It's Day 11. And it's time to leave Sofia. Somewhat sadly, as it's been very good to us.

We had a slightly farcical start to the day. Yesterday evening we spilled some fizzy water on the sofa. Water, mind you, not red wine or coffee or one of those other tricky substances. Surely not a problem, we thought. Well, this water left a mark. So the early hours of this morning found us not only packing and tidying up, but also sponging and hair-drying the sofa. Awesome...

But we were still able to leave the apartment at 5.45, as planned. Sofia is up and about by then, so our walk to the station wasn't the deserted route I'd worried it might be. We'd already checked that the station food outlets would be open at that hour (they kick off at 0600), and so we had no problem arming ourselves with provisions for the journey. Don't expect anything low-carb, but we found we were well sustained for the 10-hour journey with a banitsa each (judging by the quantity on offer at the station, no-one is allowed to get on a train without a banitsa), and a large, crescent-shaped bun filled with a kind of fruit paste.


Farce took over again at that point. Firstly, we got lumbered with one of the nuisances that often frequent transport hubs. They offer "help" that you haven't asked for, and then want to be paid for it. We're usually pretty good at shaking them off, but this one stuck like glue. We finally got rid of him by offloading the Bulgarian small change that we'd been planning to leave behind anyway. "A small amount," he said, plaintively. "Tough," we said, unsympathetically. I'm sure there was enough for him to buy himself a banitsa.

The second element of ridiculousness was that the wagon in which we had reserved seats didn't exist... Fortunately, there were plenty of other seats. In fact, we had a compartment to ourselves. Pretty nice, actually. Plenty of space, electric sockets... The windows were a bit grubby, but hey, you can't have everything.




We had always known that this first train would take us only as far as Ruse, where we'd have to change (there's a through-train to Bucharest only in the summer season). But then this googly of a place called Gorna Ojahovitsa started to appear on our radar. It seemed we would arrive there on one train (No. 2601), and depart 25 minutes later on another one (No 462). Did this mean another change of trains, then? It turned out it didn't. You've just got to be careful to get into one of the three coaches that run all the way to Ruse, as opposed to one of the others that terminate at Gorna Ojahovitsa.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... We left promptly at 0705. There was a bit of a worrying moment when the ticket collector seemed to be completely baffled by our tickets (these were the ones we'd bought at Sofia station, not some weird internet ticket or other oddity). But eventually he decided he was cool with everything.

Once that was over with, we could enjoy the scenery. Which was truly spectacular. The line winds along the Iskar River, through wooded hills and spectacular gorges. The photos aren't fabulous (grimy windows, lurching train...), but they give you a bit of an idea:








I've discovered that audiobooks, along with all their other advantages, are really great for train rides... You're not distracted from the scenery, as you are by reading a book, but you're still entertained by your story.

Anyway, we arrived in Ruse at 1320. It's a nice-looking station, but don't expect anything in the way of food. A fellow-traveller did succeed in getting coffee from a machine, but I think that's pretty much it as far as F&B provision goes.




Not to worry, because we were off again at 1415. On what looked to me like a commuter train. A far cry from our former plush abode:


The Bulgarian border officials check your passports on the train before you leave, and we had a bit of drama when the train set off with the officials still aboard... There was lots of shouting and laughter, the train stopped, and our officials were able to make good their escape.

The River Danube marks the border here. The Danube! PT -- nothing if not geographically challenged -- was very surprised to encounter the Danube here. Surely the Danube is an Austrian river... But it flows east into the Black Sea... Who knew?



Once over the border, you stop at Giurgiu North for 20 minutes so that the Romanians can check the passports (we were there at 1440, and away again by 1500).


For a while you ride along a ridge (the view at the top), and then the scenery turns into something closely resembling Lincolnshire... Flat land, good for growing things.

At 1705, bang on time, we were pulling into Bucharest Gara de Nord.


Our apartment is a very short walk away. It's smaller than our Sofia pad, and a little quirkier. But it will do very nicely:





Another country. Another city. Exciting!