Crazy, crazy nights

Well that was pretty darn groovy. Another of those experiences that you only seem to get while travelling and they come along more often than you'd expect.

I spent the day in Sofia cruising the city, checking out the Cathedrals, markets museums and all that junk with Yianni - a greek dude who I'd met on the train. We stopped at this bar in the evening for a quick beer.

At least it was supposed to be a quick beer. But it turned into three or four, and we got chatting to the barman whose name was Ivan and he seemed pretty cool and the waitress was friendly. We asked them where would be a good place to eat Bulgarian food and they said "here!" so we said ok- pick us something off the menu. So she chose us some funky Bulgarian food which was lush and then we returned to the bar (having waited for the boss to leave in the meantime, he didn't seem like a funloving chap). Ivan introduced us to Rakia, the bulgarian tipple, and then also to Ouzo mixed with creme de menthe which was pretty tasty. We carried on chatting and drinking and Ivan invited us back to his flat to carry on. Bonus! Bearing in mind this was a sunday night, this was not a bad result. So we toodled off to his place and met his bro. Got in some vodka and a slab of cooked meat which they dished up with some of his mothers pickled salad stuff which was delicious. The rest of the evening i'm a little hazy on due to amount of inebriation but I remember learning a traditional bulgarian folk dance, and an impromptu Wing-Chung class given by Yianni. I crashed out at about 5am, only to have to get up at 8 coz the others had to work.... It was really a privilege to be invited to this guy's home and to be there as friends was quite special.

Although heading into Macedonia with a hangover was not so much fun :)