it to be a theater for experimental works. We had been eying and smiling at each other in passing since arriving at the hostel, and with our visit really seemed to bond. He told me of another traveler he met one year from Austin and the fact that the two of them had also had that form of instant rapport.
Therefore, this morning, Lionel and I were both up around 6:30 to have breakfast before going to the bus station. He had not slept well either due to the heat. But he has a bright and cheerful attitude about life, so it was fun to have his company as we whispered over breakfast (toast, feta cheese, tomatoes, jam, and granola cereal with milk) and then walked to the station together.
Lionel's bus was scheduled for 10:00, while mine was for 8:30. But there was another bus leaving for his destination at 8:00. He asked inside about changing his ticket, and they told him there would be a fee. I encouraged him to ask the driver if he could just take the earlier bus. When he did, there was no problem. Therefore, I waved goodbye to him as his bus pulled out and then went to the platform nearby to board my bus.
A pleasant surprise was that an Australian couple, Sean and Louise--a young man and a woman who are living in London and teaching there temporaril--whom I had met in my travels a week or so ago, were also on the bus and heading to Sofia. Our seats were just across the aisle from each other. Therefore, I had another nice visit while making the trip. In fact, they split up for comfort (since the bus was only about 1/3 full), and I visited with each of them separately for about an hour each asking them about their teaching jobs (not great, since they teach lower-class and often immigrant children who have little interest in learning), their travels (which have been extensive while on holidays from school), etc. Also on the bus were an American man and two Dutch men who had been staying at my hostel.
The bus trip went smoother than the others I have had recently. First, the air conditioning worked! It was so nice and comfortable. And second, crossing the border went very smoothly. That's partially due to the fact that only 1/3 of the bus was full and meant there were fewer passports to process. We made it to Sofia in a little under the 5 hours that the trip was scheduled to be.
It was very obvious that we had crossed a border. Immediately, there was a different look to the buildings. Bulgaria is obviously poorer than either Macedonia or Albania (which was a bit of a surprise to me). The exteriors of the houses are in quite bad shape with crumbling plaster and often lacking in paint. Roofs, for some reason, do not have strong enough framework to support the tiles, and tend to have a wavy look where the tiles have weighted down their support. The countryside was different, too, with the hills looking more green and having more forest on them.
I had planned to rent a room in a private home. Most former Communist countries have many elderly people who cannot live off their small pensions, so they rent out a room to have extra money. My guidebook had given the address of an agency which coordinated these and had photos to see of the rooms available. I've often gone to such agencies in other cities and wrote just today to one in a city I will be visiting later this week. Unfortunately, when I got to the site where the agency should have been located, there was an empty lot that was boarded up. My guidebook is about 3 years old, and the grounds look as if they have been like they are at least that long. I, therefore, had to pull out my guidebook and see what else was near. Under the hotels listed in the "mid-range" pricewise, was the Hotel Iskar only one block away. I went there, and they had a single room available--clean, bright, well furnished, nice bed and linens, nice clean bath, cable TV., etc. All it lacks is a fan or a/c, unfortunately. Anyway, I splurged and am staying there for $36.50 per night. What a difference it is from the environment of the hostel!
Although tired from lack of sleep last night, I forced myself to go out exploring some. My hotel is really right in the center of town. Just two blocks away is the TsUM Market which was one of the two major shopping buildings in town in communist times. Today, it feels like a market building but is filled with a combination of market stalls and small individually-owned shops. Two more blocks from there is the TsUM Central Department Store, the big department store from old days which is now filled with exclusive international shops. I walked south of town into what is currently the main shopping/entertainment area of the city. Here in the center and south of the center, the city looks nice. Buildings are in good condition, and life looks successful for people. But most of Sofia does not look that way. North of where my hotel is, the shops and the shoppers look poor, the buildings are shabby, etc.
While out, I passed a small supermarket, so I went inside. I bought a bottle of mavrud wine (a Bulgarian special grape), slices of ham, cheese, sesame seed buns, cookies, and water. I took those back to my hotel for dinner, since I didn't want to go to a restaurant.
I enjoyed the pleasure of watching BBC and CNN for about 2 hours. Then I went to bed for the evening. Although my room is nice, it was still warm. Wish they believed in fans in this part of the world!
Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009--Sofia
I slept well and long last night. It continued to be warm, however, until maybe 2:00 or so. Then the air finally became cool and I needed use use my cover sheet.
Before leaving the room, I finished the other half of the ham, cheese, and bread that I did not eat last night and watched the news again. There seems to be a front headed our way. The good news is that it should help lower the temperatures. The bad news is that there will be rain associated with it. During the almost 3 months I have been traveling, I have not had rain interfere for a single day! It either rained at night when I was in my room, or at a time of the day when I was not out. I remember using my umbrella only once for a few sprinkles. I hope there won't be days of rain when this front passes.
There are some really majestic and beautiful buildings in the center of Sofia. I wandered with my camera this morning. Just a block from my hotel is a nice mosque and a building that used to house a baths that is ornate looking. All the government buildings are impressive, and there are many of them. In addition, there are many wonderful churches here.
Two interesting things about Sofia are the areas for drinking water and the basement shops. All over Sofia are springs that have been developed to feed multiple spouts for the public to come and fill their water bottles with water to drink. Just two blocks from my hotel is one where people are filling water bottles from at least 15 spouts that run constantly. The basement shops are something that developed in communist days apparently. People opened the window down at sidewalk level that let light into their basement and started selling products out of them. Therefore, along some streets in town even today, you can see people on the sidewalk bending over and negotiating a purchase through a small window down by their feet--for cigarettes, for instance.
Speaking of cigarettes, it is amazing how much smoke their is everywhere. My guidebook explains it by saying the only people in Bulgaria who don't smoke are those who are waiting until they are old enough to do so!
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Holiday in Macedonia
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2009--Skopje
Today is a holiday in Macedonia. Things are very quiet. It's one of the reasons why I decided to skip going to Bitola. They have a celebration today, so I knew that would make it even more difficult to get a room there.
Got up before all the young backpackers. They always go out partying until 3:00 or 4:00 each morning, so it is fairly easy to beat them up and get to the bathroom. After making my blog entry, I ate the breakfast provided--boiled eggs, toast, feta cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a bowl of granola with milk.
Unfortunately, the National Museum was closed today even though their poster shows that they keep holiday hours from 9:00-13:00. But both of the National Galleries [located in old Turkish bath houses] were open. Also the City Museum, which is located in the old train station building which was partially destroyed in the big earthquake of 1969, was open. So I explored town and stopped at those to see the exhibits. One of the art museums was more interesting than the other. The City Museum had a wonderful exhibit of old photos showing the damage done by the earthquake.
Although my guidebook talks about the crumbling train station, it is a new one since I was here about 30-35 years ago. Then, the train station was still in part of the remaining old station that was damaged in the earthquake. From memory, I was able to recall exactly where the old bus station was and the path I followed to get from it to the train station when I was here before. I confirmed I was right by asking someone working where I thought the old bus station had been. That's one reason I don't like to return to places where I have visited before; even after 30-35 years, I can still recall my memories of places.
The art gallery exhibits gave me more ideas for art I might create for my walls when I return home. I have never been very creative myself, especially when coming up with an idea from scratch. But I can take an idea from someone else and revise and adapt it into something else that comes to my mind. I am keeping track of ideas when I see things that inspire me so that when I get home I can decide which ones to try to use in my own endeavors.
Thank goodness for McDonalds. Although I had used the toilet before leaving the guesthouse, I found myself wanting to use it again while I was out. I hoped to do so at the National Art Gallery, but there was no toilet for the public there. Backtracking while thinking I might have to return all the way to my hostel, I eventually saw McDonalds. What a relief! It wasn't a problem of diarrhea; I just needed a toilet again because of all I have eaten lately.
By the way, McDonalds is the only U.S. franchise that I have seen here in Macedonia. And I did not see any franchises in Albania. My guess is that their prices would be too high in general for this area.
After finding relief at McDonalds, I was free to explore more. I went through the old muslim quarter of town, saw the Mother Teresa museum and statue [although Albanian, she grew up here in Skopje], and just wandered looking at the buildings. By 13:30, however, it was HOT and I returned to the hostel.
I find that the young people at the hostel try my patience. First, they don't do much in terms of exploring. Their main interest is the night life. But mainly what has bothered me most here is their use of the Internet. The hostel, unlike others where I have stayed before, does not have a time limit on use. The young people will sit at one of the two terminals for hours chatting online with friends from home. It does not bother them that someone else is waiting to use the computer.
Because I've done everything that I really wanted to do here that can be done [due to museums being closed tomorrow] and because I don't have much patience with the other guests here, I have bought a ticket to leave here for Sofia tomorrow. I will catch an 8:30 bus there, and it will take 6 hours. Rather than staying in a hostel, I plan to try to get a room in a private home.
On my way back from buying my ticket, I stopped at a local cafe and bought dinner--10 fingerling sausages with a big piece of bread and a large roasted pepper. It is a typical meal here and was good. But meat and bread are getting old!
Today is a holiday in Macedonia. Things are very quiet. It's one of the reasons why I decided to skip going to Bitola. They have a celebration today, so I knew that would make it even more difficult to get a room there.
Got up before all the young backpackers. They always go out partying until 3:00 or 4:00 each morning, so it is fairly easy to beat them up and get to the bathroom. After making my blog entry, I ate the breakfast provided--boiled eggs, toast, feta cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a bowl of granola with milk.
Unfortunately, the National Museum was closed today even though their poster shows that they keep holiday hours from 9:00-13:00. But both of the National Galleries [located in old Turkish bath houses] were open. Also the City Museum, which is located in the old train station building which was partially destroyed in the big earthquake of 1969, was open. So I explored town and stopped at those to see the exhibits. One of the art museums was more interesting than the other. The City Museum had a wonderful exhibit of old photos showing the damage done by the earthquake.
Although my guidebook talks about the crumbling train station, it is a new one since I was here about 30-35 years ago. Then, the train station was still in part of the remaining old station that was damaged in the earthquake. From memory, I was able to recall exactly where the old bus station was and the path I followed to get from it to the train station when I was here before. I confirmed I was right by asking someone working where I thought the old bus station had been. That's one reason I don't like to return to places where I have visited before; even after 30-35 years, I can still recall my memories of places.
The art gallery exhibits gave me more ideas for art I might create for my walls when I return home. I have never been very creative myself, especially when coming up with an idea from scratch. But I can take an idea from someone else and revise and adapt it into something else that comes to my mind. I am keeping track of ideas when I see things that inspire me so that when I get home I can decide which ones to try to use in my own endeavors.
Thank goodness for McDonalds. Although I had used the toilet before leaving the guesthouse, I found myself wanting to use it again while I was out. I hoped to do so at the National Art Gallery, but there was no toilet for the public there. Backtracking while thinking I might have to return all the way to my hostel, I eventually saw McDonalds. What a relief! It wasn't a problem of diarrhea; I just needed a toilet again because of all I have eaten lately.
By the way, McDonalds is the only U.S. franchise that I have seen here in Macedonia. And I did not see any franchises in Albania. My guess is that their prices would be too high in general for this area.
After finding relief at McDonalds, I was free to explore more. I went through the old muslim quarter of town, saw the Mother Teresa museum and statue [although Albanian, she grew up here in Skopje], and just wandered looking at the buildings. By 13:30, however, it was HOT and I returned to the hostel.
I find that the young people at the hostel try my patience. First, they don't do much in terms of exploring. Their main interest is the night life. But mainly what has bothered me most here is their use of the Internet. The hostel, unlike others where I have stayed before, does not have a time limit on use. The young people will sit at one of the two terminals for hours chatting online with friends from home. It does not bother them that someone else is waiting to use the computer.
Because I've done everything that I really wanted to do here that can be done [due to museums being closed tomorrow] and because I don't have much patience with the other guests here, I have bought a ticket to leave here for Sofia tomorrow. I will catch an 8:30 bus there, and it will take 6 hours. Rather than staying in a hostel, I plan to try to get a room in a private home.
On my way back from buying my ticket, I stopped at a local cafe and bought dinner--10 fingerling sausages with a big piece of bread and a large roasted pepper. It is a typical meal here and was good. But meat and bread are getting old!
Visiting Skopje
Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009 Ohrid to Skopje
I awoke wishing my bus was earlier. I had a choice of leaving at 7:00 which is too early or 10:45 which is too late. I chose the latter. There were probably buses between those two that were already sold out of tickets. The amount of tourism in Ohrid is unbelievable. A place like Corpus Christi would be in high heaven with that amount of tourism.
Walking to the bus station, I was behind three guys. One wore an interesting t-shirt:
I'm Muslim
Don't Panic
It would be nice if that attitutde were taken and expressed by many others.
The bus station was buzzing. Because it is the weekend, there is a big turnover in tourists. Hundreds are going home while hundreds more are arriving. Bus load after bus load keeps unloading and then loading again and leaving. Most tourists probably come here for a week or maybe for two weeks.
The bus was a tight fit! The space between seats was smaller than any bus I've been on lately. A young guy who is bigger than me sat beside me. We had to adjust our positions regularly and coordinate ourselves to fit. He would sit with his legs in the aisle and I would sit with mine leaning in his direction. Our knees pressed too hard against the seat in front of ourselves otherwise. Another way to sit was with our legs bending back and sideways under the seat.
My hostel room in Skopje is small compared to the room I had in Ohrid. There is not really room to open the suitcase on the floor, since the double bed takes up most of the room. I wish it had only a single bed in it so I had more room to move about. But it is a decent and a clean room. It has no fan which is beginning to be the norm here in eastern Europe from my experience, yet the temperatures are so high!! The room was hot during the daytime.
I didn't go into the center of town. Instead, I explored the neighborhood nearby. I went to two supermarkets, a small park, and just wandered in general. Tomorrow, I will be out seeing museums and exploring the city.
The hostel makes both breakfast and dinner. For dinner last night, we had potato carrot onion soup, a Macedonian dish. It was delicious. I ate 3 bowls of it, I think. I sat in the kitchen with 3 young guys from England and visited and ate with them. They are interesting guys. One is working on a degree in physical therapy, another is studying physical education, and the third is working in an optics shop while hoping to become a professional actor. They are traveling on a budget of about $35 per day each.
I awoke wishing my bus was earlier. I had a choice of leaving at 7:00 which is too early or 10:45 which is too late. I chose the latter. There were probably buses between those two that were already sold out of tickets. The amount of tourism in Ohrid is unbelievable. A place like Corpus Christi would be in high heaven with that amount of tourism.
Walking to the bus station, I was behind three guys. One wore an interesting t-shirt:
I'm Muslim
Don't Panic
It would be nice if that attitutde were taken and expressed by many others.
The bus station was buzzing. Because it is the weekend, there is a big turnover in tourists. Hundreds are going home while hundreds more are arriving. Bus load after bus load keeps unloading and then loading again and leaving. Most tourists probably come here for a week or maybe for two weeks.
The bus was a tight fit! The space between seats was smaller than any bus I've been on lately. A young guy who is bigger than me sat beside me. We had to adjust our positions regularly and coordinate ourselves to fit. He would sit with his legs in the aisle and I would sit with mine leaning in his direction. Our knees pressed too hard against the seat in front of ourselves otherwise. Another way to sit was with our legs bending back and sideways under the seat.
My hostel room in Skopje is small compared to the room I had in Ohrid. There is not really room to open the suitcase on the floor, since the double bed takes up most of the room. I wish it had only a single bed in it so I had more room to move about. But it is a decent and a clean room. It has no fan which is beginning to be the norm here in eastern Europe from my experience, yet the temperatures are so high!! The room was hot during the daytime.
I didn't go into the center of town. Instead, I explored the neighborhood nearby. I went to two supermarkets, a small park, and just wandered in general. Tomorrow, I will be out seeing museums and exploring the city.
The hostel makes both breakfast and dinner. For dinner last night, we had potato carrot onion soup, a Macedonian dish. It was delicious. I ate 3 bowls of it, I think. I sat in the kitchen with 3 young guys from England and visited and ate with them. They are interesting guys. One is working on a degree in physical therapy, another is studying physical education, and the third is working in an optics shop while hoping to become a professional actor. They are traveling on a budget of about $35 per day each.
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