Blogs we like

This morning over breakfast (running to the much more sociable hour of half 10, meaning a 10:25 rise for me) I had a most Interesting chat with a Melbourne lad with Greek parents. There was a joint discussion on SEO, I explained the Blogsherpa program to him and he TEFL to me. TEFL is something I’d heard of before and I may well try and complete a quick online course in it when back in Blighty in December. It could prove useful post Australasia adventure, i.e. Asia.

I saw a Twiiter post (tweet to the initiated) yesterday from the fellas over at Hey! Manchester raving about the KEXP Music That Matters podcast. They are usually on the money so I’ve given it a whirl and have not been disappointed. If like me, you like lo-fi indie and Americana, fill your boots.

I’m having a bit of trouble working out my route at the moment. But I’ve just sat down for an hour and had a go, here’s the latest draft:

Sofia-Skopje-Pristina-Podgorica-Kotor-Tirana-Ohrid

Or in country form:

Bulgaria-Macedonia-Kosovo-Montenegro-Albania-Macedonia (again)

After that I’ll be heading south, ultimately to Athens and then a ferry crossing from Patra to Italy. Route yet to be formalised!

It’s a very overcast day here in Sofia but I’m not going to let that daunt me and shall shortly be going on a heavy duty walk around the city. I’m armed with the excellent Hostel Mostel map that has pretty much everything you could want on it detailed. Jobs a good ‘n.

The sun has come out now and I’ve just sorted my bus ticket to Skopje, 32 Lev with my ISIC. It’s 16:00 and I’ve not ate since breakfast so time to grub up now.

While looking for somewhere to eat I nipped into a supermarket to get some apple juice (which is pretty much as close as I get to fruit nourishment on my adventures). There were 3 kids who were definetely no older than 14 all stocking up on beer, the checkout lady didn’t bat an eyelid. Bulgaria eh.

I’m sat in Cactus and have ordered the Teriyaki duck fillet with coriander rice noodles. I nearly opted for the pork chop and potatoes with barbeque sauce but decided to leave my comfort zone just a little. A pint of Zagorka is the accompaniment. The food was a posh portion (i.e. not that large) but absolutely lovely. The main was about half as much again as it said on the menu, I’m not sure why. I didnt say anything as for what I ate and a beer it came to the equivalent of less than 8 quid anyway, which isn’t bad at all for what I got.

Plus it’s a free beer and pasta in the hostel tonight. Geordie joy juice.

Bugger, I have just realised I’ve got teriyaki sauce on my City shirt. Classy eh. Those noodles do tend to lead to a bit of splash back though. Bugger. To disguise my shame I’ve whacked my North Face jacket on but it’s far too hot to be sporting such clothing, 15 minutes to the hostel and with a quick change all will be right with the world again.

I’m a little bit worried about catching the The Villains vs The Citizens game this eve. Hopefully I’ll just buy some cans in and watch it at the hostel but it’s quite a busy place so someone could scupper my plans by whacking a DVD on at half 8 or something, it’s a 10 o’clock KO local time so in theory I’d have to guard the telly from about 8 which would be a right pain.

My plan is to guard from about half 9 and then if someone is already watching Saw VIII I’ll have to leg it to one of the Irish pubs on my map. This in itself is risky as the game won’t finish to getting towards midnight and I think they’ll want to chuck out before then. If it does come to that maybe they’ll take pity on me and let me see it out, especially if Martin Petrov is having a blinder.

Okay, I’ve just made an executive decision; I’m not going to go to Rila Monastery tomorrow. I’m sure it’s very nice and everything but it will save me €20 and give me the chance to do the full on tour of Sofia I intended to do today as it’s a bit late in the day for it now. Also it will give me the chance to have 3 consecutive decent night’s kip in a row for a long long time as I won’t need to get up early. Although I’d really like to see the monastery (and shall do one day), that’s a rather hefty plus column in my book.

To celebrate this decision I’ve just bought six 500ml bottles of different brand beer while listening to British Sea Power. The running order shall be Stella Artois, Zagorka, Becks, Kamenitza, Staropramen and Apuaha.