Uit dankbaarheid

My dad arrives with two roses (each the size of small fist) out of appreciation! His reasons:- My mom does not moan and because I am the perfectly patient tour guide!

He told the flower seller, I am from South Africa and our President Zuma has 5 wives and I have 2 woman in my life! The flower seller just shook her head.

The true reason though is that he went for a hair cut and now he resembles a jail bird! Ma sê: 'jy kyk nou nes 'n bandiet!' nou moan sy much better!

On leaving the Red House, the receptionist says, 'your dad knows how to treat a woman, waking you up with roses! He is a clever man!' We give her the roses, as a symbol of our gratitude for our beautiful stay!

My mom insisted that I take pictures of the Red House, especially the furniture and the grandeur! We will definitely be back soon but now we are off to Plovdiv, and then to a Spa town called Hisar, to chillax for a few days.

Introduction to Bulgaria

The taxi driver spoke like a stuck record:
Bulgaria my friend politik big problem for 40 yrs! communist big problem!!! My friend put on safety belt, polizia big problem my friend, 100 lev (lions - their currency, about 50 Euro). Dacia cars made Romania. Good ski resort Mount Vitosha. Folk Turkish music.
Rain like mad! Big traffic, drink Kamenitsa and Shumensko beer, very good beer! Ah Mandela big politik! Good politik, Syria very problem, Bulgaria money no problem...mafia problem, big problem Roessia (Russia) mafia shoot shoot finish!! 7 million people Bulgaria all Christiani. All of this and more said in one breath.

And with all this talking talking he doubled our fare but eventually dropped us infront of the Red House!

The Red house is a lively cultural centre and museum, and a B and B too. The house belonged to a very famous Bulgarian sculptor, Andrey Nikolov (1878-1959) that lived in Italy for many years. He was asked to return to Bulgaria by the government, this was before Communism, and he built this house and turned it into a studio. The studio now houses Art film screenings, concerts and dance performances, and lectures often in English...all for free! The bottom floor is a gallery where some of his works are on display, beautiful marble figures and even a bronze of an ostrich too!

We are exhausted and starving. We left for the bus station early this morning and had no breakfast, we shared an apple on the bus. It's now around 3 pm in the afternoon. The receptionist calls us a taxi and sends us to a typical Bulgarian restaurant, where we cannot believe the extensive menu! See www.podlipitebg.com. The restaurant is called "under the Linden trees", on the menu we find:-

Homemade biltong (can you believe it!)
Stewed tongue
Spinach schnitzel
Oven roasted beans
Rabbit in a clay pot
Olives, dandelion leaves and mustard dressing
Shopska salad: tomato, cucumber baked peppers, onion and grated cheese
Parsley salad: parsley, egg, cheese, carrots and walnuts
Chicken hearts with butter
Tripe soup
Chicken livers with plums
Lambs head
Calfs head in tripe
and many more.

We try the soup, mom and dad try the lamb soup and I take the veggie option , bean soup! Mine was truly delicious with the magical ingredient of mint leaves! We then eat a meze (a platter of different dishes) of their specialities. Real Balkan cuisine, all freshly prepared and wonderful.

We get back to the B and B and I see a pamphlet that reads: Free Sofia tour! Join an English speaking local on a free walking tour around the main tourist attractions of Sofia. The old folks are are dead tired but when I mention the tour they are dead keen! I am really impressed by their joy de vivre!

We take the tram to the Palace of Justice and low and behold at 6pm, 2 youngsters arrive with a sign that reads : Free Sophia Tour. Our guide Kris, is open and friendly and very enthusiastic and passionate about his underrated city!

The tour starts off in the Square of Tolerance, surrounded by a mosque, a synagogue, a catholic church, an orthodox church AND a McDonalds! In Bulgaria McDonalds is the 5th religion! Everywhere on every street corner is a McDonalds!

We see a glorious statue of the Goddess Sofia, in black and gold. On the one arm, an owl and in the other hand a crown of olive leaves! She is the Goddess of Wisdom, and she is truly a sexy goddess; the Church in Bulgaria was most upset about this revealing Goddess, she replaced the statue of Lenin, (big joke in Bulgaria, Lenin was confused with Lennon as in John!) that stood on the square during the Communist regime!

The famous Sofia church was next to a market place, and the name came from "I am going to Sofia" as in direction! Bath houses often turned into churches and churches into mosques and then mosques turned back into churches.

Today Bulgaria is a Democratic state with a people elected president and parliament, much like South Africa... But there was no Law of Administration, and our guide believes that their parliament still have members of the Soviet Regime. Like South Africa there is often a conflict between the state and the local municipality! Our guide calls it The triangle of powers!

We see rows and rows of Chestnut trees and roses every where. Turkey and Bulgaria produces Rose oil and you would need 3 tons of roses for 1 liter of Rose oil.

From the square the snow capped peaks of Mount Vitosha, a 2300 m high ski slope in winter and in summer a spa with warm water, is highly visible.

New Byzantium style baths, the Facebook of the past century, is right next to all the religious temples. The baths, till today, are the favourite place for people, to hang out in the Balkans.

We meet 2 British woman that bought a little house in the Bulgarian country side for 1200 pounds. They say it is like going back 200 years, still horse and cart and trading with produce.

Next door a whole village was bought by the Japanese.

This morning mom is busy with the pharmacy...Sy sê: geen geen siektes of kwale of pyne of maagseer of blisters of krampe tot dusver!

The city of perfume

Sofia in Bulgaria is full of surprises. When you arrive and you see all the communist buildings your heart sinks, what an ugly place, you might think...but then, after you entered the old city you get transported into another world!

And the smells! Bulgaria is famous for being one of the biggest exporters of rose oil, and every where you go, even in the taxi you smell the roses!

The best of Greece

My father says the history of Greece, past and present, is the best!

For my mother it was the people and the food!

For me the islands remain unaffected by the economic crisis, even though there are less tourists around, it still is crisp and white and very Greek, in stark contrast with other places that is not on the tourist route!

And o yes the amazing variety of Geraniums!!

Meteora of course is a must!

But to be honest the food in Greece is phenomenal! On the island we ate fresh seafood, mostly anchovies and sardines and prawns of course! On the mainland we ate veal and lamb and chicken! The vegetarian options are completely mind blowing! Everything is fresh and dripping with olive oil, and absolutely delicious! And the sweets of course, soaked with honey!!! And not to forget my dad's milk tart!

I also love the modern fashion, especially the jewellery! Greek woman are big into shoes, and very very much into high heels!

Tragic Thessaloniki

The train journeyed past Mount Olympus and through an area that looked exactly like Meyringspoort. Opposite mom and dad were two young lovers, it became so intense between the two that mom and dad moved to the seats next door. My mom laughed herself silly when my dad tried to put his knife on his belt and when she asked? Wat maak jy nou Flip? En hy sê: nou rape ek jou!

The Thessaloniki station turned out to be a complete dizasta (disaster)! All the lockers were broken and it looked like a junk yard filled with scrap metal, trains rusted and covered in graffiti. I went to the Baggages, waited patiently until a short ill tempered little Greek arrived and when I produced the suitcase of the duchess, he flatly refused to keep it for more than a few hours. Our voices raised a few decibels, I shouted louder and louder, eventually he threw his arms up in the air and sent me to the 1st floor to speak to the station master!

The station master sat in a very sparse office. I explained that my mom is old and that she cannot carry the Baggages therefore it needs to be locked away at the Baggages!!! And I can't help that the lockers are broken!

Always the question: Where are you from! 'Afriki' I say and then he says 'No No No! Not my jurisdiction...private!' By now we are both shouting and he refuses to budge! I say 'We are tourists and you Greeks need our money!' He is swearing at me and the only kind of swear word I know (could be Greek or Portuguese) is molarri (it means donkey)! I now shout: 'you are just a bunch of molarris!' But actually I mean morons! By now the station master laughs so much that he can barely speak! He just says 'pardon madam pardon, I understand, pardon but there is nothing I can do! This is the real Greece!'

The duchess is waiting downstairs at the baggages and when I get back there, I decide there is no way in hell I am going to schlepp this suitcase on and off trains! I decide to find a hotel to store it! I abandon my parents at the station and start wheeling the &@(//;?!! Suitcase through the very run down and dilapidated streets of Thessaloniki.

E...v...e...n...t...u...a...l...y I find a 4* hotel, and at the front desk I tell my sorry tale to the person on duty, the story of broken lockers and the old lady etc! 'No madam sorry madam' and I say, 'call the hotel manager!' He does so indeed and after a few minutes the manager arrives and I say! 'Now sir please show me some real Greek hospitality! You have to help me and store this bag for a month!' 'A month!' 'Yes a month' I say. 'How much money do you want! I pay you now!' Where are you from? 'Afriki' I say, 'but you look Greek' he says! Everybody always think I look Greek or Italian! I have heard this before! I open my purse and ask how much! '€20' he says! I say 'I give you €30!'

Hallelujah the Baggages are sorted! I run back to the station and when I get there my father says there is no train to Sofia! Damn!!! Damn!!! Damn!!!

I run to bus terminal after bus terminal, yes I can go to Albania or Bulgaria but all the busses leave tomorrow morning 8 am!

I buy bus tickets to Sofia and the lady gives me a discount because I have Euro rail! I get back to my folks! Shame they look tired and exhausted!
We have to sleep in Thessaloniki tonight!

We schlepp back to the hotel were I stored the suitcase! The hotel manager is surprised to see me again, 'yes he says we can store our bags for a few hours', 'no I say we are booking in! We are only staying for a night but please give us a good rate!'

St Nikolas has heard our prayers and he gives us a phenomenal rate! And we are back at a hotel with our personalized logo AH, and my dad can use the sauna too!!!

Mom and I then walk through town to the agora and to the Bit Pazar, an old trading area, one of the best kept secrets of the city! It will remain a secret forever as it was totally abandoned, run down and we saw many empty shops! Here and there we saw a few restaurants. But really nothing to write home about!

We saw many many people scratching in dustbins and Africans flogging fake watches and then, the gypsies started to circle around mom! I turned around and showed them that I was going to cut their throats! They backed off but came closer again! I turned around and walked towards them in an aggressive manner. The girl then crossed the street! The boy entered a shop, I looked back and there he was again! I then got very aggressive and he backed off completely! Mom is definitely a soft target ! I will have to keep a close eye on her! Close to the hotel another gypsy pretended that she lost her arm. She walked straight towards mom! I showed her the same cut your throat gesture and then she walked across the street! Phew we are getting closer to Romania and I will have to have my wits about me!

Close to the hotel we found 1 open shop! The most amazing button shop! I bought three buttons as a memory of this strange city.

I got back to the hotel and told my parents that I will be wearing my money belt inside my panty and that all our passports and valuables will have to be in there!

Tomorrow morning I will spend more time in prayer at the St Nikolas chapel, to pray for protection on our journey!

Here we saw the real state of Greece! It is really sad sad sad! No business therefor all the shops close at 2pm in the afternoon. I said to the hotel manager 'Greece should charge for the use of the Olympic flame!' He thought it was a brilliant idea!