Invasion of Kosovo: Sofia, Bulgaria: Where Vienna met the Socialist Party

The Road to Sofia

A Bulgarian tram is never late nor is it early. It arrives precisely when it means too. (LOTR) This adequately sums up my experiences with Sofia, as I ventured on all forms of public transportation during my recent visit to the Bulgarian capital. This weekend was also my first experience taking the UN bus on weekend trips, which there are definitely some pros and cons to doing so.

I arrived a bit early to catch the bus on Friday afternoon, I had worked a little bit extra everyday to ensure that I worked my 40 hours this week and could take the day off, and spent my time idling around the Fuel Station where the bus picks up. New to this system, I was unsure about how promptly it leaves (although it is not Kosovar, it runs on Kosovar time) so I made sure to get there roughly an hour before it began loading. I had decided to save the money on a taxi and hoof it out towards the base, which is roughly a mile or so down the main highway to Peja. It was a decent walk, with terrible weather, but I definitely was thankful that I decided to stretch my legs before getting on that bus.

Fish Soup, Cherni Bread, Salad, and Cookie!

The bus ride itself was pleasant; I met some other Americans and got a better idea of how other expats live. The only thing is that it is about a 6 hour bus ride, adding in the +1 hour time difference, means us leaving at 16:00 gets us into Sofia around 23:00. I was rather glad to get off the bus, needless to say, and the 30 min walk to my hostel was a welcomed thing. However, Sofia has an interesting system of back alleys and "tunnels" that led me astray. I walked back and forth in front of my hostel for about 15 minutes before I even noticed that it was down through one of these "tunnel" contraptions. So I stumbled into the Nightingale Hostel around 24:00, enough time to eat a small bite and go straight to bed. Tomorrow was mountain hiking day, and I assumed, rightly, I would need every ounce of energy I could muster. Cherni Vrah (Black Peak), Vitosha (The name of the Mountain range) was my destination.

My Destination- Cherni Vrah

I woke up promptly at 4:30, when a couple of drunk girls stumbled back home from the bars (Oh, hostel life), then again at 8:00 when my alarm started blaring. By the looks on the faces of the drunk girls, my revenge was exacted almost perfectly. I started with a delicious breakfast of cereal and fresh baked croissant thingies with jelly in the middle. This was provided in my nominally priced hostel. I made sure to pack in my fair share. I decided to ask the hostel owner, Michael, about the best way to get to Cherni Vrah. The lengthy discussion, I made it out of the hostel by about 11, ended and I was armed with great directions to get money changed (Bulgaria uses the Lev, although it is well on its way to the Euro) and grab the appropriate bus to Vitosha.

Up, Up, and Away

I made it to the bus stop and was patiently waiting for my noble steed to take me to the next bus station, then on to the cable cars/lift. After about 20 minutes, I asked around about the 9TM bus and heard that it decided not to run today. This met one of the requirements to be considered a Balkans country. So I grabbed the number 10 tram and headed towards Hladilnika, my next staging point. Trams, regardless of location, are not the most efficient form of travel. While they are fun, they do not go very fast. Luckily, unlike Kosovo, there are no unofficial stops so it wasn't a constant start and stop. The thing about the public transportation system that made me laugh was the systematic approach to them, they would wait a little if they were ahead of schedule and speed up if they were behind. It was a nice change of pace to the erratic Kosovar system. However, the thing irked me was that if the tram was at the end of the line you had to get off and could not get back on until he had moved around to the next "starting" stop. The same went for buses, as I found out quickly enough. Either way, I made it to Hladilnika safetly and ate the most delicious sandwich in the world. I mean overall it was a mediocre sandwich; however after a month and a half of zero pork, this sandwich was a gift from the heavens!

My Noble Steed

My Ferryman

I attempted to get ahead of the game and walked to the 122 bus, the one that would take me to the cable cars/lift, and get on before it had stopped at its first stop. This was bad form, I found out. However, the bus driver gave me a free ride and let me sit upfront with him. He would babble on in Bulgarian, I would laugh when appropriate. I had heard that Bulgarians were not the nicest, but this fellow was quite the character. I would catch the words"Obama" and "Cherni" in a sentence and then the bus driver would burst out laughing. I can only imagine what the sentence was about but I laughed along with him. We had a golly good time, I'd say.

After arriving at the lift, I purchased a student pass (I'm such a rebel) and started my ascent to Aleko. Aleko is a tourist center/restaurant/chalet and is the highest point you can get to without walking. During the winter, you can take a ski lift but alas there was no snow in October. The wind picked up and the temperature started to fall, especially with the light drizzle that had started to pick up. Mom, you would have been terrified of these lifts as they were a little rickety and made a lot of mechanical noises that raised some doubts. After I exited the lift early, two times to be exact, I finally made it to the starting point of my trip. It was roughly 13:45 at this point, and the last life down was 16:30. I had my work cut out for me.

To give some background on Vitosha: It sits on the outskirts of the city of Sofia, the south end of the city to be exact. It's quite tall and has some great ski resorts, as I was told. It's rises out of the south as I imagine that Mt. Saint Helen does in Washington. Absolutely beautiful, but I am biased towards mountains.

Scenic Backdrop for a House

I started my trek, finding a random path here or there that took me through golden meadows dotted with rock outcroppings. I finally made it onto the gravel pathway that would lead me up to the top as quickly as possible. The views from here were daunting, your eyes would follow the meadow to a cliff and then out from there was the city of Sofia.

Presidential Guards

The ascent really took off the last about 100m. If I remember correctly, it is approximately 500m of elevation change from Aleko to Cherni Vrah. I felt every meter. The only thing I wish I had once I got towards the top was a walking stick, the ground was steep, muddy, and full of rocks. The meadows, I found out, were peat fields and the area was rich with it. It is this grand golden color, like wheat fields, then off a cliff into the tall ex-Socialist buildings and bright evergreens.

The Path that I Found and Followed

I finally made it to the top. Though there was not much to see as these dark grey clouds had started to wander in, fearing rain I started my descent. I made it about 20m when the sun came out of nowhere and visibility returned. I was awfully tired by this point, so I decided not to make the trek back up. But it was a bit of Madden luck to reach the summit full of clouds. It was around 15:30 when I started my descent, so I had to make up for lost time. This included cutting through the meadows, with a gaggle of Bulgarian teenagers in tow, and jumping down super steep embankments. There were a few close calls that would have led to a saturated and muddy behind, but alas the natural poise and grace I inherited from Mom and Dad won through and I escaped only slightly dirty. I made it onto the last cable car down the mountain, so dodged a giant bullet there!

It Started to Get Real Steep, Quick!

I made my way back to the hostel, where I traded some Lev for a shower and a towel and awaited a pick up by my CouchSurfing host Nikolay. Nikolay was good people, he gave me a short tour through the city. But with a slight pessimist spin. That did wonders for me, because it made it all that more real. It's one thing to sell a city, it's another to sell it as a real place. Don't get me wrong, Sofia has a magical air to it, but it is nice to get a pragmatic view on it.

Square of Tolerance

The Orthodox Corner

Catholic Corner

Islamic Corner

Jewish Corner

To give some background on Nikolay, he lived on the West Side of Sofia. It's name is on the tip of my fingers, Zapden Park or thereabouts. At least that's the subway name. This is supposedly the "rough" part of town, though only for women and small children. It might also have to do with a tall, blond tourist with two backpacks. I could have been a target. Either way, he cooked dinner for me. We had steak, mushrooms, and bread. It was almost American in its simplicity, and yes I did just steal simply delicious meal as American. Boom. Anyways, his parents worked for the Interior and Exterior Agencies in Bulgaria and have been stationed all over the world. He might have at one point been fluent in German, is currently fluent (or thereabouts) in Italian and French. Bulgarian, which being the easiest of the Slavic languages cause it is the most simple, Serbian, Macedonian, (which is just faux-country anyways, according to Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria) Croatian, and Russian are mother tongues. Hungarian, a little bit, and Arabic are his weakest languages, he has a degree in applied linguistics with a focus in Arabic. Oh and he speaks English with a slight New York-er accent. He's been around the block. We discussed all sorts of things from the EU, to politics, sports, national identities, archaeology, bacon futures, maple syrup robberies, etc all over some nice Bulgarian beer followed by some Red Label. It was a pleasant and relaxed evening, that I thoroughly needed after such strenuous hiking.

Random Rotunda inside the Presidential Building's Courtyard

My Subway Station for Saturday Night

Bulgarian Subways are Clean, Nice, and BIG

Sunday was my subway day, I swear if the Atlanta could put together such a clean and magnificent piece of public transportation, I'd never leave. It has the same reach as MARTA, but man was it on a whole n'other level. I completed my walk about tour, gathered some great photos, and found a hookah shop for my land lord. So Sunday was really relaxed in that nature, though my Achilles was really starting to act up. 'Tis all better now, but whew did it hurt. The bus back was on par with the bus there, maybe slightly more exciting. I realized however, that I am greatly interested in exploring urban decay. Specifically ex-Socialist style buildings as nature has made their move. It fits with my "ghost" town fascination too. The road to Sofia has a few industrial parks that seem like nice little "time capsule" style moments.

I Had This View Regardless Which Direction I Turned My Head

This week marked the start of my teaching career in a full position. I am molding the minds of another countries youth. (though my night class is all adults, which is my favorite ESL level) Working in another country has its ups, as well as downs. Today was hectic and I've become an ad-hoc leader of the English teachers (think the Rebels in Star Wars) so I am trying to work out grievances/issues/questions/concerns/etc which is both informative and challenging. Luckily, I love a good puzzle!