Whether traveling by bus or train often I saw not flattering view - traces of littering. I don't know if in Bulgaria they organize such events too, but in Latvia around spring time there is a day when all (mainly most diligent) people collect trash from pavements, streets, forests, etc. other left by careless people. Bulgaria really need this event! :D
I already posted a lot of things which I found unusual especially in first impression posts. But I still have to add few more things.
I don't know if it's just in Lovech (probably not the only ones), but people there leave their shoes before going inside apartment. I mean, ok, it is polite to take off the shoes right after you go through the doors, but first time I saw someone leave shoes in staircase.
Soviet like and souvenirs with communist symbols was really a surprise for me.
First time I saw people riding with horses as a part of traffic was in Kazanlak. But this view I saw almost in every place I went. Even in capital!
Speaking about transport, it's really cheap in Bulgaria to travel. Even taxi is relatively cheap. And, for example, in Sofia just buying 1 day ticket (4leva) I could ride with every kind of transport (like metro, trams or buses) all day long how much I want. And even more convenient is hitchhiking in Bulgaria. Well, I wasn't so courageous to travel like this alone.
But sometimes the transport can annoy, especially train! Every train I took was late. The longest time I had to wait for the train was for 4 hours. Ok, I came too early, I was in the train station an our before it should arrive, but it was late for 3 hours! And just to mention - do not trust bus and train tabloids in Bulgaria! :D
But that didn't surprise me as I had experience in waiting for Bulgarians who are late. Actually, I have heard that this postponing have been life saving if we look way back in history. Fore example, when Bulgaria postponed deportation of Jews in WWII. Thanks to lying and postponing many lives were saved. If I remember right, Bulgaria and Denmark were those two countries which refused to deport Jews.
This interesting fact and many more I found out thanks to Free Walking Tours which are very well organized and guided by students in the most popular cities (Sofia, Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo). Such a pity that I missed tour in Plovdiv. I have heard that they are really entertaining. Well, but it would be even more interesting to visit it in 2019, when it will be Europian Capital of Culture!
Also I learned a lot from foreigners which I met through couchsurfing and I almost (not really) learned Bulgarian traditional folk dance. At least I tried. At least the folk music was enjoyable, I mean, it was not pop-folk music... Speaking of pop, when I first heard this genre of music called chalga I was shocked that there are actually people who are enjoying this bizarre and nonsense lyrics!
But the very first thing I was shocked with when I came to Bulgaria were the posters with the pictures and names of dead people everywhere! Right after when I arrived in Shipka and saw this wall full of them my first thought was that those all are the lost people. Second though, more like a question to myself, was: "Where in the world am I???" To calm down myself the next day I went to see these posters closer and from the content and numbers I realized that with these posters people are letting others know who died or asking for a prayer. But still this took a long time to get used to.
Even in the graveyards they have weird tradition. When there is a day when people go to cemetery to clean and change the flowers on the graves of their relatives there are some people who give food, mainly snacks, to other which they meet in cemetery. Unfortunately I don't remember the meaning of this and can't find it on Internet. Well.. I know some people put food one the graves, but seeing that they give it to the living ones was something new. Surely, in a way it makes more sense, because spirits can't eat and digest it...
The second fear I had to get over and get used to were dogs wild without any owner. Luckily they were not aggressive at all! Sometimes I even wondered if they are still alive when I saw some sleeping somewhere on the side of the pavement.
Overall the time spend in Bulgaria was full of real adventures and surprises. I met so many nice and interesting people and saw so many picturesque places. The memories of Bulgaria will always make smile on my face when recollecting them. For me this country seems like undervalued or even hidden treasure. Before my trip I was searching for information about this country and tried to find a travel-guide like literature in my language, but there weren't much. Maybe it was even for the best- to go there not knowing a thing and just being open to every new surprise Bulgaria offered.
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