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Going back to Sofia (for a week)

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

For the first time when I’m in a new country I miss my “real home”, which for now is Sofia in Bulgaria for me. I miss friends, the wonderful people in general, the nature (most of all the mountains), trekking, sports (indoor climbing and so on), warm thermal springs, the great tasting (and varied) food, drinking coffee while walking and a lot more. I also miss being on the road…

That’s why I will be going to Sofia tonight and stay for about a week. What I don’t miss is the cold weather and I know Sofia is covered in snow right now, while Istanbul will be extra warm this week. But I really don’t care right now, and I also left some winter clothes in storage in Sofia so that shouldn’t be a problem (I didn’t bring them to Istanbul because I thought it would be warmer here).

Too bad my Turkish flatmate couldn’t join me this time, would be fun to show him Bulgaria, but I know there will be more opportunities in the future. And when I come back to Sofia next week I will have visitors from Spain and Sweden which I also look forward to! Until then, enjoy some random pictures below from the last week here in Turkey:

Sunset in Istanbul

Sunset in Istanbul

Istiklal street in Istanbul

Istiklal street in Istanbul, with an ocean of heads

Houses in a suburb in Istanbul

A common sight in Istanbul's suburbs

Building construction in Istanbul

Building construction in Istanbul with low security for the workers

Kartepe ski resort

Kartepe ski resort, about 3 hours from Istanbul

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When you meet someone special

Monday, January 4th, 2010

When you meet someone special, should you stay in/move to their country to be a part of their life, but at the same time give up your own dreams and goals? Or should you let that person do the same (if they want) to stay in your country or travel around with you?

I guess on both questions the answer should be NO.

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Torrevieja VS Sofia

Monday, October 26th, 2009

After one week in Sofia I start to see and feel some differences between my last living place, Torrevieja, and here in Sofia.

Most obvious are the weather. From having to hide from the sun in Spain (still in October!) to having to buy more winter clothes in cold Sofia. Some days ago I was trekking up in the mountains in the outskirts of Sofia in the middle of the night to watch a meteor shower with a group of Couchsurfers, and it was below zero degrees with frost. Good think we had blankets and vodka.

Another difference is that almost everyone here speaks English or at least understands it. As usual people are a little bit shy in the beginning to speak but after a while you realize they are quite good at it. I’m still throwing out Spanish words by mistake, but have started to go to a language exchange to learn Bulgarian, as well as practicing the Cyrillic alphabet.

People here are really warm and helpful, but they seem to be wherever I travel. Just some people ignore you in the street when you ask for directions, but that is nothing new either. The rest stops and help you for 15 minutes, showing the path and distance on their GPS and so on. Maybe it sometimes have a small connection with how secure people are with speaking in English.

The prices here are incredible for still being inside Europe (almost comparable to Asia in some cases). You can get a kebab or slice of pizza for 60 cent, normal restaurant food for 3 euro, rent a central apartment with high standard for 200 euro a month, or a central room for 80 euro. Every time you get the bill somewhere it gives you a big smile =).

The food is great. Not only cheap as I mentioned above, but the variety and quality of the food here is really good, and I find so many food dishes here that I have never seen before. On top of that they need to write how many grams every dish is in the menu (it’s the law), which is very helpful. Be prepared though that it can take a lot of time to get the food, and that you won’t get it at the same time if you are a large company dining together.

So far I really like it here and plan to stay for at least 3 months (until January). In this time I will also check out other cities and countries close by as this area has a lot of unexplored places for me.

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The Sacromonte caves in Granada

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

For the last week I have been traveling and meeting people so I’m a little bit late with the postings in this blog. Anyway, one week ago I went to Granada (on my path Torrevieja -> Granada -> Fuengirola -> Madrid -> Sofia). I was supposed to meet and stay at one CouchSurfers place, but she never answered my calls so I found a cheap central hostel instead. For me it’s always worth living central in a city just to save time, if not the bus/metro-ride itself is interesting or the area you have found. In New York for example I lived in the outskirts of Manhattan in wonderful Spanish Harlem which is a must see in my eyes, and still close to the Hyde Park and the rest of New York if you have good walking boots.

Ok so now back to the topic. Granada was just lovely as every Spanish person I’ve ever met before have told me. A lot of tourists of course, but still very easy to find “hidden” spots you can have for yourself or to spend time with locals. One of the highlights of the city was my walk up to the hills in Sacromonte. There are a lot of people here living for free in caves where they have furniture and all the living capacities they need. I had heard that there was a museum where you can see one of these caves, but I could not find it and just climbed up the hills random. Suddenly I was lucky and walked straight into the area where all these caves are.

Sacromonte caves in Granada

Sacromonte caves in Granada

The best thing with this area was that it was totally deserted of tourists, apart from a group of 7 young persons I met and joined. These persons were local students that had just arrived 2 weeks before from Canada, France and Poland. After looking at the cave area we had a picnic break and then did some more trekking up the hills for some hours. Finally we found the way back and went to one of the guys apartment. After some drinks and snacks we went on to his favorite Marrakesh restaurant. The food and tee was great, as for the company, but the best thing was the restaurant owner who spoke 7 languages fluent (Arabic, Berber, Spanish, French, English, German and Italian)! He was also able to switch between them without a problem, sometimes in one and the same sentence. And his humor was great, joking around with us and sitting down at our table for a long time with the result that the food became almost cold before we started eating. Great day and evening and always fun with new friends!

More caves in Sacromonte, these even with solar power

More caves in Sacromonte, these even with solar power

Alhambra in Granada, view from the Sacromonte caves

Alhambra in Granada, view from the Sacromonte caves

Picnic and later trekking with Granadian students from Canada, France and Poland

Picnic and later trekking with Granadian students from Canada, France and Poland

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Brainfood Soundsystem

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

It’s the last day here in Torrevieja and I’m thinking back to all the people I have met here. A lot of them I have met in my favorite pub and the rest I have invited to that place instead. This place is like my second living room and is very relaxed with great and interesting people. I’m not sure if I ever felt so home and relaxed as there, which of course makes it even more hard to live this city and its people.

Every Sunday (and also unplanned jam sessions) some friends who are in a band called Brainfood Soundsystem plays live reggae at “my” place. I love the positive energy of these guys and here you can find a sample:

Also check out their MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/brainfoodsoundsystem

Tomorrow morning I head out for Granada for some days, then Fuengirola and last but not least Madrid where I will fly (move) directly to Sofia.

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Microloans made easy – Kiva

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

For the last 10 years I have gave money to different kinds of charities. Some year ago I found Kiva (thanks to my mother), an organization which allows you to easily do microloans to a big part of the world where it is really needed.

The website gives you opportunity to browse through the database of people that need a loan. All these loans are for misfortuned people that wants to make their own income through starting an own business, instead of just getting money for the moment. Usually these people can’t go to a regular bank because they don’t have money to secure the loan, they have no credit record as they have never been employed before, or they are not able to fill in the paperwork as they are illiterate.

For each person in the database you will see their business idea and how much they want to loan. You don’t personally have to loan the whole amount to them, instead you put in as much money as you want and other persons do the same until the amount is collected.

When you have loaned out money you will get regular reports from Kiva about your loans and repayments. You are never guaranteed to get the money back, and you don’t earn any interest on these money. As you get your money back, you can relend them to other entrepreneurs, or you can select to withdraw them.

The minimum amount to get started is only $25, so you have no reason why not to do it! This is also a great long lasting present to give to someone.

www.kiva.org

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Things can change quickly

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Today I talked with the guy who will rent an apartment to me in Sofia, Bulgaria, because I wanted to know where and how to get the keys when arriving two weeks from now. He then told me that he had changed his mind about renting out the apartment. This puts me in an interesting situation as I already have bought the tickets to Bulgaria and canceled my current apartment here in Spain. I was in an (angry) shock.

Lucky for me the weather here has also changed from rainy storm to a warm blue sky. As I needed a break I went down to the beach for a swim right after sending out some requests to people about a new apartment. The beach had already been somewhat renovated and had just the right amount of people (mostly locals) suntanning. The water was clear and warm, not full of trash as I thought it would be after the floodings. When I came back to the apartment one hour later I already had two mails about apartments in Sofia, so everything looks bright again. I also found places to stay in Granada and Madrid which I will see on the way to Sofia.

This should be a lesson to me to have backup plans more often, but also a good knowledge that whatever happens everything usually works out anyway.

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The last weeks in a country

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Yesterday I had to clean the apartment because the owner was going to show it to someone who wanted to rent it after me. I never like to think about leaving an apartment because I always get really fond of them and have a lot of memories connected to the apartments. The last time it was easier because we were two persons who left the apartment/country at the same time, so we supported each other and tried not to think about it too much. At the same time, we were living there for a longer period in time and also had a lot of common memories and shared experiences.

I always get mood swings the last weeks before moving to a new country. These goes from being depressed about leaving my new friends, going to my favorite places for the last time, wondering if I should stay instead of continue to move and so on. But at the same time I am excited about escaping my daily habits and soon having new surroundings to get to know, while at the same time meeting new people and learning about their culture.

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Trekking in fog, rain & thunder

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Great Sunday! It started with me getting up early (not my style) to take the first bus to Cartagena. There I met up with friends and CouchSurfers and we went by 4 cars up to a mountain. We parked the cars and directly got the company of two happy wild dogs, who accompanied us the whole day. We started walking and after a while we reached the top of the mountain, just to go down a bit again on the other side of the mountain and to a cabin with an beautiful view. There we stayed, eating whatever we had brought, and chatting. After some hours we were back again at the parking place.

Through the whole trekking it was foggy which later turned into rain and thunder. One of the CouchSurfers asked me if I had enjoyed the trip, referring to the bad weather. Of course I had! I rather take a challenging adventure than an ordinary. You feel more satisfied after, you test your limits and there is more to remember.

Mountain in fog

Mountain in fog

Misty forest half way up on the mountain

Misty forest half way up on the mountain

The small huts that waited for us on the other side of the mountain

The small huts that waited for us on the other side of the mountain

One of the playful wild dogs that followed us the whole day

One of the playful wild dogs that followed us the whole day

A hut with a view

A hut with a view

Mountains following the coast, with hidden beaches on

Mountains following the coast, with hidden beaches on

Too bad this is a closed military area so that not more people can enjoy this place.

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The mathematics of running into people again

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The last weekend in Cartagena I got several new great friends. One of these was an Italian guy who just moved to Cartagena to study there for 10 months. He took my phone number and we decided to meet up someday in the future. The next day I was sitting at a restaurant eating tapas in this 200 000+ inhabitants city, when the same Italian guy walked past and looking in through the door. I was a little bit surprised but not too much as these kinds of things happen to me a lot. Lately I have started to wonder if this also is common to other people.

The restaurant where we found each other again was not near any special place nor near where we were the night before. Not either did we have any common interest that could have drawn us both to this area at exact this time. It was just totally random as I see it.

As I now know around 10 people in Cartagena, this should mean that the chance of running into one of those friends are 1 in 20 000. I have only been to this city 6 days in total, which also should mean that every one of these days is a chance of 1 of 3 333 that I run into somebody I know (from that city, if everybody you see is a new face to you). This usually happens to me in a lot of cities, not only this one time. In other case I would also calculate all cities this don’t happen in, to get a lower number.

In a regular active day I estimate a normal person who are in the city center see about 500 detailed faces in a day (this was an empty Sunday, but lets ignore that). That would mean that my 3 333 now is down to 1 in 7, not so impressive anymore.

Of course there are a LOT of more factors, like how good your face memory and eye vision is, how tired or thoughtful you are, if you look at shop windows or people, how many hours a week you are in certain central areas, if you are indoors or outdoors, how many people are around you, if you are sitting still or moving, your and the other persons age, how good looking or interesting they are, where you work, where you live and so on.

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Bottom note: This also happens to me in much bigger cities, for example in London, where I also know even fewer people. And once I ran into a girl in another country than I first met her in (on the same trip, without knowing we were both traveling in the same direction). If you have similar stories, please share them as comments here below!

Ocean of people near the harbor in Cartagena, at the Sailing MedCup Circuit

Ocean of people near the harbor in Cartagena, at the Sailing MedCup Circuit

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