Overland in Europe: Istanbul to Sofia
After 6 months of travel in Asia, and many flights between island countries, I decided after arriving in Istanbul to attempt to use only overland transportation for the rest of my trip, until my flight home.
The first leg of this journey was from Istanbul to Sofia. At one time, there was a direct sleeper train, but Turkish Railways has been working on the tracks for the past few years so this doesn't exist currently.
There is still a night option, with a bus connection leaving Istanbul at 22:00. I went to buy my ticket, aware of the bus connection, but hoping there was a couchette/bed option once we connected to the train. Alas, I was told no, and sold a ticket that didn't even include a seat reservation - just an open ticket valid for 2 weeks. However, this ticket only cost 60 lira (about US $23).
I arrived at Istanbul's Sirkeci station for the bus, along with about 20 other backpackers. The bus was comfortable enough and left on time, though it reminded me of bus journeys back in high school for marching band competitions, because a lot of people seemed too excited to sleep and spent the whole journey chatting.
We had an quick rest stop after an hour, and arrived at the Turkish border town of Kapikule at 1:45am. We were ushered into the waiting room where we stayed for the next 90 minutes, wondering where the train was. Finally, we had our passports stamped out of Turkey and bags scanned. By this time, 2 train cars had pulled up. We were able to board and since it was far from full, everyone could have two seats to stretch out on. Such luxury.
Two German girls in my car were still feeling chatty at 4am when the train finally left the station. Fortunately I had earplugs, which enabled me to sleep somewhat soundly for a few hours, with minor interruptions from Bulgarian passport control. At 9am, we were awoken and told to get off the train. At first I didn't know where we were, just that we were not yet in Sofia. It was Plovdiv, a city in southern Bulgaria. A woman from the railway told us to wait until "eleven and twenty" for the train to Sofia - more than two hours away.
I settled in at the very basic cafe, had a coffee and a hotdog stuffed cheese bread concoction from a bakery. The 11:20 to Sofia was 20 minutes late, but we finally boarded. The train started out with lots of empty seats, but filled up for part of the journey. I had a father and his son squished up next to me for part of the trip. It was heating up and the only relief was breeze from the windows. I dozed on and off, not knowing how long this train ride would be. Finally, at 3pm, we pulled in Sofia station.
I went to straight to my pre-booked hotel near the train station and took a shower. Nothing feels better after an epic 19 hour journey!
vaporwave
romaincrisis
2087
titsay
yousharknotpass