sofia, pt 1

having skipped an hour because of a new time zone (wohoo), i arrived at the hostel at 9am. had to wait 4 hours in the common area before check-in, but no problem at all - it's a really cozy place with good internet and super friendly people. in terms of sleeping situation, you get exactly what you pay for. a long room just under the roof with 9 beds on each side.

the only thing i did that day was finding the next grocery store and buying some pasta bolognese. ate the whole pack. i slept really well considering the conditions. in the bed next to me, there was a brazilian girl who volunteered at the hostel in exchange for lounging. definitely something i'll consider if i want to stay for a longer time period in some place.

the next day, i did a big calorie haul in a nearby lidl. the food prices are really good, maybe even better than in germany, i even hear rumors of a 3€ kebab. next to the supermarket, there was a fair that was shut down due to the snow storm two days earlier. must've been pretty rough, i heard one ot two homeless people even froze to death. that storm was also the reason for all the uprooted trees and fallen branches on the streets and sidewalks. back to what i was saying, the fair was abandoned and surrounded by huge soviet housing blocks. it was a great contrast, felt a bit like the photos i've seen of pripyat (some day, i swear).

i also explored the city a bit. i think you can describe it as chemnitz-like, but if chemnitz was the capital and had some nicer buildings in the center. highlight of the tour was of course my best friend, decathlon.

i went there to get some rudimental winter gear because in a couple of days, i was planning to summit musala, the highest mountain of bulgaria, as well as of the balkans. apparently it's more of a hike with a bit of scrambling at the top rather than any serious mountaineering. i could get to the trail head by bus from sofia and there was even a perfect wheather window from thursday to friday. still, it's not to be underestimated.

there were still a myriad of problems ahead of me, but i was somehow able to solve them all. i had now entered a more analogue part of the world, and i had to figure out most things without much help from the internet. the plan was to wake up early on thursday, hop on a metro to yug bus station, from where a bus should leave to samukov, from where a bus should leave to borovets, from where i should be able to start the 27 kilometre 1600 vertical metre tour. i would have my tent and sleeping bag with me and set up camp just below the tree line. depending on time and exhaustion until this point, i would either make the four hour summit push the same or next day and descend back down on friday.

back to the decathlon, i bought some light microspikes, a face mask and some rubber winter boots, only spent about 50€ altogether. after trying out everything, i felt confident to give musala a shot.Baca selengkapnya