So Turkey was technically Asia after all. Now I’m in Bulgaria which is completely Eastern Europe. You will enjoy a sharp decline in the prices here as well as the validity of stereotypes. The funny thing was, going through the country side of southern Bulgaria was very hard. It was hard in the sense that it was the hardest place I’ve ever been to peg where you are. On the third sentence (this one) I’ll say what I actually mean; When you are in Bulgaria, it feels like you could easily be in Nebraska, Italy, Colorado, or even Mane. The landscape here is just so non-unique. And it changes very quickly.
You could pass through a small town that grows grapes in their front yards one moment and then be in a rundown city center the next town that looks almost war torn. You might then find yourself somewhere else in same hour that looks like the outer San Fransisco Bay Area.
I am now in Varna which is on the Black Sea coast. It is a major Bulgarian tourist hot spot, but not for foreigners. I think thats the magic trick to low prices is not having a huge amount of international tourist demand. For instance, I ate on the beach a huge pile of Muscles for 4 Lev, which is equal to $3. Mind you the whole grilled fish was the same price, and you can get a 3 liter (thats right) bottle of beer here for about the same price.
It’s crazy cheap here and although it has a reputation for being dangerous, it is far from it. There are, on the other hand, tourist traps in other towns that are designed for foreigners where the streets are lined with Ferrari driving mobsters. Those are about 2 hours away from here. Here is very funny. After traveling for 20 hours by bus, I randomly found a hostel that you could never actually “Find”, you would have to stumble upon it. I doubt it is a legal organization myself seeing as it is run by an English guy who doesn’t write anything down.
Everything is hectic and micromanaged by him. Everything is cash driven and micromanaged by him. It’s a big trip actually. He walked me to the ATM and told me how much to take out. Then he looked and saw that I still had my small backpack full of valuables and said “oh you wont want to cary that around all night. Give it to me and I’ll protect it tonight. You can get it tomorrow morning.”
What? You want me to hand over my bag? With my i-pod and laptop (valued at $600). And my Camera (valued at $300) and my Eurorail pass (valued at $1,300) and lets not forget my passport (valued at $10,000 on the black market). Thats a lot of value and you want me to hand it over to a “hostel owner” that I just met. But he didn’t want me to miss the nightly group of his hostel goers who were headed to the beach to enjoy some free beer (a ingenious promotion of his). “You don’t want to miss out. You know? That’s what hostels are all about. Getting to know good people. And mine is not a cold one. I wont have any loners at mine.”
Traveling is all about trust. Sometimes you only get an instant to judge whether you can trust someone or not. Sometimes you have everything riding on it. This time, my gut was right. That night I slept on a air mattress without any pillow or sheets. That is the name of the game at this hostel, disorganized. But it was amazing.
Back to the food. If you ever go to Bulgaria, get some sea food. I am sad to say that the single dish I had last night was without hesitation, better than anything I had in Turkey. But there are good foods in Turkey. Though the Kebabs are disappointing, the Chai (tea) is not something to miss. In addition, the rice is amazing in Turkey. It’s a blend of white rise and wild. The tomatoes are amazing in Turkey as well. They are served with the Turkish breakfast which consists of : sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, a boiled egg, toast and jam, and a huge slab of fetta cheese.
The other things that is surprisingly good in Turkey are meatballs and rice putting. Thats it.
The stereotypes about Eastern Europe are not warranted at all. The only accurate stereotype is the women being beautiful. I think the more accurate assessment is that they are all petite. Some of them have beautiful faces, but all of them tend to turn heads from a distance. And to make things more interesting, in Bulgaria only (and India) “Yes” is shown with weaving your head side to side and “No” is expressed by nodding your head up and down. So when I asked my waitress for another Sprite, she smiled and weaved her head side to side. I thought she was being cute with me and sarcastically saying no, but this was not the case; I am was in Bulgaria.
The ice cream here is that of the best in the world as well. Weird…. Right?
I’ve just learned that the “free wifi” here is actually the bar’s from down the road. WOW
I’m hearing the ethos of this hostel as I’m posting this message and I’ll have some great inside details soon!