Sofianetz. Planning Romania's trip. Days 67-69

Days 67-69:

Tuesday was 26th of October, my birthday! Our class-mates knew it, and they received me with greetings. We had a very good group there, they are really nice people. Although I had lost 2 classes and our dear teacher was not so happy, she gave me an academic present: a book in English language. During part of the morning I was the center of attention, not only for the birthday, too because the Greek trip! But this is not new for us (being the center of attention), because here in the University we (the Spanish) are the “spoiled children”, and everyone treats us so kindly. Who doesn’t like it?

 

My birthday. Having dinner in Dybaka!

We ate something quick after the classes and went to Studenski grad to play a football match with some Erasmus friends (thanks to Monroy and Pacas for the organization). After that and the subsequent beers, we organized a humble birthday dinner in my favorite place: Dybaka!! The 3 “Cántabros” and the 2 “Malagueños” were there, having an authentic feast. Later, Iva and Daniela gave me one present each one in the Museum Pub. That was a lovely gesture from them, although the day had some personal problems that fucked it a little. I don’t know why, but in the last few years my birthdays have been a bit bitter!!

Good friends are coming from Spain on Thursday night: Moly, Miera and Viga. They will be here 4 days, and our initial plan was go to Istanbul (Turkey) by car. But when I looked for some info on the Internet, I discovered that things wouldn’t be that easy! Cars older than 20 years are forbidden to enter in Turkey (and my car has more than 20 years old… ). The second BIG problem is that we would need two cars to do the trip (we wouldn’t fit in only one car), and the rented car would need a bureaucratic permission to enter the country (the process needs around 4-5 days, and cost more than 100 € in total… ). Turkey was discarded on Wednesday night…

The mechanics thinking

So I only had Thursday to think about where could we go, because we wanted to do a trip from Friday to Tuesday. But that Thursday I had to go to Iva’s cousin garage, to check some things in my car. At the beginning, I only went there to an oil change, but everything got worse. We also had to change the oil filter, petrol filter, anti-freezer water and other smaller shit. There were two mechanics there, and they were surprised when noticed that the original engine (GTD, 65 hp) had been replaced (for a TDI, 90 hp). The previous owners had done several fixes to the car, in a demonstration of Italian craftwork. Another things like the 4 disc brakes or a complete covering for the engine, were not normal in that model. The mechanics told me that it was a bit strange… It seemed like the car had been stolen or something like that. But the fact was that the car worked perfectly and all the papers were in order, so I didn’t care!! Fuck, we are in Bulgaria and I have bought the car in a very strange circumstances, what could I expect?? 

So we had been there all the afternoon, in an illegal garage in the Sofia outskirts, at around 0ºC. And they wanted to charge me a very very low price… around 35 €. They are good people, but I paid more because I didn’t want to take advantage of their generosity (and I knew I'll have to go there more times!).

Once with new blood in the car, I returned home to plan our trip in a record time. It was 9 PM and my friends were coming at 1 AM. In that time I prepared an improvised plan, going to Bucharest (Romania!!) and doing a trip around Transylvanian’ most famous places. It’s all EU, so we wouldn’t have any problems with the cars’ papers.

The garage in the outskirts

I went to the airport at 1 AM, but nobody was there. Shit! The flight had been delayed, so I went back home, took a shower and ate something. At 3.15 AM I returned to the airport and met with the Spanish expedition! I carried them to Alexander Nevski cathedral, the most impressive thing in Sofia. During the night, it’s particularly beautiful.

After that, and as I had promised them, we went to Dybaka!! It was around 4 AM, and a waitress received us badly, because she thought that we were drunk or something like that! I replied offended (we are not drunk today!! haha), and another waiter came quickly, fortunately to offer us a table with good manners. I don’t know if I had mentioned that here in Sofia, young people are usually very smart and fashioned, and Spanish manners are more relaxed in this aspect (we are an example). Dybaka opens 24 h a day.

During the dinner we ate like pigs (literally), with Miera on-fire, throwing the meat into the beer and similar stuff. Maybe the waitress was right when she didn’t want to let us enter. At home around 5 AM, Moly and Miera in my flat, and Viga in Monroy and Pacas’ flat. Tomorrow will be a long day!

Montenegro. Day 26

Day 26:

We woke up around 9:00, and had breakfast in our modest terrace. Apartments Lagator is the name of this pretty place. We have slept here for 6 € per person, in a room with bathroom. Ok, we hadn’t T.V. or other comforts like that… but I think it was one of the best places I have ever been for this price… Recommended.

We drove for a while heading north, and received a shock when entering the Bay of Kotor, and in its main village: Kotor. First of all, that strange and surreal castle in the top of a hill, surrounded by impressive 4 km long ancient walls that go from the top of the hill to the level of the sea (260 meters drop!). There is no doubt… this wonderful place was one of the highlights of our trip around Balkans. In fact, it's an Unesco World Heritage Site. Walking through its streets is like returning to the XIII or XIV century (forget the tourist crowd …), and that walls… Have I mentioned the walls?? I have never seen a madness like that around Europe…





Views over Kotor Bay



It’s possible to reach the top of the hill (where the castle is), going upstairs following the ascension of the walls… but at that moment, with around 30ºC, it wouldn’t seem the best idea. I chose another option, less hard for me, but the HARDEST one for my car: drive all the mountain road to the top of the Bay of Kotor, in the slopes of Mt. Lovcen. Amazing!!! It was an exciting driving, going through tens of hairpin bends. Finally… Wow!! Impressive panorama over the Bay, the largest one in the South of Europe, and surrounded by big mountains.

Driving around Kotor Bay

The next village in our way to the north was Perast, another interesting place. The road goes round all the Bay, so we had enough time to see it again, but this time from the bottom. After that was time to approach the frontier zone, where Herceg Novi is. We passed through the touristic and historic village, but we didn’t see noticeable things around there. We were a little disappointed about this place, but no problem: Dubrovnik is on our horizon. After crossing the frontier between Montenegro and Croatia (less than 10 minutes there), we stopped in Cavtat, a beautiful coastal village. We went for a walk by the seaside, and a little swim in those crystalline waters.

Perast

Swimming in Cavtat

A few kilometers more, and we arrived Dubrovnik at dusk. The city has a problem of space, because it’s in a hillside and houses are almost one above the other. The streets are very narrow and it’s usual they don’t have enough space for two cars passing at the same time. It’s a little madness. Finally we found our guest-house, with our spanish-speaking host waiting for us. The place had a nice terrace and views over the new city (not the old one, unfortunately). We were very tired, and we spent the rest of the day having dinner and resting in the room. Tomorrow morning we are going to explore the marvelous Old City, because today was only on our sight from a distance.

Dubrovnik at dusk

Again, grammar corrections are welcomed... 

This time is Ozzy who says good bye ...!!!