The lace-curtained bus

The hostel where I'm staying is in a small village, so the hostel will bus you into town every day or you can take the local bus. There's one bus that runs back and forth on the line, and it's quite the old machine. For starters, the bus driver doesn't collect your fare, there's a woman who rides along on the bus all day who comes by to collect your money and issue you a ticket once you sit down.

The bus has lace curtains hanging in the front to block the sun, as well as a lace doiley over the console at the front. The suspension isn't too hot, so it's a bumpy, squeaky ride. There's no air conditioning, so we drove to town with the front door open to get an extra breeze. The villagers transport an odd assortment of things with them. One older man had some carrots and herbs wrapped up in newspaper and a bucket of meat.

The twenty minute trip to the city costs about 55 cents (27 p).

Bulgarian restaurants are pretty laid back, which I'm told is typical of Bulgarians in general. In the restaurant sense, your food will get to you when it gets to you. Dishes don't all come out to everyone at once, they come when they're ready. So sometimes the main course comes out before the salads. It can be a little annoying when you're absolutely famished and every one at the table has gotten their food except you, but otherwise it's not really a problem.