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Other entries in Veliko Tŭrnovo

Writing Morning, Велико Търново

I spent the morning writing and chatting with the English Varna crew.  It was starting to feel like something of a theme. I decided to try for a  2:00 bus, It was a full 30 minutes walking and I missed the bus by a few minutes because it actually left promptly instead of late. There were about 5 companies selling tickets and departures all day long to Veliko Tarnovo. Luckily for me it was on the way to Sofia and every Sofia bus stopped there. I bought a ticket for 3:00 and was happy with the price.  I went to the bus station café which was upstairs and serving a meat and potatoes type fair.  Even better was that they had each item on display so that I could point to what I wanted. Meat and potatoes and a draft beer was 2 dollars.  As I was finishing my beer a stranger came and sat down in my booth.  It was strange because while the place was busy there were empty seats available.  Even stranger was that he did a fine job of ignoring me completely, which made me feel uncomfortable.  The whole thing did, but I wasn't going to rush through my beer to placate  my sense of cultural panic.

The bus was posh and even had a bar and a toilet. They played a bad Hollywood film called Wise Girls which I actually watched. The dramatic moment was when the medical school dropout main character tries to save the life of the undercover mafia buster cop by stabbing her in the lungs with a steak knife to keep her from drowning in her own blood and then gets shot by cops.  What a martyr. Bad acting horrible dialogue, does it get any better?  Or Worse?

 The bus was half full and comfortable. The scenery was beautiful rolling green hillsides.  I certainly felt like peace.  When the bus ride was over after 3 hours I found myself wishing it could have gone on longer. I spent the last hour of the ride, writing on my laptop.

The directions I had for accommodation were iffy in ways that I could recognize before I got there, so I wrote down directions for two places and then decided I would stay at whichever was easier to find.  There was a standard 15 minutes of confusion and a 15 minute walk to the Nomads Hostel.  The place was nice with large lounge area that was sadly lacking a couch. There weren't many guests and at times it felt more like a shared apartment then a hostel. New Zealand Liam who I had met in Brasov, Romania was staying there along with his quasi girlfriend that he met in Brasov after I left.  He was working in IT as a programmer and financing himself all over the world on 20 hours of work or less a week.  In some sense that made him my hero.

He told me that the hostel staff had warned him about my hostel nemesis in Brasov and that there was a reason the dorm he stayed in was mostly empty.  I also learned that he had been staying there a long time and was well known for his tv channel changing abilities and crabby demeanor.  At least I picked the right nemsis. I was in small part worried that a nemesis says more about me than about the nemisis himself.

Veliko Tarnovo was the old capitol of medieval Bulgaria and the town is built into hillsides.  This gives it a terraced type appearance and gives it scenic charm. I quickly went back out for some beer and some chocolate for a relaxing evening. There was some conversation and casual drinking.  I wish more hostels were like that place.

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