Sofia

We are leaving Sofia, Bulgaria for Macedonia today. Our bus got in at 5am and the city was empty and dead, but we found our hostel just fine. Our hostel gets the best reviews in the city, but they put us in an annex a few blocks away. It's just a few rooms in an old apartment building. Transvestite prostitutes hang out on the corner, and we have to walk by this abandoned building inhabited by a screaming schizophrenic man who walks around with no pants. We spent three days here wandering thee streets, hiking in the mountain park, finding vegetarian restaurants and drinking in the park like the locals. The city is rundown but there is beautiful architecture and history hiding everywhere. The people all have a hardworking, slightly downtrodden post communist look, which makes for excellent people watching.  Last night we went to an amazing bar that had no sign and was down a dark alley. No electric light , just candles everywhere. It felt like being in a medieval tavern, except for the cool jazz music and hip people.