Day 15: Bankomat? BANKOMAT!… Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

This is just a really short post to say that we arrived in Bulgaria without being harmed. Which is quite impressive, since we spent 30 minutes walking along the high way, asking strangers where an ATM machine was.

Friday 13th June 2014
The train ride into Bulgaria was a bit crappy.* We slept a little, but unsurprisingly, at 5:30AM the sky was awake, so I was awake. We had to change trains in Gorna Oryahovitsa, but no one told us that we should have drawn Bulgarian Leva out there too… we arrived in Veliko Tarnovo with NO money and no way of getting any. Without walking to town, without a map and along busy highways.

Awake early on the train

After a scary half hour, we found some kind of civilisation. With the help of the new Lonely Planet guide we acquired, we managed to locate the bankomat (ATM) and also a taxi rank. By pointing at the map and casually repeating Hostel Mostel like broken records the taxi driver agreed to take us.

We were checking in early again, we were starving and we wanted to sleep. Hostel Mostel, were amazing to us. They encouraged us to eat the all you can eat breakfast at no extra charge and enjoy an early rest in the dorm.

Later on, they tried their damndest to force feed us beer. We thought about it but then ventured out into town with a couple of other guests to watch the World Cup. A good night was had. The bonus was that I don’t think we spent more than £10 in beers.

I’m sorry it’s not very exciting. By this point I hadn’t had a chance to get pictures of the beautiful countryside. But to make up for it, Day 16 will be a two part post. I have SO much to show you after our day trip in the outskirts of Veliko Tarnovo. It includes UFOs. So be there… or be a knob.

*POST EDIT: If you have been keeping up with my posts you will know that I uploaded this one a couple of days ago (on the 14th to be precise… it is now the 16th). I realised that I hadn’t told you about the man on the train. This man decided to take off his t-shirt right at the beginning of the journey. Now, this isn’t really a problem for me. Yes, he was quite a large man and his sweaty skin flakes were being mashed into the rough carpeted seat, but really? No, I wasn’t that bothered. 

What bothered me was that he had the window open for the WHOLE journey. About five hours of cold, mountainous, night air whooshed through the carriage. Along with one million gnats and mosquitoes. I now have 5 bites. One of which is on my neck, right below my chin. Nice, big, red neck.

Most upset.