Welcome to Plovdiv

Thursday, March 15

We had decided that the best way to get to the Sofia train station would be to take a cab.  We didn’t feel like schlepping our luggage two blocks down the street to the nearest taxi stand so we ordered a ride in advance.  To help alleviate any language issues I used an app for a local car service.  I was able to specify the exact location of pickup and delivery without having to resort to my inadequate Bulgarian.  In the morning, 10 minutes before our scheduled pickup, I received a phone call from the cab company: no taxis were available.  There was no misunderstanding.  The woman on the other end of the phone spoke perfect English.  She said that they would call if a car became available.  The schlepping began.

Just as we were crossing our street a taxi drove by.  I waived to flag him down but was disheartened when I noticed a passenger in the front seat.  He came to a screeching halt, opened the door, got out and shouted something to us in Bulgarian.  I shrugged my shoulders and shook by head to indicate I had no idea of what he had just said.  He got in the cab and was off again.  We were about to continue on our way when we realized that he was probably going to come back and pick us up.  I put my bags on the sidewalk and stood in the middle of the road and watched him; I also wanted to make sure he could see we were still waiting.  He stopped on the next block, let his passenger out, backed up all the down to where we were standing, jumped out and loaded our bags into the car.  I said, “tsentralna gara” and it was his turn to nod his head.  We were off and headed in the right direction.  Ten minutes later we were at the train station.

As we were about to enter the station a gentleman said something to us in Bulgarian.  We just shook our heads and continued on our way.  Once inside the station we scanned the electronic boards for our train.  A gentlemen came by and asked where we were going.  He offered to escort us to track 3, where he said we’d meet the train to Plovdiv (PLUV-deev).  We thanked him, told him we were going to get some coffee and walked off in another direction.  He followed us as we walked toward a nearby shop.  We went in and he walked away.  We assumed he was just looking for a tip. He didn’t get one.

After 20 minutes we went back outside to check the boards.  The train to Plovdiv was not listed.  Several gentleman offered to assist us but we walked over to the information desk and were told to head to track 1 – track 1, not track 3.  That was a little disconcerting.  We headed over to track 1 and, before boarding the train, looked for a conductor to confirm our destination.  None were found.  We boarded and waited for an announcement.

The train was a solid looking piece of machinery.  It was clean and well kept but it had not been built in the last few years.  There was no WiFi.  The cars had a narrow passage way that lead to several compartments.  Each compartment had a pair of bench seats facing one another and a sliding door.  The seats were large and comfortable.  We stowed our luggage and waited for an announcement.  At the appointed hour the train started to move.  There were not going to be any announcements.

We both checked Google maps.  At least the train was going in the correct direction.  We knew that the main line to the East of Sofia went to Plovdiv, Burgas and Varna so we had confidence that in 2.5 hours we’d arrive at our destination.

The train moved along at a moderate pace and stopped at a few smaller stations to pick up additional passengers.  The scenery changed from urban to suburban and then we saw a bunch of old, dilapidated and abandoned factories that looked like they were from the Soviet era.  Soon we saw large open fields surrounded by tall mountains.  The land was mainly used for agriculture.  We spied cows, sheep and goats grazing in the fields.  The scene was so familiar that we could have been almost anywhere in the world.

After an hour a conductor came by to check our tickets.  She examined ours and she said something to us in Bulgarian.  We just shook our heads.  In hesitant English she said, “first class”.  When we had purchased our tickets we had checked them for any sort of seating restrictions.  There was no indication of class nor of any seat assignment.  The inside of all of the cars had all looked the same so we just settled for a car where seating was available.  The privilege of going first class was going to cost us an additional charge of 6 Лв (about $3.85).  We certainly wouldn’t make that mistake again in the future.  At least she didn’t say anything about being on the wrong train!

Eventually Google maps said we were close to Plovdiv so we prepared to get off.  Most of the people on the train were similarly occupied, which gave us some confidence that we were in the right place.  Once on the platform we had to negotiate down a staircase to get to the main concourse.  Eventually we had to climb a rather tall staircase to get to the street.  Deborah had difficulty climbing the stairs with the heavy luggage.  I told her to wait there and that I would come back and carry it for her.  I had just reached the top of the staircase and was about to return for Deborah’s luggage when a gentleman grabbed her suitcase and bounded up the stairs with it.  Deborah hadn’t asked for any help; she was furious.  I watched him the entire time.  He too was just looking for a tip.  We just walked off in the direction of a waiting taxi.  The gentleman followed us and said something in Bulgarian.  We ignored him.  He implored the cab driver to tell us to give him a tip.  The cab driver responded curtly and he left.

Our cab driver spoke perfect English and knew exactly where our apartment was.  We had a very pleasant conversation about Plovdiv.  As the taxi drove away a young woman approached us.  She was our new landlord and was going to show us our new apartment.  Hopefully she wouldn’t ask us for a tip 😉.

Our new apartment is very nice.  It is somewhat smaller than our place in Sofia and there’s only one bedroom.  It has all of the required amenities and will serve us nicely for the next three weeks.  It even has a nice little balcony where we can eat breakfast and view some of the sights.  The bathroom doesn’t have a separate shower.  It’s called a wet room.  Talk about new experiences; we’ll probably have some stories to tell about that.

In the afternoon we walked around the city to get a sense of it all.  It is quite charming.  It is much smaller than Sofia and more closely resembles a typical Western European city.  We didn’t see all of it.  We had coffee at The Monkey House, which was recommended by our friend, the barista, at the Owllee Coffee House in Sofia.  I think the coffee was from Greece.  It was very good.

Don’t fret.  We’ll start taking pictures tomorrow.

P.S. A short story about our phones.  Yesterday my phone stopped working.  We went to a Vivacom store and found that my account balance was zero.  After all of the ridiculous harassment we suffered in Italy with TIM the Bulgarian phone company didn’t even contact us to let us know it was time to recharge our account.  I put 10 Лв on my account.  That should last another month or so.  We checked Deborah’s account.  She still has 5 Лв on account.  At the rate she uses her phone that might last her until we reach our next country.  At least now we know how to check our balances.

Distance walked: 5.7 miles