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I have to say, our first impressions of Bulgaria were a little underwhelming. It was a grey day and Sofia’s outskirts didn’t look like much. However after 10 minutes of shocked silence and culture shock digestion things looked a bit better. In a way the dull light suited the flaking paint and crumbling concrete of Sofia’s aging apartment blocks better than a brighter sun would have.
We spent our first full day wandering around the city, but first was a very important visit to the German embassy where I finally picked up my new passport in my married name. We’ve been married nearly 8 months and have been trying to sort this out since March 25th so it was quite an achievement to finally hold it in my hands. We celebrated with some delicious ice cream in a 1909 shopping market in the centre of town.
Nearby was the Sofia Synagogue, built from 1905 to 1909, which has recently undergone an EU sponsored restoration project to celebrate 100 years. There was also a mosque nearby, not to mention the many (many) churches. Quite a few of the ruins and buildings we saw dated from Roman times, around 100AD, when they controlled the lands that are now Bulgaria. The Thracians were here before them (from the 4th century BC) but there are no remains from that era in downtown Sofia, though we may see some as we travel around the country. Bulgaria was also part of the Ottoman Empire from 1396 to 1878. In WWII they aligned with Germany (though saved their Jews from the Nazis) but then changed sides to the USSR after the war. They never actually joined the USSR, but were communist, and Russian is still commonly understood.
One of the more impressive sights we saw in the capital was Alexander Nevski cathedral. It bubbled up from the ground with layers of rounded domes and flourishes with its golden domes glinting in the sunlight and reflecting the brilliantly blue sky. Construction of the cathedral started in 1882 but actually the majority of the building happened between 1904 and 1912. It honours the Russian soldiers who died fighting the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878).
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Tags: Bulgaria, Melnik, Rila, Sofia
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From Bergen to Oslo we did the “Norway in a Nutshell” itinerary which was suggested to us by tourist information. There seems to be a variety of itineraries around Norway which consist of convenient transport connections that you can get information about and pre-book. First of all we took a train from Bergen to Voss which spent a lot of time in tunnels. The scenery we saw out the windows was nice when we saw it but it was a relief to be on a bus from there to Gudvangen. It was my first glimpse of the Norwegian countryside and even in the pre-winter drabness it’s easy to see it’s a beautiful country. From Brett’s photos in the summer the brown grass is green, the grey sky is blue and the red buildings are still red.
From Gudvangen we took a ferry along Naeroy fjord which, along with Geiranger fjord, has been UNESCO listed since 2005. It’s notable for its narrowness, with the narrowest point being only 300m across. It was a chilly ferry ride out on the top deck but worth the view as we cruised past cute hamlets of colourful houses nestled between the shoreline and the 1,700m high cliffs. The boat trip took us to Flam, a small town whose tourist industry apparently started in the late 19th century with Brits coming to fish for salmon. Today most tourists pass through between ferries or cruise ships and the scenic Flam railway that snakes its way up the mountain from an altitude of 2m at Flam to 866m above sea level at Myrdal.
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Tags: Naeroyfjord, Norway, Norway in a Nutshell, Oslo
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From Helsinki I caught a bus to Turku, on the western coast. It’s Finland’s oldest town, founded as a Catholic settlement in 1229. I spent an afternoon wandering around Turku castle, built by the Swedish rulers at the mouth of the Aura River and intended as a military fortress. Construction started in 1280 and continued into the 19th century, and the tourist literature bills it as one of the oldest buildings still in use in Finland. It’s variously served as a fortress, mansion, prison and now museum and conference venue. The medieval keep (built in the early 1400s) and renaissance bailey (late 15th and 16th centuries) had interesting and different styles.
Rauma is about 1.5 hours north of Turku, also on the coast and the old part of town is UNESCO listed for the collection of around 600 wooden buildings that are found there. It was beautiful to wander the cobbled streets between colourful low rise wooden buildings that are still lived in and used today. The sun also made a rare appearance, though it was a winter sun that warms nothing apart from photographer’s hearts. Rauma’s prosperity came from its proximity to the sea and in 1897 the town had Finland’s largest sailing fleet with 57 boats. From here goods were exported to Germany, Stockholm and the Baltic states.
Back in Turku I headed out to karaoke with my couchsurfing host. It was so long since I’d done karaoke that I was pretty excited until I realised it was public karaoke, not the private little booths I was used to in Japan. It was fun though, and I got to see a guy “sing” Metallica’s “One” while a drunk guy slow danced with his girlfriend, regularly stepping on her feet. The next morning I caught a day ferry to Stockholm, a 10 hour cruise that took me out through the archipelago with its many islands. In Stockholm I met a guy who also led tours in China while I worked for Intrepid. Pawel moved back to Sweden and has settled down with his girlfriend, bought an apartment and four months ago became a father. Little Ines was gorgeous and Majda was a calm and patient mother. I have to admit I felt a twinge of life envy.
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Tags: Finland, Norway, Rauma, Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm, Sweden, Turku
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For someone who doesn’t usually do country hopping I’ve certainly been racking them up in the last little bit, and it won’t stop for another couple of weeks. I’m still in Finland but now in Turku, from where I will take the boat to Stockholm. Country number 5 in as many weeks and unfortunately currency number 5 as well. I did have to choose European countries that haven’t adopted the Euro didn’t I? Apart from Finland of course.
Last I wrote I was in Estonia, hanging out in Tallinn. I spent a few hours at the Tallinn City Theatre with a couchsurfer and got a great tour of the backstage areas and building. The building is actually 3 different adjacent houses that have been renovated to make one impressive complex. There are 5 stages in different parts of the building and we walked up stairs, along corridors, down stairs, around corners, up stairs, past pool tables and into dressing rooms and basements as we visited them all. It was amazing; I could spend my life exploring all the nooks and crannies. I’d order delivery pizza to a different corner every day and play hide and seek with the delivery man. One of the stages is in the basement and apparently quite difficult to work with, though it looks fantastic. A few weeks ago when it rained the water came in through the power points, which can never be a good thing. Unfortunately I didn’t see a play as those showing while I was there were in Estonian and a little esoteric. As the woman showing me around explained, they can be difficult to understand for a native Estonian speaker.
The ferry ride to Helsinki was short (and had wifi!) and once on land I met up with a guy who was a passenger on one of the tours I led in Japan. We’ve stayed in touch and caught up in Sydney when he was in town late last year (and by random coincidence I was home). He took me to a smoke sauna which is a particularly Finnish style of sauna. The wood is burned in a large stove and the smoke is kept inside due to a lack of chimney. When the sauna is hot enough the smoke is let out and the sauna is ready to be used. My first image of the sauna was two steaming people standing outside the door in the semi-darkness of a northern winter evening. We stripped down to swimmers and headed in, Anders explaining the protocol to this bumbling tourist. We poured a few ladles of water over our head, sat on wooden boards to protect our behinds from being blackened with the residual soot and sat down to sweat. And sweat we did, huge drips of it. There was a lake outside and after a bit of working up to it I went for a quick swim. The water was 3 degrees, and as Anders cheerfully pointed out it doesn’t get much colder than that, even in the depths of winter, before it turns to ice.
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Tags: Estonia, Finland, Helsinki, sauna, Tallinn
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I finally left Riga for the “Switzerland of Latvia”, Sigulda. As nice a place as it was I would say that the label is a little generous. The autumn leaves were pretty though, and I had a great guide who I’d met at a couchsurfing meeting in Riga and who happened to be heading up to spend the weekend with her parents. She drove me around to some of the medieval castles in the area and to the Baltic States’ deepest cave (obviously there aren’t many caves around) which has a tragic love story associated with it. Details vary a little but a beautiful young woman, the Rose of Turaida, and a handsome young man were in love and planned to marry. Another evil (probably ugly) man wanted her and planned to rape her in Gutmanis Cave. She decided that death was better than the other option and convinced him that she had a scarf that would protect him from death. To prove its magical properties she put it on and told him to try to kill her. Of course the scarf had no magical properties and she was killed.
People have been visiting the cave for centuries and leaving their mark on the reddish sandstone. A sign outside said that the oldest visible graffiti is from 1667 but the oldest I could identify was 1822. At least back then people took some time with their vandalism, or paid others to take the time. Maybe it’s just the mists of time but the historical carvings seem a whole lot more beautiful than “Frank waz ‘ere, 2008” scratched furtively with a butter knife.
The castles were cool and I realised just how little I know about the history of this part of the world. It’s a convoluted sequence of influences, conquests and occupations by Germans, Poles, Swedes and Russians with overtones of religion which only serve to make it more confusing to someone who doesn’t really understand why these Christians fought against those Christians when the basis of their beliefs seem so similar. Though the Baltic States didn’t seem to be the focus of most of the struggles they had the misfortune of being on the way as larger powers fought for trade rights and souls to convert. I’ve never associated the crusades with this part of the world but apparently a northern crusade came up this way in the 12th century to convert the stubborn pagans.
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Tags: Estonia, Latvia, Sigulda, Tallinn
