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At the Budakdoğanca, Edirne/Капитан Андреево (Kapitan Andreevo) border crossing at 1:30 AM, but at least this time we don’t have to take off the luggage. It still took about an hour and a half! That’s the price to pay to come back in България!

We arrive in the middle of Bulgaria, in Пловдив (Plovdiv), at the insane hour of 4:50 AM. And it’s COLD. Like, really, really freezing cold. Fuck, when I left İstanbul (Istanbul) a few hours ago, it was still about 20 or 25 °C at 11 PM. Right now it must be close to zero, if not in the negatives. And stupid me didn’t bring a coat for this journey. I didn’t even wanted to bring a sweater, eventually deciding to take it « just in case ». Well, this was definitely a case, and even when waiting in the train station (thank god it was open), I was still shaking, trying to fight the bitter cold. Of course the (fourtieth!) train was late and I went to the platform too early, so I froze my ass some more. Even in the train, I rolled myself into a ball, but couldn’t get warm. When the sun rose over the Bulgarian countryside, I could see the grass being frozen…

In София (Sofia) at 9 AM, temperature still struggles to rise. I would later learn that there was a big cold wave hitting most of Europe this week. Can confirm it happened. I take a hot coffee and a breakfast, plug some Metallica in my ears, and two hours later I finally feel confident enough to go back outside. I spend most of the day walking back to, in and from the city centre. There’s much less to see than in İstanbul, but it’s much more quiet, more my kind of town. To be honest, I’m quite eager to come back to Bulgaria in a couple of years.

4 PM, the bus departs, and we quickly reach the Serbian mountains. Passport stamped in, and I’m in Србија!

Three countries in a day, I’m rolling!

Now that I do this trip in daytime, I must say that the region is beautiful! But as nothing is simple in Serbia, the bus break down. Fortunately, they managed to fix it in 45 min, and we soon stops in Ниш (Niš). I check to the very hostel I missed last week when I slept at the bus station, where I get to speak with an Israeli guy and an Italian who somehow came through Kosovo without passport. Sounds like he wants to be in trouble, but that’s the adventure! I take full advantage of the shower and bed. it’s Monday evening, and it might be my last time using both until at east Thursday…