43.04 & 43.05 Sofia, Bulgaria: Vitosha, Cherni Vrah. Two hikes on a city mountain 7,000 feet high and it really is 'A Dog's Life'.
We couldn't remember whether we were supposed to distinguish the wood for the trees; maybe it was separating the wood or trees from the forest. Anyway, we thought it attractive. It took a while to find a starting point for a hike which resulted in a 3,000 feet elevation gain, mostly in forests, gorgeous ones at that. We had arrived in Sofia (again) the day before to return a car and collect another. It sounds strange but the complication occurred because of a number of changes that we made to our plans when we decided to forego Ukraine. Rather than become embroiled in the Trump-Biden-Ukraine controversies, we decided adding the Lazarow name to the scandal would further exacerbate the impeachment debacle. Heck, we're simple people—we just want to trudge up mountains, walk down again and then spend the evening wondering why we do such things. So, we found ourselves in the sprawling city of Sofia, at the mercy of aggressive Bulgarian drivers who, like our fellow South A...