Lost in life and in Eastern Europe: When things start to fall apart

Varna/Plovdiv 16–21.7.2012

The hostel’s staff came to the scene eventually and we got a dorm there. We were too tired to do anything that night, so we decided to head out the next night instead. When wondering in the streets looking for the hostel we had ran into this local girl Illy, who offered us her help and also invited us to hang out with her and her friends. So on Monday night we went out with them, it was so great :) They showed us around Varna and told so many stories regarding the city and generally about Bulgaria. After dark we went to see this amazing view near one lighthouse. From there you could see the coastline and the city, it was beautiful. We were going to see it from the lighthouse itself, but there was a storm coming, so we had to head back to the beach. The storm didn’t run into us, we could only see the lightnings in the horizon. So nothing like the ones in Austria, but the wind was however strong enough to throw several kilos of sand into our eyes.

After the tour we went to this bar on the beach to play some foosball. Or the others did, I suffered an annoying headache so I decided just to watch from aside. The evening was however great! It was so nice that Illy and her friends wanted to show us around the city. We liked it very much :) Thank you guys!

I and Piri aren’t really that fond of sunbathing or lying on the beach all day, but on Tuesday we made an exception. This was after all the first time that we had reached a sea during our trip (If you don’t count the time we left Helsinki). So Tuesday we booked tickets to a night train to take us to Plovdiv later that night, and then spent the day on the beach. Day was nice and the train trip wasn’t bad either, even though you couldn’t really sleep in there.

So we got to Plovdiv early on Wednesday morning. The first thing to do was to find a hostel again, surprise surprise. We found one, but there wasn’t anyone at the reception, so we left to find another place. And as if we hadn’t already gotten lost enough times, we got lost again. Frustrating. There are hardly any street labels on the streets, so even if you have a map or an address it doesn’t necessarily mean that you found your way to the right place. At least when it comes to us it certainly doesn’t. After asking some locals for help we got to the hostel and went to sleep.

The old town in Plovdiv is beautiful, and there aren’t as many tourists as on the coast. It’s very idyllic in a way, even though there has been quite much renovation done, and the main streets here have quite a modern look. You can still find some little boutiques and old buildings though. There are many historical sights here dating back for example to the Roman times. We went to see many sights; they are quite close together as the center is so small. We started to feel ourselves like real mass tourists already ;) But the truth is that because the place is quite small and we don’t know any locals here, there isn’t that much to do. That’s why sightseeing has been such a big thing here. And we went to see some museums too! I really liked the City Art Gallery we went to, the paintings were amazing. Mainly portraits made with oil on canvas, they were so good. Apparently Plovdiv has been known as the city of artists.

As I told already, there have been some boring moments too, as we ran out of things to do here. So let me introduce you Winston. He is another result of our creative minds. Greetings to Chuck Noland. You can see a picture of Winston among the other pics here.

So. This is our last day in Plovdiv. Maybe that’s a good thing ;D Tomorrow we head to Sofia, where we are going to stay three nights before going HOME :o It’s kind of creepy to even say that word :/ It means that the wonderful, joyful, amazing adventurous trip is about to be over... But let’s not think that yet. There is still time left, let’s make the best of it!

P.S. It seems that the trip has had quite negative effects on our stuff. My shoes and my bag broke, I’ve had to clue them back together several times and Piri is right now trying to repair her dress which broke too. Things are falling apart around us. Maybe that’s a sign to go home. Or just a sign to buy better quality stuff ;)