Bulgaria to Budapest

My wake up in Bulgaria would rate among one of my worst in memory. I was perhaps 2 hours into a relatively deep sleep after a problematic night, when I was woken up and told to get off the bus - we were in Plovdiv. It was about 4am, I was as close to being asleep as you can be whilst appearing to be awake, I was in a new country in which I couldn't decipher any of their Cyrillic script, nor did I have any of their currency, but to top it all off, I really needed to visit the mens room - bad.

Whadayaknow, I pulled through it ok though. First stop, a 24hr gaming room to use their toilet. Then a hotel to leave my bag at. Then some money, a 24hr fast food joint for a breakfast burger and some basic language tutelage, and things were looking up! The old town of Plovdiv, on top of one of their 'seven hills' was really beautiful, with some nice period homes, and an old roman amphitheater to boot. I also found amusing what appeared to be an old amphitheater sunk into the middle of the main pedestrian way in the 'new' centre. Apparently they'd dug it up by accident during a construction project. By the time business had started for the day, I felt I'd just about seen enough of the town. I was starting to realise at this point that I couldn't justify staying in every town and city with history I passed through. Quite frankly, I was getting a bit sick of the same thing (history!), and felt that the sooner I got to some mountains for a bit of nature, the better. And so by around midday I found myself on a bus to Sofia.

My only sightseeing in Sofia was wandering past the government buildings and their big orthodox church. I'm not sure whether the likeness of the orthodox churches I saw to mosques came from the prominence of domes, or from them once being the other and then converted by a conquering empire. Anyway, it was big and beautiful, but just another church. Travelling through these regions that have seen so much conflict and shifts in power, I can't help but question whether religion has had more negative consequences than positive. The bus driver in Croatia pointed out that a church four times as large as that which had been destructed had been built, while people still lived in substandard housing. All around here the churches are big and beautiful, even ones that are still being constructed have so much marble and other materials going into them I can't even fathom how much it would be worth. Meanwhile, there is still a lot of poverty around. In Australia I think you'd have to really stretch your imagination to think of a large conflict on the basis of religion, but over here I don't think it's too far fetched an idea - even still, after all the 'lessons' learnt. Of course many may deny it having anything to do with religion, but it all depends on how you define ethnicity and peoples beliefs.

In the evening, rather than go out alone (it was a very quiet - but lovely and peaceful - hostel that I was staying in), I joined Julia, whose first day it was working at the hostel, and her friend in going to the movies. Don't laugh - we saw that Twilight movie. Rest assured, our intent from the beginning was merely to have a laugh, both at the movie and the teenage girls enamoured with whatever stupid facet of the it. The people responsible for making such crap (I can only speak for the movie - I've never read the books) should have to answer to a committee on what is a tasteful way to raise the youth.

I searched out a brewpub afterwards to sample their brew - it was refreshing to have an ale after so many lagers, but it wasn't fantastic. The chicken and mushroom pizza I got on the way home (to complement my dinner thus far of ice cream, pop corn and ale), made by two chatty (read: distracted) fat ladies, I was expecting to be an overcooked abomination, but it was absolutely fantastic. For lunch the next day I again searched out a recommended establishment. The 'Nun's salad' I had (a mix of all the good stuff really - cheese stuffed peppers, purée eggplant, etc) was excellent. I now had an inkling as to why Kalina, back in Aus, is known to make the most superb salads - it's in her blood!

I got a night train from Sofia to Belgrade, Serbia, then the following night another sleeper from Belgrade to Budapest, Hungary. In such heat, it was an immense pleasure to stick my head out the window as the train started moving, an immediate shift from feeling like I was about to shut down, to feeling that everything will actually be splendid. I slept pretty well each night - it was a much better way of travelling than by bus.

It was hot in Belgrade. Everywhere had been stinking hot. People were quick to point out that as an Australian, I should be more than used to it, but I couldn't stand it. Honestly, to add to my list of things that make me less Australian (such as a complete disregard for footy), I can add that I'm a cold weather person. I was getting more sick of the heat than I can convey here - to me, it was debilitating. Anyway, my day in Belgrade was really about drinking the coldest thing possible, over as long as time as possible, and ALWAYS walking on the side of the street that was in the shade. I at least had some company in another traveller performing the same train journies as myself. Belgrade wasn't overly interesting to me. You'd have to tell me I was in the old town for me to know it. The nicest part was the old fort, inside of which is a largely green area, a free public space overlooking the Danube.

Budapest seemed like a much more happening place than Belgrade, and it is certainly a more beautiful place. Not nearly as cheap though. I stayed at a hippy hostel (sorry, here's another wide ranging slur, but sometimes I feel like full on hippies are as misguided as staunch capatalists that believe we humans are not having an ill effect on the Earth) which I couldn't get into until later in the morning. It felt like the kind of place where getting up before midday is frowned upon. They were a good bunch of people thouh, owners and guests. I got to lie down for some further shut eye after my two night trains, then by midday I was up and at 'em. Wandering along the banks of the Danube a few hours later, I was as surprised as they come to see Adam and Dezarae walking along the bank towards me. We'd planned on meeting up in Budapest, but neither of us had been in touch since arriving so it was by complete chance that we crossed paths.

We pulled up a couple of chairs on the footpath of a quiet street and enjoyed a refreshing beer. Whilst there, a motorcade rider stopped at the intersection with the main road nearby. Expecting some foreign dignitry to come through, we were greeted by a procession of skaters. I thought it was great to see policeman blocking the road for skaters: for some (ridiculous) reason there's always been a stigma between cops and skaters. After some further wandering we had a nice dinner sampling some Hungarian fare - no 'goulash' though (what we call goulash they call porkolt - proper 'gulyas' is actually more like a soup). I think the highlight of a huge share plate of roast pork was actually the crispy roast potatoes underneath, drenched in pork fat as they were. After getting back to the hostel, I went out to a pretty sweet garden bar with a few fellow guests, but I was not in the mood, partly in anticipation of an early rise the following day so as to see a bit more of Budapest before leaving wih A&D in Norm, so I left after one mojito.