Day 22: Zdravey from Bulgaria!

Hello from Sofia, Bulgaria: the capital of the country! If you take a look at the map to the Left you can find Sofia (when saying the name, the accent lies on the "O"). We will be staying here for about nine days, and then for a week traveling around the country to: Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Varna, Nesebar, Burgas, and Plovidiv. You can refer to this map whenever you're interested.

Anway, I am in a much better mood today and first have to say that JEFF, your comment in response to my Mom's comment made me laugh :) Who knows, maybe I'll come back a changed eater!

So we all said Farewell to Greece today (along with the Greek alphabet) and said Hello (or "Zdravey") to Bulgaria (and the Cyrillic alphabet). The Cyrillic alphabet is to your left. No worries if you don't really know how to read it...I don't either. Thankfully some of the signs are in English here. I have noticed that English is kind of the universal language. If one person knows Greek and another Bulgaria, they speak to each other in English. I am going to take my Bulgarian Phrase Book with me everywhere though. I was really bad about that in Greece and thankfully was able to get by, but I'm going to try harder here!

Brianna C -- Bulgaria is just north of Greece. It borders Romania to the North, Turkey and Greece to the South, and Serbia and Macedonia to the West. To the East is the Black Sea (which is like a resort/vacation spot that we'll be visiting in about a week or so.

Paula -- Bulgaria is its own nationality and so the country consists of mostly Bulgarians, some Greeks, and some Russians. Bulgaria is the national language though and the language the signs and menus are all written in. It is quite different than Greece, which has its own language and alphabet.

Zarai -- Many Bulgarians have traveled to the U.S. if they went to college. Our tour guide's name is Dani. She seems very sweet and knowledgeable. She has spent quite a bit of time in New England. I asked her if she had been to Chicago and she said that she had a friend there, but when she was in the States he was out of town, so she hasn't gone yet.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Cheers,

Ms. G