This is what the track looked like when it was not covered in snow
Alright, let me tell you what I've been doing yesterday. So, I had intended to study my stuff further, but then the weather was so good - and the forecast for today was not - that I decided to rather go hiking to the Boyana waterfall with two guys from the hostel. One of them was the Australian who had been with me on the tour to the monastry. His bed's right next to mine and also we've been exploring the Bulgarian cuisine together for a bit, so we got to know each other fairly well during this time. The other guy was born in Australia as well but moved as a kid and is now living in Canada. So the three of us started out walking from the hostel towards Vitosha Mountain. At the foot of it is the small Boyana Church,
nothing very special though. To get there took us probably a bit more than an hour. From there a number of tracks led into the woods and up the mountain.
A picture of the waterfallThe waterfall from down below
As I said, we were headed to the waterfall, which was supposed to take 1.45 hours. In the beginning everything was fine and we made good way, but as we ascended further the temperature dropped a little (it was still warm) and the first few dots of remaining snow appeared. After a while, passages of the path were fully covered in hard trampeled snow. But since it was melting it was extremely slippery, and especially steep passages became quite challenging! Also, a lot of water from the melting snow was flowing over the path, at some places in quite strong streams that had to be crossed very carefully. So that took us a while. The trip from the hostel to the waterfall took a good three hours in total. But then we made it and got to see the waterfall, which is not quite as impressive as some others I've seen, but the hike is still really nice. Probably even more when the track is not covered in snow and mud. So we had a break there, took pictures, of course, and then headed back.
This is Boyana lakeThreeway toadstyle
We took a little detour though, that would also allow us to see Boyana lake. The lake is rather small, but we got to see something quite unusual. We seemed to have picked exactly the right time for the frog and toad mating season! The first thing we saw were three toads, supposedly two males and a female, hanging on to each other and motionlessly floating at the surface, presumably for hours! And just a couple of meters from there was a lot of vegetation in the water, and that was the mating spot for the frogs. A good twenty of them were just sitting there in their own spawn, croaking and occasionally staggering to another spot. So that was quite interesting and sort of funny to watch.
And that was pretty much it. From therse it took us just about 15 mins back to the first houses from where we took Bus no. 64 back to the city.
After getting some dinner, taking a shower and chillin' for while a few of us decided to go out for a drink together. Sofia seems to be really quiet on Saturdays though, not too many people out on the streets, but we still got to enjoy ourselves for a while, although we spent the most part of the evening just walking about the city center
