The beauty of Bulgaria is hidden outside of the capital of Sofia. Such is the case with the Rila Monastery, which I visited 2 days ago. It was so beautiful and peaceful there. This monastery actually began as a hermitage by one monk who was tired of all the other monks and how things were being done more or less, and he actually lived in a cave nearby while the monastery was built by his students. The cathedral, which I couldn't take pictures inside of, was beyond impressive.And since I've officially been in Europe for 4 weeks now, I decided to celebrate by getting on the last night train out of the city of Sofia, getting to the train station at the last minute, nearly missing my train (partly because I can't understand a lick of Bulgarian writing) and arriving in a new city at 1:00am with no definite means to get to the hostel I booked!
Before I left, a girl I had met, Julie from New Zealand, posed the question which I would later ask myself... "Why not just wait till the morning?"
I got off the train, got a taxi with no problem, was going to pay quite a fair price, and was happy as a clam; I would be sleeping soon. This was not to be the case...I arrived at 4 Rilski Metoh Street just after 1:30am, and was all set to let them know how I made online reservations, and that's when I saw this:
Enter, the lovely and picturesque, Plovdiv Hostel!
They offer free internet access, cable TV, DVDs, air conditioning, luggage storage, linen is included, free coffee, free tea and free water, and are centrally located just by the old town and the new town so you're close to everything! What a deal right?!4 hours after these pictures were taken, I actually found a place to sleep! In retrospect, I've made better decisions. : )
