Day 10 (Sofia)

Today saw us enter Bulgaria from Hungary (without a new passport stamp – Boo to Bulgaria!) and have a relaxing drive through mountain passes and tunnels. In addition to the border crossing, we've also changed time-zone so we're now 2 hours ahead of home, That's gonna get more and more confusing as we move along our route.

The scenery along the drive was beautiful and there was one particular section that I loved – on both sides of the highway for as far back and as far forward as I could see there were really tall green trees with no sign of civilisation (no roads, houses, electricity poles – nothing but green). Una said afterwards that just outside the city of Sofia (our stop for the night) there were shanty towns on the left hand side of the road. I didn't see them and in a way I'm glad I didn't.

When we got the hotel we were given twin rooms on the 17th floor. They had decor from the 70's and a smell to match :) But all in all they were pretty decent and had clean towels and sheets. The lifts were a bit dodgy, so much so that Michelle, Alet and I got stuck in one on the 15th floor and had a few seconds f panic that felt like a long time.

A big gang of us headed out too explore the city before dinner. Having walked through the park beside the hotel we had to take cover in the metro to avoid the buckets of rain and the thunderstorm. We didn't get to see that much (read pretty much none) of Sofia. Dinner in the Italian restaurant beside the hotel wasn't as cheap as we'd hoped for but it was delicious. I had pasta stuffed with ricotta and pear in a yummy sauce and Parmesan cheese – not a combo that I've tried before so I was pleasantly surprised. After dinner we went to the panorama restaurant on the 19th floor of the hotel to have a drink with the bus crew. The view of the city was pretty ace from that high up.