Lost in life and in Eastern Europe: The last days of action

Sofia 22–25.7.2012

The train stations had the same problem as the streets, there weren't that many name labels to mark the destinations or platforms. So we took the wrong train to Sofia and ended up paying extra 4 levas in the train. The good thing was that the train we jumped in went to Sofia as well, so it wasn’t that bad.

In Sofia we went to a hostel for one night, because we had agreed to go couch surfing only from Monday till Wednesday. We found a hostel quite easily and since we had nothing planned for the evening, we went to eat sushi and took a free guided tour. We realized how much history you can see in Sofia. We both really liked the city, it’s not too big, it’s cosy.

Next day we had planned to meet Piritta’s Erasmus friends, Lora and Jamie. With them we went up to a mountain, to a lake. We hoped it would have been cooler up there, but it really wasn’t. We had good time and we rented this boat and had a picnic in the middle of the lake. The sun was shining and the water was sparkling. Beautiful.

Later we met Eli, another Erasmus friend of mine, and they helped us to find our couch surfing host. I think we wouldn't have made it without our friends! We are extremely talented in getting lost in Bulgaria. Yes, with or without a map, day time or in the evening, whether the way was just one kilometer or 5 kilometers. Always.

We ended up having a beer in a park. There was a lot of people hanging out. On the way to the park we crossed the lover’s bridge where there was a small exhibition of pictures of different Bulgarian traditions. For example pictures of weddings, horse raise, New Year and Easter. Did you know that in the winter priest throws this wooden cross in an icy lake and then men try to catch it? The one who catches it will have a good health for that year. On the way we also saw dance performances of Folklore festivals.

Tuesday was our last day. We couldn't really comprehend that. We spent the day again with Lora and Jamie visiting huge cathedral and a vegetable market. We also bought some souvenirs and really wanted to go visit a Foreign Art Gallery but it of course was closed on Tuesdays. Instead we visited another Sofia’s art gallery. We also went to the Russian church. There you were able to make a wish by writing it down and putting it into this wooden box. This tradition dates way back, and it's believed that the saint will make the wishes come true. We of course made some wishes there.

Around six we met Eli again and went to another huge park where Eli and Jamie wanted to attend class of Brazilian martial art. It was kind of mixture of fighting, dance and music. Me, Minna and Lora felt a bit tired so we were content just to watch others doing the sport. And I was also wearing a miniskirt so it wouldn’t have been so easy to do sports anyway.

It was already dark (around nine-ten) when we left home to pack our stuff. Since none of us really knew the park, the teacher of the Brazilian martial art guided us. For sake of our last day we took a snaps of rakia (this Balkan booze made of grapes) at our host’s place when we finally got there.

Then the morning of departure came. We walked to the center with our bags and met Lora on a bus stop. On the way there we had again a dog leading us to the right direction, weird. We found Lora and took a bus to the airport, thinking that we'll save money by not taking a taxi. Well the plan kind of back fired, because we ended up getting fines for our big back bags. Apparently you are not allowed to take big luggage in the bus without buying an extra ticket for the bag itself. We didn't know that, so we had to pay 10€ each. So much for saving money. The flights however went fine, we had no problems and got to Finland safely.