Since I had a few days before moving to Lisbon, of course I decided to travel and chose Varna as my destination. I wanted to see the Black Sea and I wanted to visit Bulgaria and Varna seemed a good place to do both! Last days in Brasov were a little sad… I will miss the city, the mountains, my lovely apartment and so many people! I was still at work on Friday, half a day, and after hugging a lot of people it was time to go. I know that many of those people I will never see again. Sniff. I left home at midnight, took airport shuttle to Otopeni, and from there another airport shuttle to Varna. It costs a bit more than a normal bus but it is much faster. I even slept a little bit on the bus, and that is very unusual for me. The border was very quick, no lines and there was only three of us in the bus. Luckily I got the hotel room right away, even if it was just 9 am (it is not high season anymore), took a little nap and went out to see the city.
Varna looked like a very nice city! Lots of culture, museums and theatre. Unfortunately the museums are closed on Sundays and Mondays so didn’t get the chance to visit any. I went to seaside of course, lots of restaurants and cafes there, and everything looked nice and clean, and everybody seemed to speak good English. First I walked in the city centre but it was so boring that I started to walk the smaller streets which are always much more interesting and “real”. But I recommend travelling there, very tourist friendly, they have realized how to get tourists who bring money. It is still very cheap, cheaper than in Romania. I thought this tourist area would be more expensive but no, very cheap! I don’t know how are the prizes in areas that are just for tourists, like Golden Sands and Sunny Beach.
I had three days in Varna, on Monday I was thinking about going out of town but I couldn’t find anything but going to Golden Sands and that didn’t interest me. I guess I was too late looking for places to visit, and the places I found are closed on Mondays. But Monday was the only sunny day so it was a nice day to spend on seaside, the first two days vere a bit cloudy and windy, and also cool. I had excellent food, the service in restaurants were great, and I really enjoyed everything in Varna. My hotel was hotel Divesta, located in the city center so I could walk anywhere, but still very quiet. I paid 113€ for three nights in a single room, including breakfast! Nice hotel!
I saw some street dogs also in Varna, but hell of a lot street cats! Especially near the sea, the cats were everywhere. People seemed to feed them and pet them, and cats are good at taking care of themselves. Of course I feel sad for them, but I feel a lot more sad for street dogs.
Photos of Varna
On Tuesday morning I took again airport shuttle back to Otopeni, I booked an airport hotel because on Wednesday I had early morning flight to Lisbon. It was nice to see the scenery this time, both in Bulgaria and also that part of Romania. It was sunny and warm day, of course when I am sitting in a bus! 😁 On Tuesday evening I had dinner with a former colleague who has just moved to Bucharest, it was nice to see him and say bye bye to him as well (he is my adopted nephew 😁). My hotel was RIN Airport hotel, a 4 star hotel but the service really was not 4 stars. The receptionist didn’t even know if I have to make a reservation to the shuttle for the morning! And the wi-fi was lousy, which is surprising because usually wi-fi in Romania everywhere is good.
Since on Wednesday I had a wake up at 4 a.m. (imagine my joy), I wanted to sleep early. Ha ha, yeah right! I slept about two hours, took bus at 5 to the airport, dropped my bag (18 kg), through the security control and passport control. Didn’t have time for much else, just bought a water bottle and waited for boarding. I even took a little nap during that 4,5 hours. I really have to give credit to the airline, TAP Portugal. I got a warm breakfast, special diets are also possible (very rare nowadays for flights in Europe), screen on every seat (I watched Gravity), they also give you a blanket and a pillow, and can you believe this: no screaming babies!!!! Even the seat next to me was empty so it was quite comfortable flight! I wrote some of this text during the flight ☺.
The company has Welcome and Support team, they contacted me a few days beforehand and told me where to meet them at the airport and they would take me to the apartment. I found the person who was picking me up, or she found me, although at first she didn’t believe it can be me because my luggage was too small for a woman who is moving to another country. 😁.
But, no apartments free at the moment so I will stay in a hotel until something is available.
So, I had almost five days to get to know the city. I bought a metro ticket and have used it a lot too for going around. I have been walking for hours, in the old town and enjoying the sunny warm weather and the OCEAN!!!! Well, actually the river. Lisbon is a beautiful city and I can see myself spending at least the winter here!
Here’s a few pics of Lisbon, I will try to make a new post in couple of weeks just about Lisbon, and will put more pictures there.
Tomorrow the training will start (two weeks), today I walked there to make sure that I find the place in the morning ☺. So here we go again, yet another country, yet another city, yet another job and yet another people. Deja vu! And in 1 year 9 months I have lived in 4 countries!
