Sofia

I'm like a blind man that can see again- I have discovered Bulgaria!!! Turkey we heard was all kinds of average in terms of food, and pricing for food and drink; I really didn't appreciate that until we got into Sofia. The day we got into Sofia, we checked into our hostel around noon, then headed into town for a little sight seeing. On the way we stopped past a sleepy place called "1516" and sampled their drinks and food: OH MY GOD! It was like we had been restricted to leaf matter the past month or something! I ordered an entree of "Balls by Constantinople" and a local beer. The beer was like a bees knees, and the balls were meatballs made by the gods, on a bed of mashed potato that tasted like an entire botanical garden mashed into a creamy consistency and served with love on a gigantic plate next to my steamed vegies in Roquefort sauce. It took barely one bite before both me and Lynda agreed Turkey was a country fading on the horizon on the gastronomic side of things. As though we weren't impressed enough with purely the taste of the food, when we got the bill for our shared 3 meals (we hadn't eaten in 16 hours) and 4 beers, it was below $20!!!

I must say I was comforted by the sight of McDonald's in the train station... Every shop in the premises was a solid installation, with the exception of one: Mc Donald's. It was a small red tent in the corner of the traino, about the size of my car, powered by a small umbilical of water and power cords, As I wondered how the hell they would even be able to fit a deep fryer and the serving counter inside such a small tent, I realised I didn't really care. McDonald's and Coke have been two of only the things that have been following us around the world and it was nice to see it appear out of its comfort zone- I guess its like it has been our stalker across our travels and the tables had suddenly turned! That was, until we saw it in the streets advertised in the Cyrillic alphabet! I'm still yet to see first hand the beer taps in the Paris McDonalds- I reckon thats a valid excuse for checking out the fast food giant.

Following the feast of feasts, we thought we would top it off with the celebratory coffee and cake, but decided to hit a unique place for it. Unfortunately luck was against us and about 5 coffee shops later we were still struggling to find a place that would be able to sort us out for a coffee and any form of cake: It was either the coffee machine in a pub/restaurant, or a bakery with the cake and no coffee. After we gave up and picked up a large packet of Turkish coffee beans and a few packs of exotic bikkies to brew our own, of course we managed to walk the shortest route back to the hostel passing no less than 8 places that did specifically coffee and cake. I've had enough of Murphy on this trip.... Back at the hostel though I sorted out all the necessary crockery to wing a Turkish coffee and all for the princely sum of $4.50. 5x high tea sessions later we are still going strong on our first set of supplies and I've lost count how many people I have introduced and hooked on Turkish coffees- Cheers Adriana!

Bulgaria is so damn awesome its hard to put into words. The first introduction to our hostel I was blown away with how friendly the staff were. Stan the man has shown us the cheapest places to buy from, the best places to eat, the most interesting tourist attractions, the bus stops, the tram stations, the place for the cheapest international train tickets and how not to get fleeced by street thieves, council workers and random Joe public. As if the cheap beers and incredible hospitality and food weren't enough, Bulgaria also boasts awesome artists, musos and street performers, and all at the right price too haha. Today, for example I have spent $12, and that was entirely on beers and a dinner of Mango chicken followed by another dessert of Turkish coffee and cake. In between, I have been entertained all day long by BMX stunts, art galleries and local attractions.

Back in the hostel we that night we retired to the old favourite: come 7pm, its "Free pasta and beer". Seriously, this hostel (Hostel Mostel) has it all. Today we pretty much were up at 10, got our free breakfast and dragged that out with a chat to every other person here until noon, then staggered around town until dinner time at the hostel! This place is one of the best we have come across yet, and on top of the awesome pricing and kick arse chill out areas, the staff bend over backwards to accommodate you. Take for example the "No drinking past 9pm" signs. Come 1am on a Wednesday, everyone was still smiles as we staggered back to our rooms, stuffed from free spaghetti and local brews. Did I mention that a 2 litre beer bottle from the bottle shop is $2? Cheers to Daniel from Austria and Will from Melbourne for putting in the hard yards and helping me with them so far- I think I have made it through about 16 litres. We all had a laugh when Vessal, the guy on reception at the hostel said to us in all seriousness: "I am sorry- I do not know how to say this to you, but I will try...this wine you buy.... It is.... Shit! Please do not judge my country on this shit bottle!" To make up for the traumatic experience he bought a bottle of top shelf wine from the bottle shop and donated it to Lyn and Daniel.

So far the city of Sofiya has been incredible for us. As we slowly come to grips with the Cyrillic alphabet, I am gradually understanding more about the culture here. The alphabet is the same as Russian, and each letter represents a sound, not so much a letter as it does in english. Restaurant for example is something like PECTOPAHT- P is "R", E is the same as latin, H is "N", C is "S, this weird double X is "sh" as in "Garage"... Im getting it slowly. Outside of the spelling, the people here are incredibly friendly, and all are willing to help you out. The place is wheel chair accessible, has facilities like skate parks and recreation areas for young people and the clubs here draw international acts, like tomorrow a DJ from Groove armada, next week Timo Maas, after that Cassius... The Art galleries, cathedrals and museums are free entry and offer heaps of info for tourists, and we have been well impressed by the amount of facilities around. Today we bludged almost an hour in a public park that has had skate park infrastructure added, watching roller bladers, bmxers and skateboarders injure themselves on half pipes, rails, benches and a bunch of other man made obstacles in between our walking tour of town, courtesy of our guide Lyn Del Bianco, and Cyrillic language translator Daniel Zwick.