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After finding some breakfast and some more walking in София (Sofia), I suddenly decided to go for a hike in the Vitosha Mountain, which is overlooking the city in the South. The fantastic thing is that there’s a hike path starting at about mid-height, going through some nice point of views, and there’s a bus that bring you exactly there. Best of all, it is a CITY bus, part of София public transport system. That means that for less than two euros, you can go from the city to the forested mountainside in half an hour. That’s some top value right here!

The bus stop is at the golden bridge, a kind of giant boulders river-like line that cuts the forest in half. The path departing from here goes straight up the mountain, at quite a steep rate. I would normally struggle, no, die trying to climb that, but somehow I’m in great shape today, and i really don’t encounter any issues. I guess the four day hike last month with Pierre and Kamel in the Pyrenees was a good training! And also having 10 kg less on my back probably helped… 300 m of positive elevation in less than an hour and a half, not too bad.

After that vertical climbing, I change course and follow a foot path, to find a bunch of big houses that I assume were hotels. However, they seem to be all but abandonned. Unless they are only opened in winter, but in the middle of the forest, that’s definitely not a place for winter sports. Curious…

Anyway, I find a great view point, eating some snacks sitting on a big boulder, overlooking София and the Bulgarian scenery surrounding it. Full and rested, I thundered full pelt back to the bus station, in barely 20 min. At the steepness of the path I was almost running. It felt really good for some reason.

Later in the evening, at the hostel, I get chatting with Dylan and Joyden, two Australian guys that have been travelling around the World for months, and are planning to keep on doing so for about a year. They’ve been in South and North America so far, most of Europe, and are aiming for Asia next. This sounds like a pure dream, good luck to them!