Bulgaria 15/05 - 19/05

Sofia - Friday May 15

Today we wandered around Sofia taking pictures of all the nice buildings. That's really about all there is to do. We had found out that the Stanton Warriors were playing in Sofia that night so we were keen to head out as there wasn't much else on. We got to the club quite early because we had nothing better to do so we were amongst the first 10 or so people to arrive. Our first impression was WOW. We entered on the top floor where 2 of the walls had floor to ceiling graphic equalizer bars with each bar around 30-50cm wide. They bounced with the music and were coloured the same as all the rest of the club's lighting, which changed colours frequently, so the whole club would be red, then blue then purple etc.
It didn't stay empty for very long though and the club filled to near capacity. The dancefloor was down stairs as after downing a few Becks beers that cost 3 Leva (about $3 Au) we hit the dancefloor. We spent the whole night dancing and it was a great atmosphere, very fun party vibe. We had to leave at about 4.30am though as we had a 7am train to move on to Varna on the Black Sea coast.

Train to Varna - Saturday May 16

We boarded the train in the morning which took about 8 hours to get to Varna. Along the way we got to see more of Bulgaria. There were a lot of poor people, the houses were all run down. Most of the roofs of the houses looked like the frames had been wet at some point as they were all warped and buckled. People still lived in them though they looked like they could collapse at any day. There were lots of abandoned buildings too, and some that looked like they may have been bombed.

We arrived in Varna and went to a hostel called The Flag. It was the first time we had tried just rocking up to a hostel without a booking. As it happened, it was unusually full so rather than get a dorm room in the main hostel we were moved to an apartment style room with 4 beds and that is closer to the beach. We had to pay more, around 12 Euros but we don't have to share the bathroom with as many people so it's been good. The Flag is known as a bit of a party hostel but we were never prepared for how much.

The owner of the hostel is a British guy called Dave. He is a rather eccentric guy, and a lot of fun. We were informed that every night at 7pm he provided the backpackers with free beer in the common room, which is fairly small so it filled up fast. We had been told there weren't many good clubs around as the peak season has not hit yet, a lot of places are only just opening for the year now. So we had a feed and headed to the main hostel building to have beer and meet some fellow travelers. It was here that we met Elysabeth, Liz, Olly and Chris who are all from England, Rita and Natalia from the Ukraine, 4 Germans and 3 crazy French guys. We drank with these guys late into the night, and once the free beer had finished there was a 24 hour bottle-o across the road from the hostel. It was also here we discovered that breakfast was included in our room, but that breakfast consisted of toast and then straight vodka through a funnel. We were looking forward to breakfast.

Varna - Sunday May 17

We met 2 new people today, Jenny and Dave who are a couple of Aussies living in England. They were sharing the 4 bed room with us. We had slept past breakfast unfortunately but we decided today was beach day for us. We headed down to the beach with Olly, Chris, Dave, Jenny and a guy called Aaron who we met at the beach. We sat in the sun drinking beer out of 2 litre plastic bottles which seem to be the norm in Bulgaria. After that we ate at a restaurant on the beach where Steve, Dave and Olly all ordered a dish called Sprats, which were little fish that had been battered. After about 5 they got really over them, and they were competing to see who could eat the most. They all felt so yuk afterwards, Olly was the only one to finish his meal. We made heaps of Sprat jokes for a while before heading back to the hostel for free beer. We drank late into the night again, and played card games. Olly, Chris and I were still up at 8am so we headed to bed to catch some sleep before bungy jumping. We had been roped into it during the course of the night.

Varna - Monday May 18

I arrived back to our room around 8.30 and 4 steps into the door Steve's alarm went off for bungy jumping. I had a 20 minute power nap before heading back to the hostel to get the guys and head off. They slept a few more hours than me and we couldn't get in to jump until 5.30, so we sat around chatting to people and drinking until then. We had picked up beer on the way back to the hostel and so I had my first Flag breakfast - a beer bong. Not quite the same as straight vodka but my 500ml beer disappeared in one go. A Canadian guy rocked up to check in to the hostel and we roped him into joining us jumping. Dave the owner of the hostel walked us to the jump site. It was around a half hour walk and it was a busy traffic bridge not dissimilar to the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne. It was a decent drop so we were all a little nervous. Olly is petrified of heights and he was going first. Once he stood up on the side of the bridge he was visibly shaking. Everyone cheered him on and when he jumped the cheering got louder and everyone clapped. Once he was pulled back up again we all cheered him again - everyone cheered everyone else before and after jumping so it was a really cool feeling. Australian Dave jumped after Olly, then Natalia, then Steve. I videoed Steve so check out his facebook album! Chris went before me and Rita after me and the new recruit - Simon from Canada went last. Jenny, Liz and Elysabeth came and watched so there was a decent crowd of us there. The jump itself was over so quickly, it was really cool though. It felt so weird bouncing around again after, and I nearly bounced high enough to touch the bridge again - within a metre or so! We all left the jump site exhilarated, and freezing - it was cold and windy on the bridge. It was a long walk and so we were keen for beers when we got back - just in time for the start of free beers at the hostel. I had a couple and crashed for about another 20 minutes in Olly's bed before rejoining the crew. It was Rita's birthday so hostel Dave had arranged a mini celebration for her. We had chocolate ice cream cake and sang to her. Olly and Chris were awarded a free bottle of vodka for being the longest staying guests at the hostel this year - they were here for a week. Steve, Simon, Olly, Chris, Aaron and Simon all polished off the bottle of vodka via the funnel in around 5 minutes, so the night was off to a wild start. This ended up being our biggest party night probably on our whole trip, we had an absolute blast with the English guys, Jenny, Dave and Simon and the girls from the Ukraine. We played lots of card games including a crazy drunken higher or lower game and partied most of the night. The hostel is situated in a housing complex for deaf people, the hostal had been moved there deliberately as there is always so much noise. Tonight was certainly no exception. The Flag is definitely NOT the place to stay if you want to sleep. We regrettably left the hostel in the wee hours as we had a train booked to move on to Romania at 8.50 in the morning, so we said our goodbyes, swapped email addresses and headed off.

Varna - Tuesday May 19

Steve's alarm didn't go off, so when Jenny woke us at 9am to ask what time our train was there was some swearing. Steve wasn't in very good shape and wanted to sleep more so I headed to the hostel to pay another night. Everyone was surprised to see me again for obvious reasons. Olly and Chris are leaving to head to Bucharest - Romania today too but on the 5.30pm train via Ruse for a night. We may catch them in Bucharest but we have a couch surf lined up so we'll see. We rebooked for tomorrow morning and we just had to repay the reservation fee not the fare as the tickets are valid for 2 months so that was lucky.

We are aiming to spend at least 2 weeks in Germany, but we are set back a few days now in Varna. We still want to do Romania, Serbia, Hungry and the Czech Republic before then, and we fly out of Berlin to the UK on the 10th of June. We only have couple of weeks to do all those countries so I think this month will feel very rushed. Once we hit Germany we can chill a bit more, Varna has been so much fun though so I'm happy to have been here longer. I could do with a recovery day today though as I only had 40 minutes sleep in the few days before.

Ruth