Sanitation is the new black
Oh dear, today I really wanted to write a blog, but it doesn't look like I will get very far. It's already 11PM, and I'm only just come back from work. Yesterday was a bank holiday in the UK, so obviously we had to make up for it tonight... When I left at 10, 5 people were still working. I also have to be back at 7:30AM tomorrow morning, because I have another LocStudio Webcast training. I'll have half of Israel and Japan on the phone, so I have to be there in time. I was putting my PowerPoint presentation together until 10PM, but the mystery of the Bidi dialog flipping and mirroring still remains unsolved... Fuck, I'm doing these training sessions all on my own account, so they should better not complain!
Bulgaria! I've come back from my short trip yesterday. It is such a nice place! The holiday was all I wanted it to be. Well, almost - George didn't turn up, but I had not gotten my hopes too high anyway. He did go to Prague on Friday however. I sent a complaint email to Frank asking him to at least update the site with cancellations once he knows. He's impossible to talk to! He claims all the information is correct and was updated ages in advance. Very annoying!!
I flew into Bourgas on Tuesday night. I hadn't booked a hotel, because I imagined that the time between the landing at 4ish and the time of the first bus to Sozopol around 7ish would just be easy to kill. Mhm. It turned out to be a very long time! I took an overpriced taxi into the centre and decided on the way that I might just as well try the biggest hotel in town, the Bulgaria Hotel. But they wanted 95 Euros for the remainder of the night, so I just walked on into the night with my too-heavy backpack. I don't know why I took so much stuff, that's not like me at all! Even at night Bourgas seemed a lovely place, and it was definitely very warm. I wondered if I should simply crash in some park and wait for daylight, but eventually I did find another hotel, which was posh and shiny and air-conditioned and less expensive.
The next
morning I took a bus to Sozopol, a couple of kilometres down south
on the coast. It wasn't difficult to find a bus, when I arrived, one was
just leaving, and they let me jump on. I have no problems with the
Cyrillic script, so reading signs wasn't an issue. Even though I could
barely remember the simplest phrases, I have a feeling like Bulgarian
shouldn't be such a hard language to learn. It's like Russian, only easier
(no case endings). Not that I speak any Russian, but some Slavonic base
vocabulary must have stuck in my brain back from my Russian classes in 7th
grade. It all made sense somehow, LOL
On the whole, it was sign language all around. Makes me feel silly, but it
works. Most people spoke English or German anyway.
It's a grammar-free world
- Sozopol
I know I have only seen the touristy part of the country at the Black Sea coast, but judging from this, I must say Bulgaria looks ready for the European Union! They seem very organized, and with style - not so scrapped together and fake as in some other places of the world. They even recycle! A feat that the UK still has to master, after decades of being in the EU!
Sozopol is full of tourists, but still small and charming. They have these wooden-top houses and cobble-stone streets, like in Georgia. Well, Georgia is only on the other side of the Black Sea, so architectural similarities make sense of course. There are 2 beaches, a small one in town, and one large one full of fun & action. I didn't use any of them, but I did have a coffee one of the bars, LOL
Interior design detail - Sozopol
Bulgarian
food is great! I like EVERYTHING, even in crap restaurants. It all
seemed to be prepared exactly to "Kerstin standards"!
You can also get coffee everywhere, which is good - even though I don't
like this tiny, sugary type. you don't even have to go to a bar, because
they have coffee vending machines everywhere! Very practical!
Coffe machine - Varna
On Thursday I drove back to Bourgas to take another bus up the coast to Nessebar. Again, the transport was totally unproblematic and I arrived around lunch time. I knew my hotel was on the main road on the main land, but I had no number, so I spent an hour walking back and forth in the midday heat with my backpack! It eventually turned out that the hotel had been the one right at the start of the street - a proper large 4-star hotel with swimming pool and all. But the swimming pool was of course undergoing "sanitation" on the afternoon of my stay. LOL
In the
afternoon I walked around the old town of Sozopol, which is really very
touristy with tons of souvenir shops and restaurants etc. When I entered
the town's gate, a Krishna woman approached me with "Hare Krsna!" and I
returned her greeting without even thinking. I thought it was hilarious!
I even went for a swim near my hotel when the sun was less strong. It was
definitely very hot all the time, just as I had hoped!
The evening was spent watching TV - they have all the German channels,
including the German channels customized for the Austrian market, which
was even more interesting.
Note the sea in background -
Nessebar
On Friday
morning I moved on to Varna, further up North. This time I took a
private minibus, again not a problem at all. The fares are also extremely
cheap.
Varna is a delightful place, with a great atmosphere, lot of shiny happy
people. I am amazed - nobody really knows this place, and I would even go
as far as to compare it to a place like Barcelona - it definitely reminds
me of Barcelona before the Olympics.
The first
night in Varna I stayed at this private hostel which was hard to find, but
only because they didn't bother putting a sign on the door bell. I had
booked a double room for myself because they had no singles. It was a nice
place, but very loud. The night guard person who slept in the living room
was a bit creepy, too.
The next day I moved on to a hostel. I had booked this very cheap
accommodation because the plan was to go to Golden Sands for the DJ gig
that Saturday night, and I wasn't expecting to spend much time in bed
anyway.
Well, that plan fell through. I had checked the internet for any updates,
but Frank of course hadn't taken the date from the website.
It was clear
however, that the gig wasn't happening because the Masai club had
plastered the whole town with posters announcing Christian Vargas for that
night, and also their website didn't mention George at all. Very
disappointing. Nevertheless I made my way to Golden Sands (that's
the actual name of the place: Zlatni Pyasatsi) at night, just to see it
with my own eyes - hope dies last! LOL
They had regular busses going to the resort from Varna, and even though I
got off at the wrong stop first it wasn't a problem and I eventually made
it to this huge hotel resort full of tourists and entertainment. I walked
into the wrong direction first, and had to race back again. I must have
walked about 5 miles in 1 hour or less. I was so desperate to get to that
club by 9 PM, check the score, and then catch one of the last busses back
to Varna. I finally found the club, had something to eat nearby and then
asked the bulky bouncer if there was any chance that George might turn up
that evening. He confirmed that George would definitely not be there, but
that "Martin Vargas" bloke from the poster. LOL
Most Bulgarian men look very "meaty", they look very "Eastern European" indeed, and I begin to understand the fascination. Seeing all those "hunks" made me feel quite uncomfortable, like I was in one of George's batty-bum collages! It felt almost obscene. LOL
After I had
confirmed that the gig was really not happening, I tried to catch a bus
back to Varna. It was pitch dark by then and I was walking along the
motorway trying to stop a bus that wouldn't come. Not very safe, LOL
I finally found a proper bus-stop but eventually ended up hitching a ride
in a private car "for bus price!" with 3 other people, which was very
practical.
My hostel was one of the crappier ones, not dirty, but very scarcely furnished, The owner refuses to replace the bathroom mirrors because "people break them", so that was quite inconvenient. There was this old woman (old for a hostel, we're talking 60ish, so that IS old even in my book!) who was very annoying - one of those people who always make a fuss about their own stuff but are oblivious towards other peoples' needs. (And you should have learned to be more considerate at that age.) She kept walking in and out of the room at night (at least 30 times in 3 hours), banging the door, shouting loudly and leaving the lights switched on - without any consideration for people already in bed. When she realised that I had a tiny mirror in my compact she borrowed it (3 times), which wouldn't have been an issue - but of course she lost that round plastic sheet that I leave on top of the powder. I always keep it, but of course she had to lose it. That's annoying.
On Sunday
morning I had to travel back to Bourgas to catch my flight early on
Monday morning. I walked all the way to the bus station with my backpack,
even though it was about 3 km. When I arrived at the main bus station the
morning bus to Bourgas was already fully booked and the next one was in
the afternoon. So I made my way to the alternative minibus station where I
immediately got a place on a van that was about to leave. In Bourgas I
walked again for a couple of kilometres, just to have some workout! LOL
The Cosmos Hotel was 3 blocks from the city centre. It is the greatest
socialist relict - huge, with red velvet lifts, gloomy wood-panelling and
plastic flowers! Lovely!! It's also really cheap!
I spent the day walking around town, even going for a quick swim at the
beach.
Cosmos hotel -
Bourgas
At night I watched MTV until 2 in the morning and then took a taxi to the airport. My flight was at 4.40 AM, and I landed in Luton at 6 on Monday morning. It is freezing in the UK, and I have caught another cold. Or maybe I had "revived" my old cold from 2 weeks ago? My tubes are constantly blocked, I have a blocked nose and a strange cough. It doesn't feel right, I should have been better by now. I might be dead soon. I also have diarrhoea - probably because I had some unwashed grapes. I should really stay at home, but hey! I need to teach the world how to use LocStudio tomorrow morning! LOL
While I have been away, people have been busy baring their souls, multiple personalities and various body parts on youtube. How do they find the time?! LOL
Evening sun in restaurant window - Sozopol
Nessebar
Public Salsa dancing -
Varna
Signage in museum - Varna
Cathedral - Varna
View from Cosmos hotel
- Bourgas
