Crossing the new Danube bridge

It has been a few days since I last updated my blog, so here I go again. Thursday morning we left Sibiu early on the 6h38 train to Craiova (Romania). The trip took us through a steep valley and a river followed us along. We arrived in Craiova around noon and used the time we had to change trains to have lunch and take a quick look at the city.

At first sight Craiova wasn't really special, but when we started walking, we did see some interesting buildings. There were some nice churches and there was a huge concert hall which was build in the typical communist style. Near the concert hall we ate a pizza and bought a slice of pie for the rest of our journey.

When we got back to the station, the train to Vidin (Bulgaria) was already waiting for us. In fact, it was the same train that took us from Sibiu to Craiova. We boarded the train and were impatiently waiting the crossing of the brand new Vidin-Calafat bridge over the Danube. We told our Romanian colleagues that we worked for the Belgian railways and the door to the driver's cab almost automatically opened. I used the occasion to shoot a film of the crossing, which I shared on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/98856192).  Upon arrival in Vidin the border control was almost nothing, there were just one Romanian and one Bulgarian border guard waiting to check our passports at what you could call the 'Danube rail terminal'.

Our next train was bound to depart at 17h25, which meant we had to wait in Vidin for about 55 minutes. This train brought us directly to Sofia through the nice valley between Mezdra and Svoge. Around 22h20 we arrived in Sofia and I was truly amazed by how the city changed. When I was there three years ago, there was still a lot of construction going on, but now there was a brand new metro line connecting the station with the city centre and also the main street (Vitosha Boulevard) was completely renewed.

After checking in at our hotel, we went for a drink in one of the trendy bars on Vitosha boulevard to watch the soccer game, after which we went to sleep.

The next day, Friday, it was quite rainy, but nevertheless we decided to go for a walk on mount Vitosha. We took tram 5 to its terminus near living complex Knjazjevo. We walked towards the television tower and saw the old starting point of the cable lift going towards the mountain peak. The building was abandoned and almost all windows were smashed. Inside we found a gorgeous staircase leading up to the boarding platform.

Since the rain wasn't going to stop at all, we decided to go back to the city and check out what we could do there. In the city the weather changed quite rapidly though and so we went to Borisova Gradina (Boris Gardens) for a walk. Our walk lead us past the old Sovjet soldier monument, which had a lot of anti-communist, anti-Russian graffiti on it.

In the evening we ate a delicious salad in a pizzeria called Ugo and I had a slice of honeypie for dessert.

Saturdaymorning we decided to stay one more night in Sofia, since we had a lovely time there and were to meet up with some friends. At noon I visited my step moms new apartment, which was really amazing. We went to the Krasno Selo bazaar, where we bought the ingredients for a delicious Bulgarian lunch with Shopska salad, grilled meat, Bulgarian potatoes, dessert and a very nice bottle of Bulgarian red wine. We also tried some rakia and Bulgarian cognac. After our lunch we went for a walk in Juzjen park (South park). Our walk brought us to the Paradise Center mall, a new mall in Sofia, which is a big symbol of capitalism in Bulgaria's new democracy.

In the evening we went for a drink with a Serbo-Bulgarian couple in an alternative hidden bar in Sofia. The bar was really beautiful, there was no electric light and everything was lighted with candles. Drinks were very cheap and the atmosphere was just amazing. There was a piano and some customers were playing it.

Today we visited the national history museum, which represents the Bulgarian history from the creation of the first Bulgarian state up until the creation of the Socialist state in 1946. The museum is very interesting, but the most fascinating part for me wasn't the collection, but it was the building itself. It was erected at the end of the 1980's, so it's one of the last big buildings made by the communist regime. The interior is completely covered with marble, the doors are made from thick heavy wood and the park around the museum must have been beautiful once.

When we finished our visit at the museum, we returned to our hotel to pick up our luggage and go to the station to take the 15h30 train to Thessaloniki (Greece), on which we are currently travelling.