Hitchhiking XVII (Sofia - Plovdiv)

To get to my spot in Sofia was quit a challenge: My host insisted that it would be much too complicated to go there by bus, because I would have to change vehicles several times. I didn't mind, but it seemed impossible for him to find out which lines I needed, let alone at which time they were leaving. Instead he made me take the metro to a station that was further outside, but absolutely unsuitable for hitchhiking; cars were still mainly locals and going way too fast to stop.

I finally found out which bus line I need (not so complicated after all), but the info table at the station said that the next his would come in 18 minutes - way too long to wait, so I started walking, hoping for a spot or a good gas station on the way.

After ten minutes of walking I decided that this didn't really make sense, so I waited for the bus at the next station. Then, closely watching the GPS map only phone, I got off right in front of the highway, which was also the end Sofia.

From there I walked another 10 minutes towards the first gas station on the highway. I passed some trucks that had parked on the side to get some snacks from the little kiosks, and was surprised to find two guys trying to get a ride standing just behind all the trucks. 

A basic rule of hitchhiking is: be visible. I told them (in German - so many people spoke German in Bulgaria) that they would probably be better off if they moved a 100 meters, but the just smiled and nodded. 

So I continued to the gas station, saw a car with "PB" on its license plate which was just about to leave, ran to the driver'a window.... and got a direct ride to Plovdiv :)

Sofia

As I arrived in Sofia pretty late, covered in dirt and sweat, all I did on the first evening was having dinner with my host Burak in a super posh rooftop bar around the corner - in my hiking trousers. Then I fell into bed (actually, into the couch) and slept till 10 the next morning. 

I wouldn't make it to the 11 am-walking tour anyway, so I took my time with breakfast, and eventually started walking towards the city center through the huge South Park that stretches from the neighbourhood I stayed in right up to Sofia's main shopping street. And don't think of parks like in Vienna now, with neatly cut trees here and there; I'm speaking of a forest, with dozens of small paths, little lakes, and various bridges crossing small streams running through the park. Walking through, I almost forgot that I'm in a city!

In general, Sofia is SUPER green. I spent the second day actively looking for a street that didn't have a tree in it - I didn't find one.

Vitosha Boulevard (said shopping street) was bustling with people when I eventually arrived there. The cafés were literally full, except from the reserved tables, with people of all ages sipping their coffees, chatting, and, of course, smoking (Tuesday at noon!!). 

(I really don't know why it looks so empty here xD)

I couldn't find a tourist information, so I got two different maps from a hostel called Canapé Connection, at which I would've stayed if I hadn't found a host. Then I basically just walked around into whichever street seemed nice (all of them), trying to evade the broken pavement on the sidewalks.

(I saw graffiti like these all over the place - what's wrong with you guys!?)

(Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia's main sight if one wants to decide)

I had lunch in a place called "Made in Home", which had so many mouthwatering dishes on the menu that I almost couldn't decide. I went for the spinach lasagna in the end, it was perfect!

I then went on to see the Sephardic Synagogue and the attached museum. It is the largest synagogue in the Balkans and the third biggest in Europe. It was built by an Austrian architect, and is, according to the map, a smaller replica of the Sephardic Synagogue of Vienna, which was destroyed in WWII.

But it was closed -_-

I took this as the final reason to stay on Sofia for another day - there was so many streets I hadn't seen yet, so many dishes I still had to try, and finally the Synagogue to see.

After a disappointingly average cake at the recommended "Cakey Bakey" I went back to the Palace of Justice to meet up with the Free Sofia Walking Tour.

The tour was good when it comes to the places we visited, because I thought I had seen a lot, but found that I had passed the remainings of the old city walls (it was called "Serdika" back then) several times without knowing. Lots of other ruins were found when the city was building tunnels for the new metro line, and can be seen almost unprotected against vandalism. A proper exhibition was announced for 2013, but that doesn't really seem to have worked out.

We also visited Rotunda church, which was built in 4th century and is now located in the backward of the Presidency building.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the guide's way of taking, and the tour was generally way too slow for me. We could've easily done this 2 1/2 hours tour in 1 1/2 if we has just walked a bit faster.

The next day I had to get up at 6, because Burak had to leave for work so early. The sun had only started to rise when I entered the McDonalds on Vitosha, ordered a Cappucchino, and then waited for Dimitar, my host for the night, to meet me. It took him until around 11:30 am to get to his office in the city center, which was a real torture for me, because I couldn't walk around with bags and couldn't sleep either, but I'm not in the position to complain here.

So when I was finally freed from the burden of my backpack, I went straight for lunch at "Sun and Moon", which has various branches in the city and offers "home-made vegetarian healthfood". I went for some vegetable stew with bulgur, which was lacking some spices, but felt super healthy - there would definitely be some space for dessert ;D

Task of the day was obviously visiting the Synagogue, so that's where I went afterwards. No wait - I got a tattoo first :D

But then I went to the Synagogue, only to find the museum closed again - because "the lady" who was apparently responsible wasn't there. Seriously?? So I just entered the Synagogue, which was stunning. An elderly man was talking to another guy in the front, and when I told him that I'm from Germany, he offered to tell us something about the building - for me "specially".

The construction of the building was started in 1906 and finished in 1909, when the Jewish population of Sofia counted over 50,000 people. The synagogue was opened with the king of Bulgaria being present. Although Bulgaria allied with Germany in WWII, said king refused to send "his" Jews to the gas chambers. After the war almost all of them emigrated though - lots of them for money from the Jewish Agency - to Israel and America, so that the community now counts around 3,000 people.

The architect was the same who constructed the destroyed temple in Vienna; according to my map, the synagogue in Sofia is a smaller version of it. Leon, the elderly man, told us lots of details about the candles, columns and ornaments, which I all forgot, but the architect surely understood a lot about Jewish symbols and numerology.

The day ended with some more walking around, stumbling upon a random Roman wall in between some market stalls.

Hitchhiking XVI (Prištinë - Sofia)

On Monday I had quite an adventure coming up; the plan was to cross three borders, from Kosovo to Serbia, from Serbia to Macedonia, and from Macedonia to Bulgaria, to finally reach Sofia.

I left Florim's place at 8:45 am and walked to the other end of the city for one hour, because I had been too lazy to look for public transport options. 

I walked further than planned, because there was too much urban traffic at the spot I had had in mind, but when I finally was far enough outside, it only took 5 minutes until a van stopped. Besim didn't speak English, but called a friend who spoke German. Said friend told me that Besim, knowing that I wanted to go to Kumanovo (Macedonia) through Serbia  and then continue to Bulgaria, offered to drive me to the border. He repeatedly told me how great my voice sounds, and in the end asked if I also look good - I gm just hung up and smiled at Besim.

When we reached Gjilan, he turned left instead of going through the center, so we took the street that lead around the city and to another border crossing. At first I thought to get off, but then decided it might still be more effective, because he was at least driving me to the border (further North). 

But he didn't. At a junction close to a settlement called Korminjan, about 10 km from the border to Serbia, he signaled me to get out of the car. There was no way of communicating with him, so I just got off, pretty pissed.

But what else could I do but stick up my thumb and hope for the best - two minutes later, an elderly man called Limani pulled over. Later he told me he thought I had a problem with my car because of the warning west - it works!! :D

He spoke Swiss German because he had worked in Switzerland as a real estate agent for many years and spends the winter there. He took me across the border to Serbia (I didn't get a stamp in my passport because Serbia doesn't consider the border a border...), but I misunderstood him when he told me that his village was in between Bujanovac and Presovo. I thought he would use the highway and get off somewhere, but he drove on land roads instead, showing me all the small villages, which are mainly inhabited by Albanians. 

In the end, understanding that I didn't want to take a taxi, even if it's only a Euro, he drove me to a street running parallely to the highway. I felt like its a good idea to try and hitchhike on the highway though, so I climbed over a small fence to reach the highway. 

Of course it was not a good idea. The few cars passing were way too fast to evening think of slowing down, so I climbed back up and returned to the land road. 

Because I was bored, I started walking, occasionally turning around when I heard a car approaching. After not so much time a young guy called Toni offered I take me to "Granica", which I considered to be a town, but later figured out that it means border. Unfortunately he started babbling about him, me, 3 minutes and a Hotel, later extending the whole thing to 10 minutes, and after a conversation that went like "yes, aide" - "no!" - "yes, aide" - "no." - "yes, aide!" - "NO!" - "yes, no problem" - "yes, big problem" - "aide" - "NO! WHAT THE FUCK!", I made him stop the car and got out. I started walking away, but he followed me with the car, shouting "Ok, no problem, aide!", but I just ignored him, an eventually he drove off with screeching wheels. 

After some minutes of walking, Ali, who spoke Swiss German as well, kindly drove me until the start of the higway in Presovo, 5 more kilometers away from the border. 

There I waited for 5 minutes until Shkodran offered to drive me to "Granica" again, so that's when I figured out what it was :D

I crossed both checkpoints on foot, then waited for about 10 minutes until a Serbian couple on their way to Thessaloniki picked me up. They dropped me only a few kilometers later in the outskirts of Kumanovo, on the only road to Kriva Palanka, a city in the Northeast of Macedonia, and eventually to Bulgaria.

After a 10 minutes walk I arrived at why I considered a good spot, but there was hardly any cars, and if there were, they had local license plates. No one driving to Kriva Palanka as it seems!

30 minutes later I gave up and decided to keep walking. It didn't make sense, because there was no major junctions for the next 15 kilometers, but yeah. 

After 20 minutes of walking, I decided to stop again and waited for another half hour. One guy stopped, but didn't speak English, and when I told him I wanted to go to Bulgaria, he shook his head and just drove off. At this point I almost started crying. No matter where he went, the place would've been better than the one I was standing at right now.

Hopeless, I continued walking, this time uphill. And believe it or not: suddenly, a wild bus station appeared! At first I thought it was a Fata Morgana, because nothing was marked on my offline map, but it was real. My excitement reache it's top when I could see a gas station in the distance - I was saved!!

Well, actually I wasn't really, because I had no Macedonian Denars to by a coffee, and the road wasn't highly frequented, so there was literally no car standing at the gas station. Still, the shadow coming from the price column was a relief, and believe it or not, after 30 seconds of standing there, a car stopped.

Dean and Alexander told me they were going to Kriva Palanka, but stopped some kilometers before the town to have a coffee, and told me to continue hitchhiking. Meh.

So I walked until the end of the small settlement, stealing some apples and peaches on the way, because I actually hadn't eaten anything but a "Pop Kek" that I got from Besim, the van driver.

After 15 minutes of waiting, a taxi slowed down. I told the driver that I don't have money (which was true at that moment) and waved him to drive off, but he looked at me with a sad smile and told me to get in. On the way to Kriva Palanka two more persons got in the car. 

When we reached the beginning of the town, I thought of getting off and continue on the road around it, but I thought he might drive me to the end of the town as well, which would be even better. When the two other passengers got off somewhere in the center though, he tried to name me the price of a ride to the border. I repeated that I don't have money. He repeated the price. I repeated that I don't have money. 

He talked to his walkie talkie for some time, while I was looking at the map, trying to figure out what to do. Then he signaled me that he would pay for the ride to the border. Now I felt really bad -he probably thought that I couldn't afford the ride, and didn't understand that I just didn't have cash on me.

But there was no way to turn away this offer once it was made, so we started driving. I really didn't want to have a coffee, but by now I figured out that people here really want to have a coffee just for the sake of sharing something, so I accepted the invitation. The taxi driver, whose name I forgot twice, was really friendly and tried to tell me stories, even though he didn't speak a word of English.

Finally we reached the border, which I crosse on foot again.

There was only a few trucks around, and exactly one car in line when I reached the other side. None of the trucks was going to Sofia, so I just sat down after the checkpoint and waited.

I got lucky after around 25 minutes; the fourth or fifth car coming through stopped. Elena from Romania and Esmerald from Albania, who had met in Italy and got married a month ago, were on their way back to Romania from a visit at Esmerald's family in Albania. They communicate in Italian with each other, and we had lots of fun, mostly because of Esmerald's literal translations into English.

They dropped me at the brink of Sofia when the sun had already set. 

I walked to a tram station for around 15 minutes, where I realized that it wasn't actually 7 pm as I had thought, but an hour later. Time zones, duh!!

Prištinë

Prištinë, as the capital of the young Republic of Kosovo (2008), was on my to-do list mainly because of solidarity reasons. I was also curious about how things work in a country which is still not recognized as independent by its biggest neighbour Serbia. People and guidebooks agree that there's "not much to see" in Prištinë, but I'm still glad that I visited.

I came by bus from Skopje - I would've had to wait at least an hour for the municipal bus to take me to my chosen hitchhiking spot, while the central bus station was only a 10 minutes walk away, so this time it was really way more convenient to spend the 5€ on a direct connection.

Although the distance between the two cities is not so big, the journey lasted 2 1/2 hours. Most of the time we spent at the border crossing of course; on the Kosovar side we even all had to get out of the minibus and have our luggage scanned (luckily, no unpacking). Again the bus driver collected all the passports and disappeared - I really don't like being in that situation, be it only for a few minutes.

Anyway, when I arrived in Prištinë, I didn't really have a place to stay. I had only decided to go there the night before, and my original host Diamant (yes, that's his name) had his house filled with refugees, who were unlucky enough to arrive on a weekend, when authorities don't work at all. He had sent me an SMS though, telling me to find a cafe and contact him when I arrive, so that's exactly what I did. In the meantime I remembered being in contact with another couchsurfed, Florim, so I asked him if he happened to have a place for the night. An god bless the smartphones, he replied within minutes, offering me a bed in his spacious apartment.

(My arrival was greeted by this Bill Clinton statue on Bill Clinton Boulevard - he approved military actions of the NATO against Serb troops in 1999.)

This being set, I still waited for Diamant and had a coffee with him. He is working with EU-LEX, the European Mission in Kosovo, and mostly he talked about how things go wrong - people simply don't seem to do what they're paid for and spend their time in Prištinë's cafés instead.

After I had left my backpack in a café and said goodbye to Diamant, I finally got to wander around the city center a bit. I found it lovely. It's really hard to capture great street atmospheres like these in pictures, but let me tell you that there was people everywhere, from 0 to 99, playing, watching, chatting, sipping coffee, and, of course, smoking like chimneys.

In the early evening my newly found host Florim was ready to meet, and after I had taken a shower we went out for dinner. It was one of those dishes that look really boring on pictures but taste lake heaven: "Tavë" (which originally just means "clay pot") consisted of sliced spicy sausages baked under a cover of cheese, served with bread. Super delicious!

For dessert I continued with another originally Albanian delicacy: Trileqe ("tri-leche"), which seemed like bread soaked in milk and topped with caramel. Delicious anyway :)

The next day I slept in and then spent the day like pretty much everyone else, sipping coffees in different cafés all over the town. It was great to sit outside all day, but the downside of this was that I passively smoked as many cigarettes as when I used to visit my great-grandmother (which means: unbelievable amounts that make me cough day and night).

People seem to have a very different perception of what a Cappucchino is, though. The first one I ordered consisted of milk and whipped cream more than anything else, and the second was super sweet and chocolate-y. On my third try I ordered a Macchiato - and got what we would call a Cappucchino :D

I also left no stone unturned to find Fli, another popular delicacy, distantly reminding you of a multi-layered pancake. I first thought it wasn't more like a snack, but it actually kept me full throughout the whole day.

When the sun slowly started setting, I suddenly looked at the map and realized that I hadn't seen anything at all except from the very city center. So I ventured away from the pedestrian walk a bit, through a lovely park and narrow streets with dozens of newly built houses. Of course, the highly discussed "NEWBORN" monument was on the way as well (the location is really badly chosen).

For those of you who might have imagined Kosovo as a rather conservative Muslim country (like I did, for whatever reason): it really isn't. Like in Shkodrë, I saw approximately five people dressed in a religious manner (one of them was a nun :D), and everyone was super sexy on the streets, no matter which time of the day. I didnt stay out longer that 9 pm, but according to my host, Prištinë has a great nightlife. If you ask me, even if the bars are only half as full during nighttime as they are during the day, it's already a better party than in Vienna :D