Day 14 - София до Видин - 15 Септември 2019

Day 14 - Sofia to Vidin - 15 September 2019

#София #влак #България #Видин #train #Bulgaria #Vidin #Sofia

Sofia Station

Time for departure again, this time we had to get a train at 07:19. At the station we needed to go to platform 8З the "З" meaning Западна (zapadna) or west. Stanislav was at Iztok or east, so it took some convincing for him to move. There was a lot of cursing but he moved. Very soon we were joined by this old guy called Zdavko. He kept talking about pedophiles and Don Corleone. We communicated in a mix of Serbian and Bulgarian.

Stanislav and Zdavko

He ended up doing some kind of power healing thing on me. He raised his hands trembling, then waived a bit. I said I was "bolje" which is Serbian for better, it sounded like "boli" to him which means pain. Off he goes his hands on my shoulder and ribs and does some more. Eventually he had to get off the train. We passed some decent scenery along the way.

Some of the scenery on the way to Vidin

In Vidin we found our lovely home "Bononia" hotel quickly. Our hotel was not ready so we dumped our bags. We did some exploring, we eventually found the castle. There were a bunch of oldies from the USA who could barely move. The probably worked all their lives and now ofter 70 and health deteriorating they head to Europe.

Vidin Castle

After the castle we headed onwards we pass the ruins of an old Synagogue. Here in Vidin some 49,000 Jews perished.

Burnt out Synagogue

After all the sight-seeing we decided it was time for a pint of beer costing 1 euro!

Me and beer

Meanwhile, back at the hotel they were preparing for a wedding. When we eventually do check in, we try to explain that we will miss the breakfast as we have to be be up very early. No problem they said, they will prepare a picnic that we can take with us. It was nice to have a proper shower, even if it did flood the entire bathroom!

A very happy meal

Afterwards we went for another walk around the city and had a meal and a beer for 1 euro 50 cents. We made our way back to the hotel along the Danube, with Romania just a short stones throw away on the other side of the river.

Beer

We had drinks at the hotel, total bill 5 euros. Time for bed.

In a word: #Евтин