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București [Bucharest] reminds a lot of Paris. But worse, as cars are driven by Romanian drivers. So better off the street, by the metro to the train station.

This train is agonisingly slow. I don’t mind that too much though, but this part of Romania is not particularly spectacular. Just before the Bulgarian border, we get a passport check. Now, it’s been a couple times already that a border guard fails to recognize my picture (can’t blame them, it’s nine years old, I have super long hair and not a single hair of beard). But this one really struggled and fixed me so hard, I started to stress out. He ask where I was from; I said Toulouse, which in retrospective appears nowhere on my passport, which was delievered in Reims, and I was born in Avignon. Then he asked my date of birth and because of the stress, I managed to say the wrong month! At that point I thought I’d sleep in a Romanian jail, and forgot who I even was, Alexis – French – Human… But he just ended me back the passport.

Romania, you were splendid, and really fun! A lovely surprise.

Здравей България!

How large is the Danube at the Romania-Bulgaria border! Magnificent! We stopped just after crossing, in Русе [Ruse, Bulgaria], where the Bulgarian border agents collected our passports as we got off the train. They came back a few minutes later, as everyone was wondering what the hell was happening. They then called us one by one so we could get on the waiting train to София [Sofia], and off we were.

That strange moment had the advantage of making us passengers talk to each other, and in the compartment I got chatting with a man from Lebanon, a woman from Mexico, and a guy from Spain. It was pretty interesting talk, as we raced through the amazing Bulgarian countryside.

I got off in the town of Горна Оряховица [Gorna Oryahovitsa], where I had one hour to kill. In that case, I usually walk around town, a bit away from the station. But here, topology was against me, and the station was built very far from the center, so I didn’t get that far. But that’s ok, I found time to come up with a plan for the rest of my Bulgarian stay.

The last train for today was a very short one, to Велико Търново [Veliko Tarnovo], but wow! What an entry to this town, as the railway crosses the canyon deep under the fortress.

At the station, I met two Australians, Lachlan and Ebony, who were staying at the same hostel, so we did the hike there together. Holy Molly! I only decided yesterday to come to Велико Търново, and I am very glad I did! It is stunning. Fully built on both sides of a ravine, with a fortress overlooking it. Freaking awesome!

We went for dinner with the Aussies, and walk in the old town by night. Overall, a wonderful day of sightseeing and meeting lots of cool people.