Bulgaria

Ruse

Ruse was a spontaneous choice as usual. Its not a spot that most tourists or travellers go, mainly because theres nothing to see and if they do, they stop for the mandatory hour on the train and then continue to Veliko, Plovdiv or Sofia. For me however I like to try new things and explore random places when I can so i decided to couchsurf with a girl in Ruse for two nights. Lucille, came to meet me from the train and took me in her car back to her flat. I was so excited just to chill with her and it seemed instantly like we knew each other. We laughed as she talked about her experience moving from France to Ruse and her plans to leave again. She was so funny. We spent the next two days completely chilling out and watching movies, discovering that we both loved the SAW series. When we watched them all, we headed to the cinema to watch the newest one to be relaeased. I felt as though Id finally found somewhere to feel at home and relax and I couldnt thank Lucille enough. I made a veggie puff pastry for dinner after we bought veggies from the local market and the next mornign I made us lovely pancakes for breakfast before I left. This was one of the best experiences of the trip and it was so good that even though we walked around town exploring, Lucille was so cool with just hanging out and chatting about travels. I was so glad I stopped in Ruse.

Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko was a suprise that I didnt have any expectations about. Arriving to the train station, i decided to walk to the hostel - a half hour walk it said, but the structure of the town is so windy and steep that It defnitely took more than that. I was happy I walked in the end because the wlak took me through some of the cutest streets and the higher i went, the greater the views became. This place reminded me a lot of Valparaiso in Chile because of the colourful houses and the hillside structures. The town itself was home to one of the coolest fortresses Ive ever seen as well as plenty of cool statues, grafiti and architecture. I met the coolest people in Hostel Mostel which was a steal at 10 euros including free breakfast, dinner and beer every day. We formed a group comprised of Spanish, Thai, Finnish, Australian and Portuguese and played funny drinking games and chatted both nights. The beer was 1 euro for 2.5 Litres in the local shop so it became our routine to go there after dinner to stock up, then we would get drunk, be told to move to the kitchen where we would then proceed to eat the breakfast food when no one was looking. Who knew cheese on toast tasted so good after some beers. I was only sorry I didnt have longer in Veliko and in Bulgaria in general as I would loved to have explored Plovdiv, Sofia and the beautiful lakes around the area. I guess this will have be a future trip for me. It was the end of Eastern Europe for me and as I headed back to Bucarest, I took with me two side kicks from the hostel who were also headng that way. After a night in Bucarest I finally left Romania and flew to my next destination- Berlin, Germany.