Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, but it has a distinctly different feel. Whereas Sofia was designed as a capital city with all of its grandeur and authoritativeness, Plovdiv is more laid back and the Old Town area is spectacular. I realize I say this about many places I visit, but I can't help being romanced by well-preserved old buildings and cobblestone lanes. And the streets of old town Plovdiv are some of the most cobbled I've seen.
Getting to Plovdiv in the first place was an interesting experience. I inadvertently picked the Friday before a holiday weekend (5/1 is Labor Day) to travel, which meant horrible crowds. And what I thought was the bus station turned out to the train station next door, but since time/price is basically the same, I just went along with it. The bad news is the ticket office continues selling tickets for a particular train even after it has run out of seats. The trick is to buy a ticket with a seat reservation but really...how was I supposed to communicate that with the clerk? So I end up standing in the aisle for the two and half hour ride between Sofia and Plovdiv, but I was in good company. The good news is I met a really nice girl before boarding the train who turned out to be my little savior of sorts. She was traveling home for the weekend and offered me a ride to my host's shop after we got off the train. We weren't even in the same cart (she knew what to do to ensure a seat) and she found me after everyone got off - how sweet is that?!?
My host this time is a middle aged man who works in a Mercedez-Benz shop selling spare parts. One of my favorite things about Couchsurfing is you get to meet so many different people from different walks of life, and also experience some solid middle-class living. This guy compared to my last host in Sofia is like night and day. Veneta (in Sofia) would ask me at 9pm, "So what do you want to do tonight?" Zarko (in Plovdiv) basically ends his day at 7pm and his favorite part of the day is lying on the couch at 9pm watching TV. I can hang with both. It's a nice change after the midnight meals and late night concerts in Sofia. He's a very gentle soul though. The apartment is spotless, he re-peels potatoes after I've peeled them, and this morning I saw him ironing his t-shirt.
I forgot to mention he's a pretty decent cook and has exposed me to a couple of Bulgarian dishes since I've been here. Last night we made this bizarre dish of which I don't remember the name. It consisted of a whole plate of Bulgarian yogurt, couple of poached eggs on top, minced garlic, and topped off with melted butter and paprika. Who knew those things would go together and yogurt could be eaten as a meal? Speaking of, I've been eating a LOT of yogurt here - goodbye osteoporosis! Apparently yogurt originated in Bulgaria and it shows. Tonight actually, I had a yogurt soup called tarator. It's cold liquid yogurt with cucumber, walnuts, garlic and dill. Quite refreshing on a unseasonably hot spring day. We also pre-made moussaka last night and had it for dinner today.I got a tip from my Sofia tour guide on traveling in the Balkans. She said people are very territorial about their food and will claim something as their own. The polite and sensible thing to do is eat it, say it's delicious, and not debate its origins, because otherwise you will get into a fight. I always thought moussaka was Greek but of course I kept my mouth shut, except to eat copious amounts of Bulgarian moussaka.
Getting to Plovdiv in the first place was an interesting experience. I inadvertently picked the Friday before a holiday weekend (5/1 is Labor Day) to travel, which meant horrible crowds. And what I thought was the bus station turned out to the train station next door, but since time/price is basically the same, I just went along with it. The bad news is the ticket office continues selling tickets for a particular train even after it has run out of seats. The trick is to buy a ticket with a seat reservation but really...how was I supposed to communicate that with the clerk? So I end up standing in the aisle for the two and half hour ride between Sofia and Plovdiv, but I was in good company. The good news is I met a really nice girl before boarding the train who turned out to be my little savior of sorts. She was traveling home for the weekend and offered me a ride to my host's shop after we got off the train. We weren't even in the same cart (she knew what to do to ensure a seat) and she found me after everyone got off - how sweet is that?!?
My host this time is a middle aged man who works in a Mercedez-Benz shop selling spare parts. One of my favorite things about Couchsurfing is you get to meet so many different people from different walks of life, and also experience some solid middle-class living. This guy compared to my last host in Sofia is like night and day. Veneta (in Sofia) would ask me at 9pm, "So what do you want to do tonight?" Zarko (in Plovdiv) basically ends his day at 7pm and his favorite part of the day is lying on the couch at 9pm watching TV. I can hang with both. It's a nice change after the midnight meals and late night concerts in Sofia. He's a very gentle soul though. The apartment is spotless, he re-peels potatoes after I've peeled them, and this morning I saw him ironing his t-shirt.
I forgot to mention he's a pretty decent cook and has exposed me to a couple of Bulgarian dishes since I've been here. Last night we made this bizarre dish of which I don't remember the name. It consisted of a whole plate of Bulgarian yogurt, couple of poached eggs on top, minced garlic, and topped off with melted butter and paprika. Who knew those things would go together and yogurt could be eaten as a meal? Speaking of, I've been eating a LOT of yogurt here - goodbye osteoporosis! Apparently yogurt originated in Bulgaria and it shows. Tonight actually, I had a yogurt soup called tarator. It's cold liquid yogurt with cucumber, walnuts, garlic and dill. Quite refreshing on a unseasonably hot spring day. We also pre-made moussaka last night and had it for dinner today.I got a tip from my Sofia tour guide on traveling in the Balkans. She said people are very territorial about their food and will claim something as their own. The polite and sensible thing to do is eat it, say it's delicious, and not debate its origins, because otherwise you will get into a fight. I always thought moussaka was Greek but of course I kept my mouth shut, except to eat copious amounts of Bulgarian moussaka.
Solid intel from your guide!
ReplyDeleteGoes to show that while there's nothing new under the sun, most of it is fortunately delicious.
-dg