Backdated Blog:
So a few weeks ago, no almost a month ago now (I really am a bad blogger) I went to visit these two lovelies in Bulgaria...
I met Nadia and Niya on my Year Abroad in Germany where they were my nextdoor neighbours and dear drinking partners for a Semester. But then they left :( The magic of today, however means we still keep in touch a lot, we saw eachother at NewYear in Dublin with the rest of the crowd... and then I managed to get over to Sofia this summer for 5 days.
I did a ridiculous overnight to journey to Gatwick, because I thought I was clever doing it the cheap way. Turns out sleeping in the airport is not as cool as the backpackers make out but I arrived in Sofia with about 3 hours cobbled together sleep and went straight out for lunch with the girls.
Sofia is LOVELY. It, of course, helped that I arrived in the sunshine, but the city, although definitely a city in transition, with roadworks and renovation projects going off everywhere, has a really good atmosphere.
After a quick lunch we hopped on a 7 HOUR bus journey to the beach where Niya's family have an apartment. I managed to grab a couple more hours sleep on the coach, not the most glamorous forms of transport, no aircon and lots of fat ladies but I was too deliriously tired to care. We arrived at Sunny Beach which is a pretty generic tourist resort but the beach and the ocean were fabulous and the bars were pretty good for us.
Over the next few nights, scenes like this were a regular occurence...
A bar which we later discovered held male 'exotic' dancers
Where I became an expert on Bulgarian Rap..
Where we played drinking games on the beach whilst watching the sunset
We then recovered from our hangovers on the beach in the 30 degree sunshine the next days..
It was like a micro (we were there for three nights) girls drinking holiday, which has lead me to realise I probably wouldn't survive a week on one of those holidays!
One night it was Nadia's birthday so we went into the old town, a ten minute bus journey from Sunny Beach to a family run seafood restaurant at the top of the harbour, the food was FABULOUS. It was also called Nemo, how cute :)
The old town called Nessebar was simply beautiful, I wish we'd been there longer, I could have spent hours wandering around all the little stalls, ruins and museums. I took a few shots whilst I was there...
On Sunday we headed back on the coach to Sofia, I was less delirious this time so thankfully there was aircon. After a seemingly neverending journey we arrived in Sofia, passed out and I prepared for my one day as a tourist in Sofia. We had a lot to fit in.
Sofia looks a lot like this...
The old meeting the new...
With gorgeous parks like this
Statues from the socialist era being integrated into the New Sofia
Although I only spent a day in Sofia, I got a really good feel for the city, my native tourguide helped (Nadia) and we're trying to arrange spending New Year in Sofia with the rest of the Erasmus guys now.
Three things about my time in Bulgaria:
Don't take Bulgaria by the face value of Sunny Beach, the country has so much more to offer
Greek yoghurt is not actually Greek the bacteria with which it is made originated from Bulgaria
Native languages and distance are no match for good friends.
I had the best few days girls,
Na zdrave!
"наздраве"
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