Bulgaria by www.born2travel.it

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02. 08. 2000 Sofia (BULGARIA)

[Rossho]: Travelling toward Bulgaria. So many things come back to mind... Ozge is far away, perhaps forever; the slow, noisy motion of this train turns my memories into a sad litany... What a tiring journey: the train jolting, the windows opening and closing by themselves, banging, the seats creaking annoyingly, the border police, the inspectors... We shared our compartment with two Slovenian photographers. At five in the morning they made us get off at the border to check our passports yet again... It was so cold! We should have arrived at twelve, but it's 16:00 and we're still on the train... At every station there's a little man checking the train's "wheels"... What's that about? Arriving in Sofia we head straight to the centre but soon realise there's very little to see... Not a fine monument, not a characteristic street: nothing! It's a very poor country.

They still use the Cyrillic alphabet and English is unknown to most. I met an old man who wanted to help us; he'd offered to put us up in his house, take us to a disco, introduce us to girls, but we didn't trust him and at the first chance we sent him away, but it was hard. The good thing is that we met the two Dutch people we travelled with a few days ago when we arrived in Istanbul: Haasso and Hanneke. I really think we'll share the transfer to Romania with them; after all, there's strength in unity! [Rossho]: Here we are in the railway station, what a lovely little place... We'll do guard shifts tonight, it'll be long! But by now I'm used to it; I left normal schedules at home... I'm a bit confused; it's like being once again waiting for a train; while you wait you think about the one that's passed...

Earlier we had trouble with a drunk guy in a Liverpool shirt, but it's over, now we're here to sleep...

03. 08. 2000 Sofia (BULGARIA)

[Rossho]: They've just thrown us out of the station... After asking two policemen the favour of staying, they threw us out anyway, but maybe we've found something better... We'll sleep in a bar open 24 hours a day... Marco and Haasso rest until four while Takx and I keep watch, then they'll take over... "Time owes, and then it slips away on the train of existence; slow litany, solemn parody of those who believe even for a moment that they have arrived." [Takx]: "To choose, what a difficult choice! I'll wear out my voice saying: I set out alone, alone: and it will be a battle". I wrote this since Rossho was complaining he had nothing to do to pass the time... So I keep him busy a bit. [Rossho]: In reply to Takx's message: The choice - there's always one (indeed more than one)...

To wear out your voice is to live; we all set out and arrive alone, but how true is that? I've always been alone yet I surround myself with people to annihilate the unannihilatable: loneliness... There's the battle. [Haasso Schaap from Ryswyk, Holland]: Right now I'm trying to stay awake despite terrible sleepiness. I think none of us liked Sofia, but aren't they all a bit too sympathetic towards us here? Everyone's asleep except me and Haasso; it's our watch now. But I ask: we already have so many problems on the route and my travel companions create others, even existential ones? Guys: think about sleeping, rest easy, because tomorrow a new episode of our soap opera titled Interrail 2000 begins! If this Bulgarian episode ends well I'll have a different opinion of these people, but one question still nags me: Why were they so kind to us? Haasso has an expression... Tired, I'd say...

In a bit he'll crash... There he goes! He's "nodded off"! The bar owner early this morning turned up with five coffees for us; he wanted to offer them to us at all costs but we, ever more distrustful, kept refusing, until in the back and forth he spilled a whole cup on my arm... What pain!!! In the morning, since we couldn't resolve the Romanian visa problem, we decide to go to their embassy! We discover we have to pay $22 each; no sooner said than done. We're ready to leave this country. [Rossho]: With the Dutch things are going well. They offer us food and we reciprocate. A distrustful encounter has become a young friendship!

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