- liveletroam
Oh the kitties we'll see - Sofia, Bulgaria
A cat lover's view when traveling
With so many special cat times in Turkey I was sad to move along to Sofia, Bulgaria. But it wasn't long in our transiting journey before we had our next cat visits...
We talked about the overnight train in Episode 20: Sofia, Bulgaria and how it is an experience on it's own. One of those highlights was some friendly visitors, a few kitties and a stray dog, to keep us company.
We arrived at border control at about 1am in the morning and detrained to wait in the cold early morning hours for the all clear. With no clue on how long it would take (ended up being 2 hours) many of the passengers including myself were discombobulated.
As passengers naturally formed a line the animal attendants got to work. The white tabby shaked off it's sleepy eyes and proceeded to patiently wait in line with me and some other passengers. This eased a lot of worries as the cat lover's try to lure said animal attendants for pets.
I remarked that they had a job to do and got straight to work. Their company really did keep a smile on everyone's face as we waited for the train for about 20-30 minutes and then went about their way.
Sofia Neighborhood cats
Once situated at our home base in Sofia we checked out the neighborhood and stumbled upon this cute calico. While taking a rest break from exploring the local graffiti scene she came and sat right next to me. I was thrilled and it felt like a welcoming to this new city.
On another day we came across of some scraggly cats around the corner from a local restaurant. We at first found them blocking the street as some woman was throwing some food glob out of the window for the cats. I begged Eric to get some cat food so we can properly be prepared. We visited them several times.
On one occasion, Eric engaged in conversation with a local about how I was a cat lover and asking about the welfare of these local cats. I thought he would scoff at us but he was a cat lover as well and looks after these local strays.
Closer to home we noticed a kitten hiding underneath a car in front of our entrance. We ended up coaxing it tentatively out by giving it some chicken. Some other neighborhood cats are seen below including a cute what we in NYC would call a "Bodega Cat" outside a local grocery store.
Overall the stray cats weren't too plentiful which I guess is a good thing if they are properly maintaining the population but their are some sweet souls still roaming the streets of Sofia.
Resources about animal welfare in Bulgaria:
About the author:
Christy is an artist/creative spirit & blogger/podcaster with a passion for many things especially the arts, nature, and weird things around the world.