Adrian Fuentes Profile picture
Oct 31, 2021 48 tweets 30 min read Read on X
After an amazing week in Bulgaria 🇧🇬 with @JoanMerinals, when I was too busy to tweet, it's time now for a travel thread 🚞🧵 of our trip

Sofia - Varna - Veliko Tarnovo - Sofia - Rodopi Railway - Blagoevgrad - Sofia

Spoiler: there will be plenty of trains, trams and epic views ImageImageImageImage
Here's the short thread of the first day with some cool tram pics and my attempt to ease communication with BDŽ ticket sellers.

The rest of the trip continues on this thread.

Day 1️⃣ София - Sofia

Started the day walking to the centre through the "Women's Market".

The old baths is one of the mains sights, now a historical museum.

A reminder of the "thermal" past are the fountains of hot spring water, where people go to fill their bottles. ImageImageImage
☪️ Banya Bashi Mosque is just next door to the old baths, right in the centre of the city.

Reminded me to the cute little mosques of Bosnia. Very colourful inside.

Built in 1566, it's the only remaining mosque of Sofia. ImageImageImage
Independence sq. or "Largo" was the centre of power of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, with the main building hosting the HQ of the communist party. Still today, hosts several ministerial offices.

It's a fine example of Socialist Classicism architecture (or Stalinist style). ImageImageImageImage
Mix of architectural styles in the centre of Sofia.

Last pic is the cute little "Russian Church" that was built after the liberation of Bulgaria, where a mosque used to stand. It was and is used by the Russian community of Sofia. ImageImageImageImage
☦️ Alexander Nevski Cathedral, it's the largest *finished* orthodox church of the Balkans (looking at you Beograd and București 😒).

The inside is really impressive, but it was just too dark to make any good pics. ImageImage
We continue the walk around the centre of Sofia.

Here a ministry that still maintains the esthetics of "previous times", with the combo of brutalist building + a full façade mural. ImageImageImageImage
The Monument to the Soviet Army. It was built in 1954, and as everywhere in the former Eastern bloc, there are endless debates on what to do with it.

It's currently a popular place for young people, skaters, etc to meet. ImageImageImage
Some more brutalist bits of Sofia.

Sofia theatre and a mural sculpture in one of many underpasses of the city. ImageImageImage
Национален Дворец на Културата
National Palace of Culture

A brutalist block built in the early 80s. ImageImageImageImage
🚋 Trams of Sofia ImageImageImageImage
🚇 Metro in Sofia.

From the super new Metro Line 3, opened in 2020… to one of the still-unrefurbished old units in Line 1, with their iconic soviet look.

Although compared to other metros in Eastern Europe, Sofia Metro is pretty new, opened only in 1998. ImageImageImageImage
And after dinner at a local restaurant, time to get ready for our #NightTrain 🚃🛌🌛

We're traveling to Varna on Б (fast) 3637 train. Two trains depart for Varna every night, but ours, with a slightly longer route via Karlovo, gives us 20 minutes more of sleep 😁 ImageImage
Just some minutes before departure of Б 3637 #NightTrain Sofia-Varna, made up of 4 seated & 2 sleeper cars

I always feel like there's a special ambience before the departure of a night train. As if it was a bit more of and adventure than a day train. Old-school, yet comfortable ImageImageImageImage
Compulsory pre-departure pic 😄 Image
The sleeping cars are very comfortable. They're fairly new, made in Turkey in 2012.

Compared to other sleeper trains, the compartments felt slightly larger.

A ticket in a solo compartment (бизнес класа) for the Sofia - Varna trip costs slightly under 25 €. ImageImageImage
Лека нощ from the #NightTrain 🚃🛌🌛 Image
Day 2️⃣ Варна - Varna

At 7:00, spot on time, we arrive at Varna station.

It's raining way too much to go out, so for the moment is time for warm freshly made баница and coffee from a machine, as we admire the railway scene. ImageImageImage
The girl at the bakery of the station spoke really good Spanish, which surprised us a lot, although she seemed even more surprised than us, of finding two young foreign tourists at 7:10 of a Sunday in the Varna train station.

She literally asked "what are you doing here?" 😂
On another sidenote, @JoanMerinals and I agreed that the national icon of Bulgaria should be the street coffee machine. Expect a little mini thread (when I finish this one) with coffee machines in random locations.
After dealing with the local bus website in Bulgarian, we arrived to the first sight we wanted to visit in Varna.

The very impressive "Monument of the Bulgarian - Soviet Friendship" 🚩🇧🇬, built in the late 70s. ImageImage
The monument is located on top of a hill, and is reached after climbing 305 steps.

The "friendship monument" shows rather well the power dynamics of the era when it was built. Fierce looking male soviet soldiers, meeting Bulgarian women.

I'd represent "friendship" differently. ImageImageImageImage
It's nevertheless an impressive monument.

And from the top of the hill you get some beautiful views of the city and the Black Sea. ImageImageImage
◾ Черно Море, Варна, България
🌊 Black Sea, Varna, Bulgaria ImageImage
🌊⛱️☕ Кафе Латте by the Black Sea Image
🍂 Autumn in Varna ImageImageImage
Old style, new brand.

A very 80s socialist looking shop in central Varna. ImageImageImageImage
After a walk around town, the seaside, and lunch, it was time to get back to the station to continue our trip.

We had a bit of #Bahnzeit at Централна ЖП Гара Варна as we waited for our train bound to Sofia. ImageImageImage
Ready to depart on train Б 2614 Varna - Sofia. We will be traveling up to Gorna Oryahovitsa where will connect to another train to Veliko Tarnovo.

The train is a beautiful old-school loco hauled composition, with 1 first class and 4 second class cars. All #FensterAuf obviously. ImageImage
🎥🚞 Departure of train Б 2614 from Централна ЖП Гара Варна.
📸 Railway shots as we passed by Varna depot. Once again, old, old but refurbished, and new. ImageImageImageImage
🌬️ #FensterAuf 🇧🇬🚞
Somewhere across the plains and hills of Northern Bulgaria ImageImageImage
The scene repeats itself station after station.

Arrival with the station master outside.

He/she goes inside to communicate the arrival of our train.

Comes out once again, and with the green stick, signals the departure of our train. Image
#BeerOnTrains 🍻 & #FensterAuf 🌬️

Happiness. Image
Arrival at Горна Оряховица after 3½ hours.

Gorna Oryahovitsa is the main railway junction station of Northern Bulgaria. ImageImageImage
🎥🚞 Departure of Б 2614 from Горна Оряховица towards София.
Changing 🔀 trains at Gorna Oryahovitsa 🇧🇬🚉 ImageImageImageImage
Not exactly #FallBlattLiebe, but still, almost the same wonderfully retro sound at the направление (departures) board of Gorna Oryahovitsa station.

#Retro
Ready to depart on МБВ 465 Горна Оряховица - Димитровград.

From early June to early October, this "international train" will get an extra car attached at the end, a TCDD 🇹🇷 sleeper car making the București Nord - Istanbul route.

For us it was just a domestic Международен train. ImageImage
🎥🚞 Best seat view en route between Gorna Oryahovitsa and Veliko Tarnovo.
A little spoiler of the beautiful Veliko Tarnovo from the train window. ImageImage
Arrival into Veliko Tarnovo, right in the #GoldenHour. Image
Departure of МБВ 465 from Veliko Tarnovo, as it begins its climb up the Balkan Mountains towards Dimitrovgrad.

The train is pulled by a rather old, yet very sturdy, series 44 loco, built by Škoda in 1979.
#Bahnzeit in Велико Търново 🚉🇧🇬 ImageImage

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More from @fuenareva

Feb 20, 2023
On the year 2000, the city of Nancy🇫🇷 opened its TVR. The 1st ever "tram on rubber tires" seemed a promising new form of public transport

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This public transport "fail" well deserved a visit & thread📸🚎
TVR stands for "Transport sur Voie Réservée", although it is also known in English as GLT Guided Light Transit

Conceived by 🇧🇪 company BN in the 80s, it was finally developed commercially by Bombardier in the 90s

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Trams in Antwerpen 🚋 ImageImageImageImage
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Recently it was announced that, after decades of neglect, the Charleroi Metro is getting its 5th line built and trams renovated.

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Let me show you some pics of Belgium's most bizarre public transport network 🚋🚇🇧🇪
[I took these pics on a cold winter day of early 2021. Perhaps some things have changed. I doubt so.]
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Y la verdad, personalmente, me gustaría q los funcionarios europeos pudieran hablar más de 2 lenguas (EN + su idioma)

Pedir q el francés pierda peso, hará poco para limitar el elitismo q se respira en las instituciones 🇪🇺
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Yo nací en una familia de clase media monolingüe castellana, y a día de hoy podría vivir en 4 idiomas y chapurreo otros 2.

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The Bulgarian 🇧🇬🚞 rail trip thread continues here.

Day 3️⃣ Велико Търново / Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is known as the "City of Tsars", since it was the medieval capital of Bulgaria. For me, it was one of the surprises of the trip.

We start the visit with some panoramic views from the Monument to Assen dynasty, located right in the middle of the Yantra river bend.
Some more pics of the monument itself.

Built in 1985 to make the anniversary of the rise of this dynasty, it features similar characteristics to other "historical monuments" built during the last years of communism in Bulgaria.
Read 59 tweets

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