Proud to be a Finn!

Hello!

Now I'll have to tell you how happy I am: the parliament of Finland voted for the same-sex marriage and the right for gay couples to adopt a child and they voted for YES! This is very good news!!! These things have been available in the other Scandinavian countries for a while now and the same-sex marriage has even been legal in some countries that are usually more conservative than Finland like France, GBR, Belgium, and even Spain, not to mention the liberal Holland. Even if this reform is happening awkwardly late I'm still very proud of Finland! :)

We Finns are not very religious so the majority can't even refer to the Bible. Anyhow I do not find ANY good argument against the same-sex marriage nor against the same-sex couples adopting a child so I can't see why this will be legalized in Finland so late. Besides if you look at other countries, like the liberal Scandinavian countries and Holland, there are absolutely no cons about this reform - actually these are the countries that are topping the equality studies, they are ranked as the best places in the whole world to live in and they are even economically among the most developed countries. And when it comes to some people arguing that it's not good for the kids to be raised up in gay family there are several studies that show that kids raised in rainbow families can be perfectly fine and have a really good life just like the kids who have a mom and a dad. Their psyche won't get disturbed and they'll have a loving family where they can grow up like anyone of us. Some people even claim that those kids will be bullied at school, but maybe it's exactly the kids' of those people claiming that who'll most likely be the ones bullying, and if those people are aware of that, they can probably do something about it, like change their attitudes. Besides I'm pretty sure that those orphans would rather have two dad's or two moms than have no family at all. Can you imagine living in an institution with changing personnel and environment, without a feeling of a safe and a stable environment - I do not think anyone of us would like to experience that. So, I think this reform is exactly what is the best for the kid. I definitely think that everyone should have the right to a loving and caring family since that's the most important thing a person has in his/her life! So for orphans this is only a good thing, and what's best for those poor kids should be our base when we think about this reform.



And the other things is the people living in same-sex relationships. First of all I thought that everyone is equal in front of god and what is more, what kind of an unfair and old-fashioned society is it in the 21st century that doesn't allow gay couples to have the same human rights that hetero couples? The more I think of it the more ashamed of it I get. Seriously, only because of your sexual preferences, that kinds that won't harm anyone else, you are some kind of an outlaw or secondary citizen? And what are the arguments....? And when people say it's unnatural that's just not true since there's always been gay couples and there always will be, besides the human being is a lot older than Christianity that does not accept gay couples. And what I heard is that previously, before the Christianity, same-sex relationships were allowed in some societies so gay couples being seen as something wrong or unnatural is actually a pretty young concept so it's about time to make a change to this! Besides if the same-sex marriage would have been allowed for a while now it wouldn't be a problem anymore. People, I mean the skeptic ones, would see that their lives wouldn't get affected: they would still drink their coffee in the mornings, go to work, pay the taxes and what not. But for gay couples this is a big thing: first of all they will be just like anyone in the society meaning that they aren't discriminated anymore. And they can finally build a family, save a poor kid from those orphanages and live happily ever after! What could be better than that? Besides I hate writing "they", like we'd have to divide the society into gays and heteros...

Actually I think it's even absurd that we have to have arguments for this reform, it should be obvious that this reform will be done. It's shameful how much this has gotten attention in the media; it shouldn't be like that. But now we can change it and we will. And it's horrible how negative and gross opinions some people have and I'm not even going to go into those arguments, sometimes I just get really sad and worried about our future: if those narrow minded people are members of our parliament, how many other narrow minded people is out there to vote for them...! Well, now I hope that we can show the skeptic people that this won't affect their lives at all, only gay couples and orphans and only in a positive way. And as an economist-to-be I'll have to say that since this reform won't make anyone's life worse than it was, the the whole society (in Finland in this case) will gain since the bell-being increases.

So finally I'd like to end this post by quoting the hippies in the 70's:
"Peace and love" and what not! ;D

My big fat gypsy year!

 Hello dear friends and family!

I have made the decision to start writing this blog in English because surprisingly many have told me to write in English and since the original target group (haha studying economics really starts to have an effect on me ;)) of this blog aka friends and family have good English skills so decided to do it.

So, first I could tell about the name of this blog: My Big Fat Gypsy Year. Well, it's probably politically incorrect and I don't mean to offend anyone :D. But where it stems from is that I wanted to write a blog about my life while I'm abroad, first the summer in the US and now here in Germany. And at the moment my life seems to be very unstable (in a good way) since I have been packing my bags several times this year: New Year in Sweden, then in the Caribbeans, summer in the US, traveling around here in Germany, visiting Bulgaria, Finland, Estonia and Holland, back to Finland for the Christmas.... Yes, I'm a rather restless soul I guess!

Well, what I actually wanted to write about today is me staying and someone else traveling: last weekend I had a friend over to visit me! Ryanair offers affordable flights from 22€/one way from Finland to Bremen (thanks to that I'll be busy having visitors for the next couple of weekends! :)).
Unfortunately I had a sports management seminar in the football stadium of the team Wolfsburg Vfl the whole Thursday (I'll write more about that later) so my friend had to spend the whole day by herself on Bremen, but I guess she was ok with it ;) Well in the evening when I finally met her we were both dead tired so we just went to Studenterndorf to sleep (well I would lie if I told that we didn't have a girl talk for hours that night :D). The next day our plan was to go to Bismarck Turm and then have a couple of drinks in the evening. Well, I had only checked out the opening hours not the months so after a long but pleasant walk (and climbing up those hills!) we found out that it will be opened again in spring.... Well we took pics of it anyway and we managed to disturb a fighting couple who had probably chosen that place to be sure to be all by themselves but they clearly hadn't taken in account some stupid tourists not being able to understand that if it says it's closed til April it is closed til then ;D Well, as former (yes, the stress on the word former) athletes we weren't bothered, it was a nice walk anyway and on the way home we stopped at one of the hundreds of bakeries here in Göttingen. My friend was as positively surprised by the prices here than I was as I arrived here, gotta love Germany for the affordable price level and those lovely fresh bakeries! :)
Then we climbed halfway up the hill in the forest behind Studentendorf, I just love that place! (But if I want to go there for a 60 min run the first 20 min is uphill...! :D)

Bismarck Turm

All of this for 5 €!!!

Einstein

 In the evening we made traditional German food, had German beer and Radler and headed to the city center to Einstein for a couple of drinks. Oh it was so good to see an old friend and to speak Finnish!

Namm :)

On Saturday we went to the city center for some shopping :) It's not that big and I haven't really been satisfied of the stores there, but this time it was a nice surprise and my friend had a hard time fitting everything in her small backpack on the way home :D We spent a good while in the city center and in the evening we had some friends over for Finnish food :) It was a little challenging because our oven doesn't work so we had to prepare everything here and then take it to the oven next door where my friend lives :D Well, I guess (fingers crossed) that my friends liked it, at least they ate it without complaint ;D On Sunday we went out for a walk in the Botanic Garden, and then we had coffee in the lovely cafe there and then we made some food and I took my friend to the train station. It was a very lovely weekend, so good to be reminded of my life in Finland :)

Botanic Garden

Thanks for visiting me, see you soon! :)

Hollanti

Heissan,


olen hieman jäljessä, koska Hollannissa olin viime viikonloppuna ja nyt tekisi jo mieli kirjoittaa tästä viikonlopusta. No, pysytään jokseenkin kronologisessa järjestyksessä...


Päätin sitten ihan extmpore pari pv ennen viikonloppua lähteä Hollantiin Groningeniin moikkaamaan siellä vaihdossa olevaa kaveria, koska sinä viikonloppuna moni lähti Göttingenistä Berliiniin juhlistamaan muurin kaatumisen 25-vuotispäivää ja osa oli ekskursiolla Strassbourgissa. Itse en halunnut Berliiniin, koska haluan säästää nyt vähän rahaa, mutta en halunnut jäädä yksikseni Göttingeniinkään. Mehän päästään rajalle asti (Leer) ilmaiseksi junalla ja Leeristä minua ja hollantilaista ystävääni (joka sattui menemään samaan kaupunkiin kuin minä) tultiin hakemaan autolla Hollantiin, joten menomatka oli täysin ilmainen ja sain jopa kyydin kotiovelle. Kuulostaa kovin kivuttomalta ja helpolta, MUTTA... Meidän piti vaihtaa junaa Hannoverissa, jossa yhtäkkiä kaverini huomasi unohtaneensa reppunsa junaan. Hän juoksi nopeasti takaisin raiteelle, mutta juna oli jo lähtenyt (ja kaiken lisäksi se oli väärä raidekin). No, päätettiin sitten mennä infopisteelle ja kysyä, että mitäs nyt. No, jono infopisteelle oli todella pitkä, koska nopeammat ICE-junat lakkoilivat TAAS (viimeksi lakkoili, kun olin Bulgariassa muutama viikko sitten!). Sieltä meidät neuvottiin toiseen paikkaan, josta taas seuraavaan. Kolmannessa paikassa meille sanottiin, että no can do, koska he eivät Deutsche Bahnilla vastaan näistä ilmaisista junista. Saatiin kuitenkin numero, johon soittaa. Sieltä meille sanottiin, että juna on niin täynnä (muiden junien lakkoillessa), että he odottavat junan saapuvan päätepysäkille, jossa se tyhjenee ja sitten olisi mahdollista tarkistaa josko reppu olisi vielä siellä. Hieman skeptsisiä oltiin, koska esim eräältä vaihtari-kaveriltani pöllittiin hänen nukkuessaan repusta, joka oli lattialla hänen jalkojensa välissä, kaikki kamerat, rahat yms.
No ei siinä muu auttanut kuin odottaa, onneksi juna olisi aikataulujen mukaan jo tunnin päästä perillä. Lopulta tuli soitto, että reppu on löytynyt. Normaalisti se olisi pitänyt käydä itse sieltä hakemassa, mutta koska meidän matka jatkuisi seuraavalla junalla rajalle, päätti tämä ystävällinen työntekijä ottaa repun työpäivänsä päätteeksi mukaansa, ajaa juna-asemalle ja heittää repun ohiajavaan junaan henkilökunnalle. Meidän tuli siis vain odottaa Hannoverissa tätä junaa. Jotta asiat ei olisi olleet liian helppoja, oli meillä aikaa vain 3 minuuttia Hannoveriin tulevan junan ja Hannoverista lähtevän junan välissä. Saksassahan tunnetusti junat on AINA myöhässä ja varsinkin nyt, kun oli lakkoja ja kulkevat junat oli täpö täynnä. Saatiin kuitenkin reppu ja juostiin seuraavaan junaan – onneksi ehdittiin, koska seuraava juna olisi tullut 2 tunnin päästä.... Loppumatka sujuikin ongelmitta ja oli ihana nähdä kaveria, jota en ollut kuukausiin nähnyt! Ruotsin puhuminen oli kyllä vähän hassua ja luonnotonta :D
Meillä oli seuraavana aamuna tosi aikainen herätys, koska suuntana oli muutamien muiden vaihtareiden kanssa turistikierros Rotterdamiin, jonne saatiin junaliput (meno-paluu 7 €!). Rotterdam on monen hollantilaisen mielestä tosi ruma, koska se on muista kaupungeista poiketen todella moderni (MM II:ssa lähes maantasalle pommitettu). Itse yllättäen tykkäsin sen kiiltävistä pinnoista, toinen toistaan kummallisemmista rakennuksista ja tietenkin MERESTÄ! Ihan satamassa asti ei tosin valitettavasti käyty (osa porukasta oli ihan puhki kaupungilla käpsimisen jälkeen, mikä oli mielestäni vähän harmillista, mutta lopulta ei olisi kyllä ollut aikaakaan isommalle kierokselle).
Annetaan kuvien kertoa ennemmän!
 

Todistettavasti kävin Hollannissa :)

Asuintalo, jonka keskellä katetut markkinat!

....sisäpuolelta

Ja kaikki kiiltää :)

Eurooppa-torni

Haha, näitä löytyi kasoittain markkinoilta!

Ja se meri...!

Päätettin lähteä viiden maissa takaisin, koska illaksi oli Groningenissa ohjelmaa ja matka kestäisi 2h 40 min. Tai no, niinhä me luultiin, MUTTA... Ensinnäkin juna oli hirveästi myöhässä, sitten saavuattuaan se ei yhtäkkiä mennytkään perille asti, vaan piti jäädä jossain pois ja vaihtaa junaa jossain, josta pitäisi mennä jonnekin, josta takaisin jonnekin ja sieltä Groningeniin. Oltiin ihan kujalla, koska ei tiedetty mitä siellä tapahtui ja tuhansia ihmisiä poikkoili sinne tänne ja junat oli ihan täynnä, yhdellä sanalla: KAOOTTISTA! Oltiin ihan vihaisia eikä kukaan tiennyt mistään mitään, siinä vaiheessa muistin taas, että miksen ikinä kulje junalla, vaan valitsen AINA bussin, jos siihen on mahdollisuus. Siinä hässäkässä mieleeni juolahti lause, jonka hollantilainen kaverini sanoi minulle matkalla Hollantiin: ”isoin ongelma hollantilaisilla junilla on niiden eteen hyppäävät ihmiset...” En kuitenkaan siinä vaiheessa halunnut uskoa sitä todeksi, mutta seuraava aamuna kuultiin jonkun (taas) tehneen itsemurhan junan eteen hyppäämällä ja siksi meidänkin matkamme kesti n. 6 tutia...
Illalla ei tätä kuitenkaan tiedetty, vaan lähdettii lopulta ulos Groningenin yöelämään isolla vaihtariporkalla. Groningenissa on muuten tosi paljon skandeja vaihdossa, niin sain puhua ruotsia lähes koko illan :)
Baarit oli ihan hauskoja ja suht pieniä ja ilmaisia, joten ihmiset, lähinnä kaupunkia asuvat opiskelijat, harrastavat paljon bar hoppingia. Suomessa meillä ei ole varaa tähän, kun sisäänpääsy on sen 10 €/baari :D Kaiken lisäksi baareissa ei ollut maksullista narikkaa eikä sisällä tuoleja/penkkejä, joten jos ei halunnut näyttää tyhmältä ja jäykältä, oli kaikkien pakko tanssia, kosk baari oli yksi iso tanssilattia! Tykkäsin kyllä, koska musiikki oli sen verran hiljainen, että oikeasti kuulikin, mitä toinen sanoi ja tunnelma oli tosi rento, vaikka kaikki baarit oli ihan täynnä.
Kotiin käpsittiin sitten red light districtin läpi, koska pitihän mun se nähdä :D Fun fact: ne alueet on Hollannin turvallisimpia katuja, koska näiden tyttöjen pomot on niistä tosi suojelevaisia, niin hämärille kourijoille yms epämääräisille hiippareille käy huonosti, jos ne sinne eksyy ja kai ne myös sen tietävät :D


Nojaa seuraavana päivänä sitten kaupunkikierros Groningenissa, joka on opiskelijakaupunki niin kuin Göttingenkin, tosin puolet isompi. Groningenin arkkitehtuuri on tosi perinteinen: matalia, söpöjä tiilitaloja joka puolella. Itse en tosin tästä niin tykkää, koska katujen yeisilme on jotenkin todella pimeä, kun ympärillä on vain ruskeahkoja tiilitaloja tiuhoissa riveissä. Toki sielläkin oli uusia ja todella moderneja taloja, mutta kauempana keskustasta. Ikkunat on muuten tosi isoja siellä (hieman uudemmissa taloissa, tosin nekin niitä tiilitaloja) ja hollantilaiset kuulemma sanovat, että saksalaisilla on jotain salattavaa, koska saksalaisten ikkunat on niin pieniä (sellaisia, joihin me ollaan muualla maailmassa tottuneet :D).

Kauppoihin ei valitettavasti päästy, koska hollannissakin on kaikki kiinni sunnuntaisin (tosin Saksasta poiketen ruokakaupat saa olla auki!)

Maanantaina matkasin sitten taas samaa matkaa kotiin Göttingeniin hollantilaisen kaverini kanssa ja 7h matka meni tosi nopeasti! Hollanti oli kyllä kiva maa, vaikken paikallisiin sielä tutustunutkaan ja vaikka vähä traagisen junamatkan jouduinkin kokemaan. Arkkitehtuuri on kovin erilaista muuhun eurooppaan nähden ja opiskeilja-asuntolat ISOJA! 15 ihmistä jakaa yhden keittiön ja 2 kylppäriä (jossa tosin useampi suihku ja wc), lattioissa on kokolattiamatot ja huoneet isoja, mutta todella kolkkoja, hinnatkin puolet kalliimpia kuin esim Göttingenissä. Kiva pidennetty viikonloppu siis takana ja uusi maa vierailtujen maiden listaan :)

Groningen olikin sitten paljon perinteisempi

Keskustaa

Suomi!

Heissan!

Pitkästä aikaa on vähän aikaa, niin voin taas kirjoittaa kuuulumisia. Oon nyt ollu kiireinen reissatessa, viimeisin blogteksti olikin juttua Bulgariasta, nyt olisi tarkoitus kirjoittaa reissusta Suomeen, seuraavassa postauksessa Hollannin-reissusta :)
Suomeen lähdin siis kahden saksalaisen kämppikseni kanssa, eli hyvin läheisiä meistä on täällä tullut (ollaan jo suunniteltu matkaa kevääksi Kreikkaan, jossa toisen vanhemmat tällä hetkellä asuu :D). Itseasiassa olin ihan vaan yksin menossa Suomeen, mutta Ryanairin lennot oli niin houkuttelevan halpoja, että vitsillä heitettyyn "Tuletteko mukaan?" -kysymykseen sainkin yllättäen positiivisen vastauksen! :) N. viikossa ehdittiin nähdä Tampere, Turku, Espoo, Helsinki ja Tallinna, eli aika intensiivinen reissu oli! Käytiin mm. Pyynikin näkötornissa, Turun linnassa, Nuuksion kansallispuistossa ja Suomenlinnassa. Haha ei muuten ollut mikään pehmeä lasku meille, koska Tampereelle saavuttaessa siellä oli -2 astetta (lokakuun lopulla). Mainittakoon tässä vielä, että MARRASKUUSSA ihmiset vielä GRILAILI T-PAIDASSA aurinkolasit päässä täällä Göttingenissä :D Nojoo, oikeastaan ilmat suosi meitä Suomessa, koska kuten kaikki suomalaiset tietää, loka-marraskuu on lähinnä kylmiä, märkiä ja pimeitä kuukausia, nyt ei tainnut sataa yhtenäkään päivänä! Itseasiassa mun vieraat ei edes pelästynyt säästä, vakuutteivat, että varmasti tulee uudestaan, koska tykkäs tosi paljon! No, kauhea tuuli oli kyllä, mutta se johtui Atlantilla riehuneesta myrskystä, jonka rippeet eksyi Suomeenkin. Pelotti kyllä aluksi lähteä Tallinnaan, tunnetusti kun tulen helposti merisairaaksi. Onneksi Itämeri on suojaisa eikä tuuli yltynyt niin kovaksi, kun aluksi lupailtiin.
Pitääkin kutsua saksalaiset Suomeen kesällä, koska toinen niistä vihaa lunta :D Lisäksi saksalaiset yllättyivät siitä, että Suomessa ihmisillä on niin hyvä (egnlannin) kielitaito ja siitä, että ihmiset oli puheliaita (heh, olin ehkä vähän varoitellut niitä, että suomalaiset voi olla vähän epäsosiaalisia, mutta oikeastaan kaikki sukulaiset ja kaverit, jotka tavattiin, oli tosi puheiaita :D. Saksalaiset olikin tosi kiitollisia vieraanvaraisuudesta, jota Suomessa kohdattiin :) Täytyy kyllä itsekin sanoa, että mulla on ihanat kaverit ja perhe <3 Oli itseasiassa tosi hauska tehdä tällainen loma Suomeen, millonkas sitä muute Suomessa lomailis :) Näki vähän eri näkökulmasta juttuja :) Ja jos mulla ei juurikaan koti-ikävää ennen Suomen-reissua ollut, niin sen jälkeen kyllä oli! Hahah, olis vaan pitänyt pysyä Saksassa :D Ainiin, jotain pientä matkamuistoa Suomesta tarttui mukaan (ei tosin mulle): MUUMIMUKIT! Olinkin niistä jo aikaisemmin mainnut, mutta oli hauska huomata ihan käytännössä, että kaikkialla, missä vierailtiin, oli muumimukeja ja lähes joka paikasta niistä tarjottiin meille kahvia :) Anyways oli siis tosi onnistunut reissu ja saksalaisetkin piti Suomesta tosi paljon! Haha ainoa negatiivinen asia oli kuulemma hintataso. No, en ihmettele, täällä varsinkin alkoholi, mutta kaikki muukin on vaan niin paljon halvempaa! Ruokakin oli hyvää, hirven- ja poronliha harvinaista herkkua, samoin lakka. Ainoa, mikä ei juuri maistunut oli suomalainen olut - no, se täytyy olutmaalaisille suoda :D



Ps. seuraavat lentoliput ostettu Suomeen 18.12! :)

Pyynikin näkötorni

Plevnan suomalaisia bissejä :)

Espoo <3

Nuuksio

Suomenlinna

Tallinna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BULGARIA! (text in English)

I decided to write this post in English because I want to raise awareness among my friends from all around the world of a very underestimated country called Bulgaria. And I have been traveling quite a lot (nearly 30 countries, mostly in Europe, but also Australia, Asia, North America, the Caribbeans..), but Bulgaria was really a destination that differs from other European countries both in good an in bad. I'll also have to excuse my writing since being in Germany for 2 months now has really affected my English skills :(
Soo here we go!

Poverty, mafia, corruption, Sunny Beach, "Be careful out there!!"...  I'll have to admit that those were the things I (thought) I knew about Bulgaria and the things people (non-Bulgarians) told me before I went there. What Bulgarians therefore told me, is that things in Bulgaria aren't really good atm but they all told me how beautiful nature they have. Well, I left there with an open mind and I didn't really have any expectations. While sitting in the airplane I didn't have any idea of how unbelievably amazing country Bulgaria is and how many times I would get speechless during my stay! I really hope I can put my experiences into words and that you could get at least some kind of a picture of the country.

At first I could tell a little bit about the history of Bulgaria, because it is a big part of the culture and it's development (don't get scared, please keep on reading! :)). I do not know that much yet and I do not want to give false information either, so I'll cut the long story short. The most important happening in the Bulgarian history is probably when it was under the Turkish slavery for 500 years. Under that time the Turkish brutally killed a lot of Bulgarians and there's plenty of horrible stories of the destinies of Bulgarians desperately trying to hide themselves in the monasteries or in the mountains. Tens of thousand of people were killed in the massacres under the Ottoman era and it was a very dark 500 years of the Bulgarian history. At last Russia helped Bulgaria and finally Bulgarians got their independence in 1878, but they had lost a lot of areas, financial resources not t mention the many people who lost their lives. Bulgarians had to start re-building their nation from scratch after all what they had been through. Even nowadays the Bulgarians have a skeptic attitude towards the Turks, which is unfortunate, but understandable.
What is more, the Soviet Union occupied Bulgaria after the second world war and therefore Bulgaria became a communistic country. And yes, there still is a lot of buildings from those communistic years and because of the lack of money (Bulgaria didn't get money from the EU in 2008 because it hadn't been able to diminish corruption in the country) the roads, that are only partly covered with asphalt, are in a very bad condition not to mention the old Ladas that are still driving around like there was nothing weird about that. And according to many Bulgarians it's very difficult to earn "clean" money there. At this point I could mention, that Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU and the average wage is around a couple of hundreds of euros per month. It is surreal that a European country, that is even a member of the EU can be so far behind when it comes to financial development. Differences between Bulgaria and Finland, where sometimes the biggest news in the tabloids is when one of our politicians caught a cold, are incredibly huge!

 The poverty can be seen everywhere...

Old cars and roads that are in very bad condition ^

BUT.
There is so much more than that! And what I am wondering is why does for example the Finnish media only write about those not so flattering sides of Bulgaria? When did we Finns, and many other European countries, forget about the times before the Turkish slavery, when Bulgarian areas reached to the three seas and when Plovdiv, one of the world's oldest cities was founded? The Bulgarian history is very old and rich: there's thousands of legends that are still told to the kids, a lot of monasteries and fortresses and there folk dances are still popular. This is the part that is unfortunately totally forgotten or unknown among other European countries.

 

Plovdiv. There's an old stadium from the Roman era under the city center.

This incredible amphitheater is still in use!

Plovdiv is one f the biggest cities in Bulgaria and is going to be the world's culture capital 2019 so there's a lot of restoration going on at the moment. It was built around seven hills, but nowadays there is one hill less than previously because one was destroyed to built a shopping mall on that place (but due to lack of money the mall never got built all the way). Anyhow Plovdiv is very beautiful with the oldest buildings stemming from the Roman era and I can't imagine how it's going to be like in 2019 when they have rebuilt some parts of the old stadium and people are able to walk there, under the city. Plovdiv is really a hidden and not so well-known pearl of the Balkans! 

I fell in love with the city center in Plovdiv!

One of the hills in Plovdiv

 "The nature is all that we have left that we can be proud of". 

The Bulgarians I know are very proud of the nature and now I understand why - and now I'm not talking about the sunny beach! Already the view from the airplane was stunning: mountains everywhere! And I actually spent some time in the mountains too: In 5 days I managed to see several cities and small towns, waterfalls, wineries and the mountains. The schedule was intense, but very well organized and it is easy to visit different parts of Bulgaria if there's access to a car since Bulgaria is relatively small (about a third of Finland's area). Well, Bulgarians drive like crazy on the horrible roads so it's better to have a (local) driver than to try to figure out the traffic yourself. First I visited Svilengrad, a small city in southern Bulgaria next to the Turkish and Greek boarders (well, we also had time to make a day trip to Turkey, a small city where I was pretty much the only "blond" and pale person :D). Then I was taken to an even smaller town (in Bulgaria), where we visited an old fortress and the biggest winery in Bulgaria, called Katarzyna. We got a private tour around the winery which I found very interesting, not to mention the breathtaking views from the terrace of the winery! I could just have stood there for hours and look at the mountains! Oh and the Bulgarian wine is very good ;)

A room for wine tasting

These pics are from the winery.

         

The view from the terrace

A part from the fortress in Mezzek

 

The trip continued further into the mountains and on the way there we visited an ancient church, a fair and a monastery. As we stayed a couple of nights in a resort in the mountains we also went hiking on the mountains, to a waterfall and to a cave (where I met other Finns!). Oh, and I'll have to tell you that the warmest temperature was +27 c (in October! :))

Gotta love the mountains!

This ancient church is pretty high in the mountains

An old monastery

The seven bridges

vodopáda :) (= a waterfall in Devin)

What I find amazing is that there were cows, horses and sheep walking freely on the streets!

Last but not least: the Bulgarians. I don't know if it's always been like that or if the culture developed especially during the Turkish slavery, but the Bulgarians do not have a lot (material wise), but they have each other: I don't know any other nation that would take such good care of each other than the Bulgarians! They really care, call friends just to check that everything's ok, to ask how a friend's exam went or to make sure that visitors are enjoying their time. Bulgarians have the warmest hearts I know and I'm lucky to have experienced this authentic kindness! They are also very open and easy to approach and they can start up a conversation with a stranger even if the stranger just asked for the way. Well, I wasn't able to ask for the way since Bulgarians do not have that good language skills on the country side, but something that I was really surprised of was when Bulgarians without any English skills understood that I wouldn't understand Bulgarian without someone translating it to me, they didn't see it as a problem. They just continued talking, looked me into the eyes and talked like we were having a normal conversation. They were not bothered at all by the lack of a mutual language and with someone translating everything to me it felt like it would be the natural way of communicating. I felt so welcome there even if most of the people weren't able to tell it to me in person. They just didn't have to - the smile on their faces, the kind look in their eyes and the whole appearance was welcoming. Well, of course there's the not so warm Eastern European mentality too, sometimes especially girls gave me really cold looks, but they were girls with whom I wouldn't have anything to do with - everyone who was concerned was really nice!
What is more, Bulgarians might not have a lot of money, but they still share from the little they have (what is mine is yours -mentality, something I already found out while working in the US). I don't even have the words to describe the Bulgarians' kindness, you just have to experience it yourself! My description of the Bulgarians is terribly poor and I'll have to excuse myself for not being able to properly shed the light on this subject! Besides this is a very biased text because I wanted to stand up for Bulgaria, but I hope that I raised awareness in people of this underestimated and not so popular country or at least show pics to my friends and family :). Anyways I'm very happy that I went there and I'll go back there for sure. I can warmly recommend traveling to Bulgaria especially if you want to see something exotic, extremely interesting and to have an eye-opening experience (with a small budget! :)).

Blagodarya Bulgaria! :*