Hi All,
So we leave Romania. It is a beautiful place and we certainly could spent more time exploring but it is time to start heading towards Croatia.
Train markings in Romania are still a mystery to us. The train tickets are marked with train numbers and carriage numbers which generally didn´t match the trains which arrived on the platforms so I was chasing the conductors around a lot.
So our last train in Romania followed this trend and we watched the other backpackers from the train walking past and eventually figuring out the correct carriage. Good to see that it wasn´t just us who had the problem. Our carriage was only half full and mostly foreigners.
The train left on time and rattled along. I didn´t mind just sitting around as I was still feeling off colour although Vanessa tempted me with some of the pancakes she made for the 9.5hr journey.
The train grinds to a halt and two armed immigration officers step aboard and begin to segregate the ´haves´and the ´have nots´ in the carriage.We are naturally in the ´have nots´ and consequently our passports are taken from us.We are in the ´have nots´because we are Australians and we have not got an EU passport which means we need visas.The carriages are locked with us inside whilst our passports are taken to places unknown a place that brings fear to any traveller in foreign lands.Time seems to stand still when people get to play God with your passport.After what felt like an hour the carriages were unlocked and passports were distributed.The scary aspect of this was that we were exiting a country not trying to come in so we still had to get into Bulgaria.A few kms down the train track sat Bulgarian immigration and this time we had geniune concerns.Had Bulgaria who had recently been welcomed into the EU also been welcomed into the Schengen agreement countries.......no so we were not sent back to Romania.Instant impression of Bulgaria from the train windows is of a country that is relatively poor ,dry and hot.It is however a land filled with acre upon acre of sunflowers.Unfortunately it seems that we have missed the glorious sight of them in full bloom because now their heavy heads are bend waiting for the executioner.
We had a bit of entertainment when a group of bike riding bohemian types with musical instuments joined the train. They took their time pulling their bikes to bits before loading delaying the train much to the train conductors dismay.
We passed through some magnificent gorges when we neared Sofia but unfortunately the light was fading and we missed the last bits.
A fellow traveller commented on the size of our packs and turned out he was from Gosford and was travelling with his Bulgarian girlfriend. They were friendly enough and helped us find a tram to get to near the hostel. We would have found it without the help anyway but didn´t want to say.
We found the hostel and tried to the buzzer. Nothing. We tried and tried. It was a long day and we were tired. 12hrs of train. Eventually someone let us in and we found a very lively and packed hostel.
The Bulgarian woman running the hostel was sterotypical eastern europe. No sense of humour. Give me passport she says without a smile. It was inconsistent with the chaos around her and she seemed immune to it. A little later she said goodnight and left the hostel in the capable hands of...no one.
I wanted to turn around and leave. The people were friendly enough but they were getting ready for a big friday night. The party was going out at 2am and the hostel was noisy. I figured it would be the usual 4hrs of broken sleep but it wasn´t to be. Well at least the noise stopped by about 5am. Not exactly the night sleep we needed.
We have 4 nights booked in this hostel. Welcome to Bulgaria!
I was a little better in the morning. We wandered around looking at the old monuments. Sofia was only a small town until the late 1800s so it really doesn´t have much to compare with the larger european cities that we have been. Segway. However it does have an excellent fruit market and we found some of the best fruit and vegetables we have tasted for a long time and better still they were really cheap.
Bye,
David and Vanessa
