Tough travelling.... Sofia to Istanbul

Leaving Macedonia we crossed the Iron Curtain for the first time and entered Bulgaria, one of the strictest communist states during the Cold War.  The grey rain clouds blurred in with the endless fields of concrete apartment blocks on the outskirts of Sofia leaving little to the imagination about its past.  We headed up to our hostel and we were both struck by how poor the city was, with derelict building flanked by decaying houses and hostile dogs roaming the streets.  Having unpacked we walked up to the train station to book our tickets to Istanbul for the following evening.  I was particularly excited about the journey having read excellent past reviews about the overnight sleeper train.  Our suspicions were aroused when we were told we would have to swap on to a bus for the final few hours due to repairs in Turkey but we remained optimistic for the journey.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

We explored Sofia the following day and were presently surprised as the cobbled streets, old tram system and iconic religious buildings gave the impression the city was still in a bygone era.  This was helped by the numerous buskers played the accordion with mournful songs and trying to map read using the street signs in the Bulgarian Cyrillic script, a mission that proved beyond us.  As we stumbled around looking for the major sites of Sofia we eventually found, more by luck than navigation the two main Orthodox churches of the city. The two churches were not just impressive for their size but both contain elaborate interiors with high domed roofs.  The history of both churches seems to fit with Bulgaria’s tough past.  Having been invaded by the Romans, Ottomans and then liberated by the Russians again in WW2 the nation lived under one of the most repressive Communist regimes in Eastern Europe.  The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built as a memorial to 200,000 Russian soldiers who lost their life’s fighting the Ottomans, resulting in the independence of Bulgaria.  The church can house 10,000 people and its dark green and gold interior provide an eerie atmosphere inside. The St Nedelya Church has been beautifully restored after a terrorist attack in April 1925, when a group of the Bulgarian Communist Party blew up the church's roof in a failed attempt to kill the Tsar Boris III. Both were highlights of Sofia for us and the tree lined roads and quaint tram disguised some of the clear poverty that exists within the city.

We arrived at the station early and were escorted in true tourist style by a man who upon walking with us to the platform demanded aggressively a tip worth 20% of the entire train fair.  To add to our annoyance all of our worst fears from the previous evening were confirmed in force as we trudged dejectedly along the platform towards our ‘sleeper train’.  The train resembled the depressing and dank Soviet apartment blocks with dirty green seats, graffiti across the carriage and interrogation grade lighting to ensure no sleep was possible.  Bracing ourselves for the 14 hour journey to Istanbul unfortunately it turned out to be as bad as we expected as numerous delays, a slamming sliding door and the spot lights of the carriage began to take their toll on our sanity.   Crossing the Turkish border at 3 am bleary eyed and sore from the iron clad chairs we boarded a bus along with an equally sleep deprived girl from Consett and the remaining 15 people from their carriages.  From their expressions we knew at least there had been no first class carriage we had missed out upon.  As the bus raced towards Istanbul we were able to get an hour’s sleep before arriving to an oasis of development following the previous few days travelling.  The gleaming mosques, contemporary architecture and the bright lights were a far cry from the last month travelling in Eastern Europe.  We arrived just as the sun was rising over the Bosporus Straight as Istanbul delivered a magical first view of minarets dotting the horizon and a thoroughfare of boats chugging under the suspension bridge connecting the continents of Asia and Europe.  The journey at least had been worth the lack of sleep!