We've arrived!
first impressions of Bulgaria are those of having gone back in time
to the 19... I want to say 1980s
all the cars are just so old
they're really old
although it's only week one
i'm already getting this overwhelming sense that
this is not somewhere which non-Bulgarians come to
even just speaking English around here
causes heads to turn
i'm used to...
when in the capital city of a European country as i'm currently in
i'm used to people not being so shocked at the sound of English
honestly, we've been out and about everyday
and i've only seen
a small handful of people that appear to be not Bulgarian
and when I say a small handful, that's actually an exaggeration
everyone here is Bulgarian... everybody
so you come to the metro and it's quite busy
not exactly particularly clear how to navigate anything
there's this map here which is totally in Bulgarian
there's this machine here... Bulgarian
and then here.. oh that's good
so i've just turned up at Serdika station
I just got the metro here in Sofia, Bulgaria for the first time
I got off at a station called European Union
as in EU
and I thought i'd be confronted with a giant marble arch
type white granite stone building structure full of MEPs and diplomats
it looks the same as everywhere else in Bulgaria
so...what i'm going to do now? I'm going to get back on the metro, i'm going to a different stop
I got a day ticket, i'm all good to go
I can travel on this baby as long as I like
so that I shall do
got myself a ticket
looks like this
in case you're interested
4 lev, couple of quid
and it gets me on the metro all day long
so i've been riding the metro for the last few hours
i'm in just a random part of Bulgaria, Sofia
I try to not just go to really popular tourist places but also just go to total real... real Sofia places
and I think this is one of them
i've come to the conclusion that a lot of this city, a lot of the country that i've seen
albeit Sofia mostly, is quite similar, there's not a lot of variation amongst those parts
i'm used to there being a really really
posh, nice expensive part and then a bit of a ghetto area
here it just tends to be a lot more...
neutral
i think there's less inequality perhaps
because there's not... you don't feel separated
from any other particular part of town
you don't feel unwelcome in this part
compared to that part
and it's all just pretty equal... all seems equal, that's my take on it anyway
well this is definitely not Dubai anymore
so, one plus of living in (Bulgaria) is you get views like this
i know I always go on about views
i'm banging on about views here, there, and everywhere
sunset this, view that, sunset that
but anyway, I hope you actually appreciate this cause look...
it's amazing!
usually this little river here is just one single stream
down the center
which looks like this
and today it's totally transformed
and I think it's because all the snow is melting
up in the mountains
there probably over there somewhere... maybe there over there
and all the snow is melted
and it's caused a massive, well flood basically or a big torrent of water
to flow down this, what was a tiny little stream
okay guys, i know what you're thinking
Mike, you've been in Bulgaria for 2 months
you've only been in Sofia
why not see the rest of this amazing country
well i'll tell you why, I haven't had a driving license this whole time
I got a speeding ticket back in July or something
6 months ago
and my driving license has been in the U.K. with the DVLA ever since
I finally got it back when i saw my mum last week in London
she gave my my license back so I rented a car today
and i'm on my way to the Rila Monastery
about 2 hours south of Sofia
the snow's coming down heavily, i'm not sure if i'll even get there
but I wanted to explain to you
why i've spent almost all my time in Sofia
now the bad news is, is i've not seen much of the country
the good news is, because of this restriction I've had
there's not doubt in my mind that I will come back to Bulgaria, there's so much more to see
I wan to go to the east coast, I want to go to the Black sea... Varna...
I want to visit the little villages in between
I want to go skiing, I mean... look at this
there're ski resorts here, I want to do all of the above
and...
i really really really intend
wholeheartedly to come back and see more of this country
on that note, thanks for sharing this vlog with me, watching my time spent here in Bulgaria
I really uhh....
love to share all my experiences with you
it was weird then because it went really quiet and I was like.. oh... has something happened
but it's just a break in the traffic
I am Arabic Mike
[speaking Arabic] I am Arabic Mike
[Arabic] I speak Arabic and I teach Arabic on Youtube
I love to have you here and until we meet again...
all the best... wish you well
goodbye!
Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya
Bulgarian National Theater
Fountain at Atanas Burov Square
Church St. George Rotunda
Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski
National Academy of the Arts
Russian Church "Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski"
'Little London' Shop
I generally as a rule, I like Bulgaria
it has its upsides, it's downsides
if you're willing and content and satisfied with living a very simple life
then living in Bulgaria probably is for you
you might like the fact there is lots of history here
there're lots of cathedrals and buildings and churches
and...
everything is old
the cars are old, the buildings are old
some of them are falling apart
but... that has its own appeal in giving it this thing called 'character'
my Mrs. is Asian... how many times do you get starred at?
a lot
everyone stares at you, have you seen any other Asians here?
nope
look what we found!
what - the sky?
no, is that an exaggeration or have you literally not seen any other Asians?
literally there are no Asians here
none... zero
I feel like a loner
have you seen any Arabs?
yes
have you though?
I saw one
when?
ummm....
and why was I not informed?
it's not actually an exaggeration to say that this car here is worth more than all the cars i've seen in this country
in this entire day put together
where's his head?
so all the lights have just gone out in the supermarket
and the shutters are closing
power cut
thought i'd come for a stroll through the park
this park is not quite what I was expecting
more like a forest
second by second, minute by minute, i'm learning to love this place, it's just so peaceful
and considering it's in the city
you can come here... wooded area
it's a total, peaceful escape
♪ 'Norwegian Wood' by the Beatles ♪
so it's a Saturday afternoon, walking through the park there's about 12 guys just sat around playing cards... drinking
living the dream
this girl's got a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other
the kids are just chilling
NBD
no idea what I just bought exactly
looks like some sort of pumpkin thing
if you know me, you'll know i'm not into food
but that is delicious
it's like the inside of an apple crumble
except without the sweet and bitterness it's just very fruity pumpkin
something which always gets my attention is this shop here
it's the shop which sells mannequins
you get a different kind of sunset here
i'm going to show you
look... look at this
it's actually very pretty
you get mist... that line of light over there which my camera doesn't quite pick up
it's just this kind of gap in the cloud... stunning
stunning
[Arabic] beautiful sunset