TRAVEL: Sofia, Bulgaria - an undiscovered Eastern European gem

“Oh really?” was the response I tended to get from people when I told them that my next planned trip was to Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgaria, and much of Eastern Europe remains a destination not top of people’s bucket lists, but after reading this blog post I hope you’ll see why you should add it to yours.

Admittedly, one of my key motivations for visiting Sofia was because it was somewhere exciting I could get to relatively cheaply, an important factor for someone who has just started her first job and therefore has little disposable income to spend on holidays. Instead, I managed to secure return flights on Wizz Air for just over £30 – not bad at all when you consider that Bulgaria is pretty close to Asia and I don’t think you could get £30 flights there!

I arrived early Friday afternoon to one of the smallest airports I’ve visited – which is saying a lot having flown out of airports in the middle of jungles and the like that are little more than an airstrip. I had agreed to meet my travel companions at the first restaurant after Baggage Claim, which turned out to be unnecessary given that there was only one restaurant in the whole terminal which actually turned out to be closed. Makes finding one another easier though!

Once we’d found each other, we caught a taxi to our abode for the next few days, the Earth and People hotel. Again, another great deal as I paid close to £60 for three nights for a room shared with one other person, not bad at all if you ask me. The hotel was frankly quite lovely, with large clean rooms and most importantly, a fantastic breakfast of cereals, cold meats and cheeses, hot breakfast items, baked good and Bulgarian specialties. Perhaps the only downside to this otherwise lovely hotel was its location, about 20 minutes drive away from central Sofia which did mean that we ended up spending money on taxis which could of course have been saved had we been in a more central location. Still, it did the job and I would thoroughly recommend the hotel to anyone who doesn’t mind the ‘commute’.

Once we were settled in we ordered a taxi to take us to the Vodenitzata restaurant somewhere deep in the woods at the recommendation of one of my companions Bulgarian friends. And my, did this restaurant suit its surroundings… Walking in, it appeared as if you’d just walked into a log cabin hidden amongst the trees, the inside filled with large fireplaces, stuffed animals and traditional Bulgarian clothing hung on the walls as well as sported by all the servers. It was either really authentic or really touristy, but difficult to draw the line.

This being our first taste of Bulgarian food, a feast was ordered, including moussaka, lamb stew in an earthen jug, a pork grill plate, stuffed peppers, and the national delicacy of shopska salad comprised of tomatoes, cucumbers and a huge pile of cheese. Being vegetarian I didn’t indulge in all of these, but what I did try was delicious and I’m assured the rest was too. As if this wasn’t enough, we also decided to order desserts including baked pumpkin (‘twas the season) and a delicious layered cake which I wouldn’t have a clue how to pronounce. However, I think that whatever you ordered, you’d be in for a treat as everything we had was truly scrumptious.

After our indulgence, we called a taxi to come and collect us with perhaps the most road-ragey driver I’ve ever had the pleasure of travelling with. The journey didn’t start well as we were immediately shouted at for slamming the doors, and his anger didn’t stop at his passengers, as at one point he also stopped the car to yell at another driver for a good 2 minutes, causing us to miss another set of very slow traffic lights. The traffic in Sofia is indeed bad so bear this in mind if you have places to be – we ended up getting out of the taxi to walk the final ten minutes to save us some money on the meter, although were reluctant to do so at the fear of enduring the taxi driver’s wrath!

However, this gave us the opportunity to wander around the city a bit more, admiring the beautiful architecture of some of the old buildings, and walking along the famed yellow bricks that line some of the streets. I was actually surprised at how modern the city was – in my head, it was very ‘Soviet’ style but instead, shopping malls sprang up on every side with all the shops you’d find back home and it wasn’t too different to what one might find somewhere like Paris.

Our wanderings brought us in search of theatres which might have shows to entertain us for the rest of the evening, but finding nothing in English, we just took the city in our stride. Whilst cold outside, I stopped for ice cream due to the fascinating flavours like Kit Kat and Caramac bars which I’d never seen elsewhere. You certainly eat well in Bulgaria. Sofia is a city I was happy to get lost in, walking around with no clear direction in mind and just enjoying all of the things we passed en route.

As the night wore on, we made the executive decision to seek out a speakeasy bar we’d heard of. I’d never been to a speakeasy but had heard tales of places where you have to walk through fridges or other ordinary items to reach them so was highly intrigued. The 5L bar we were in search of too had an exciting entrance, as you walked down the steps to a non-assuming apartment block door, to enter a small room with bookcases on every wall and no obvious door. A hook with a vast number of keys dangling off it was the only clue – I won’t spoil how you get in in case you’d like to visit, but I will say that we were glad some other visitors were ahead of us who opened the door instead!

Inside was a very cool vibe with low seats surrounding small tables and friendly staff who came to talk us through the very extensive cocktail menu where we were encouraged to try drinks make with local rakia spirits. You sure wouldn’t be bored with the vast array of flavours and drink styles, so I think a lovely way to top off a good first day and wind down for the night.

The following morning after a wonderful breakfast to fill us up for the day, we caught taxis again to the Palace of Justice, from where we had planned to take part in a free walking tour of the city, which if you’ve read any of my other travel blogs you’ll know I’m a big fan of! However, this one was very different to what I was used to – I kid you not, but there were over 200 like-minded visitors wanting to join, a big change from the 10-20 on most of the other tours I’ve been on. The crowd was so big that the tour guides themselves commented that it was the largest group they’d seen, and we had to be split into 3 groups to become somewhat manageable.

For the next two hours, we toured the city with our exuberant guide Dino (who unsurprisingly was training to be an actor and included jazz hands in almost every sentence), passing by and learning about various religious buildings such as an Orthodox Church, Catholic Cathedral, Mosque and Synagogue all within viewing distance of one another; the large golden statue of Sofia; the old Baths from which you could drink the distinctly eggy-tasting mineral water (apparently it’s good for you); various Communist buildings; multiple lion statues; and ending up between St Sophia’s Basilica and St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. A great way to learn and see a lot in a short period of time.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is famous for its gold plated roof and is an utterly stunning building, so of course we had to look inside. The building was filled with many religious folk who walked around the room placing coins on various icons and kissing them, or lighting candles in prayer. I could have happily stayed there for a while watching people come and go and revelling in the grandeur of the church.

Nevertheless, hunger got the better of us and we made our way to Made In Blue, a modern Bulgarian restaurant which again, had the most wonderful food. A feast was once again ordered included a trio of hummus, crispy Pita, cauliflower risotto and chicken pate, and for a much lower price than you’d pay for the equivalent in London. A perhaps unknown fact is that Bulgaria is also famed for its wine, so this offered the perfect opportunity to try some of this instead. This time, we didn’t stop at two desserts either, but made room for four – banana cheesecake, a French province cake, chocolate tart and panna cotta. A well received meal.

Nicely full, we spent the remainder of the afternoon checking out the stores, which in retrospect I should have paid more attention to in finding that the prices of high street chains were in fact cheaper over there. Tired from walking (and probably eating) I headed back to take advantage of the hotel’s swimming pool – another perk of our very nice hotel.

A few hours later, we headed into town again for dinner at my recommendation – Skaptobara, which was rated #2 on TripAdvisor, and being a big advocate of TripAdvisor, somewhere I thought we should try. A small place, I practically had to beg the servers to let us in as they were so busy, and so we got sent upstairs to the ‘chill area’ which perhaps wasn’t the best place for eating as we sat on low benches and bean bags, but got us a space nonetheless.

We all ordered burgers as this was essentially a burger joint, and my friends got served theirs. After they were finished, I was still waiting for mine so went down to check out what the issue seemed to be and not feeling particularly hungry anymore having been waiting for an hour since ordering and being past the point of hunger at this stage. Apparently, the vegetarian burgers took significantly longer to cook, something we were not made aware of, and still I believe should not have taken as long as it did. Whilst the burger was fine, the fact that it took so long marred the experience for me and made me feel guilty for choosing this place and wasting time. One of the less successful meals that we had during the trip!

The following morning was an early start as we were to be collected from the hotel by a member of the Traventuria company for a day trip out of Sofia. Piling into a minivan along with two Italian visitors and an American, we drove for about 20 minutes out of Sofia to arrive at Boyana Church, a medium-sized church not too far off the highway but dating back hundreds of years. Having to pay more to head inside the church to see the frescos, we opted to hang around outside and admire it from this vantage point.

Then, the real trip began and we wove our way for another two hours through the mountains, along rivers and past stunning autumnal colours which completely covered the hillsides in what I can only describe as like autumn in New England. Absolutely stunning, and another reason to visit Sofia later in the year before the leaves fall.

Eventually, we arrived at our main destination, Rila Monastery, a beautiful intricately painted monastery nestled inside a small residential structure for monks, and high up in the hills. It truly is very beautiful and worth the four hour round trip, if you’d believe me. Whilst the rest of the party chose to look inside one of the museums, I made the most of my free time to wander around along, admiring the monastery’s vibrant colours, and meeting the ‘monastery guard’, a black cat called George.

However, the outside of the monastery was nothing compared to the inside. I had never been inside an Orthodox church before this point so didn’t realise it would be quite so different to what I was used to, but my gosh, was it! Every inch of the walls were covered in stunning frescos which ran up the sides of the building and into the ceiling arches. The colours were so vibrant with dashes of gold. It was quite unreal. In addition, icon paintings lined some of the walls, and visitors made their way round in an almost pilgrim-like fashion, praying in front of each icon and leaving donations as they went.

Once we had connected as a group again, it was time for my favourite activity – food! We had been recommended to try a restaurant just outside the monastery famed for its trout caught from the river which flowed right beside us. However, we were told that it wasn’t the quickest meal to cook up, so half of us hurried off to order whilst I went in search of a different delicacy – doughnuts! These were doughnuts unlike those I’d seen before, and mainly because of the location you could find them in, which was literally a hole in the wall. I only found it because there was a queue of people lining up outside but it would be very easy to miss! I joined the queue, and 20 minutes later found myself at the front, where from inside the gap in the brick wall stood a woman awaiting orders. 5 doughnuts and a yoghurt drink (another delicacy) later, and we headed to the restaurant to share our spoils.

As per usual, the group had ordered a feast of bean soup, rabbit, and a chicken fajita type dish without the tortillas. With five minutes to go before we were due back at the bus, the trout finally arrived which I was told was very nice, although general consensus said that the chicken dish was best, especially when washed down with some rakia. For dessert, we indulged in the doughnuts which reminded me of beignets as they weren’t particularly sweet with the exception of the mountain of icing sugar that you could choose to top them with if you so wished.

We returned to the van for our two hour return journey which had me wishing that I had the ability to sleep in transport as the rest of the crew slumbered peacefully, but I was more than happy to watch the world go by. Arriving back at the hotel close to 5pm, we took the time to relax after the busy day in the pool and jacuzzi with some of the group choosing to have massages which I quote, left them feeling as if they were ‘walking on clouds’.

As it was our last night in Sofia, we decided to splash out and head somewhere fancy for dinner – Sense Rooftop bar. As we took our table, we noticed an unoccupied table closer to the window which we asked to be moved to, and provided a wonderful view straight to the golden dome of the Alexander Nevsky. As with most places like this, you pay for the view but the food was still a lot, lot, lot cheaper than you’d be paying for somewhere like The Shard. And yes, it was delicious. We splurged on a huge starter platter, tuna tartare, various fish dishes, mushroom risotto and a plethora of fancy cocktails, including one which came in a Maoi head (see my Easter Island blog to share my love of these!) It was a great way to finish off a wonderful trip.

However, my trip wasn’t over just yet, and whilst my friends headed off to the airport in the early hours on the morning, I had yet another glorious day ahead of me. Hey, if I was going to take the day off work, might as well make the most of it, right? After my final wonderful breakfast, I headed down to the lobby to be collected for my day trip. I’d lucked out with the trip I think, having been keen to visit the town of Plovdiv, but finding that they were either not running on Mondays or had been booked out. My last hope came when I messaged a website called ‘Go To Bulgaria’ asking if they happened to be running a tour on the Monday. ‘We can!’ came the response. ‘For how many people?’ I was asked. No way would they run a tour just for one person, I thought, but thankfully I was wrong.

And so, at 8:30am on Monday I was collected from the hotel by Stancho and we began the long journey to Plovdiv. Stancho was full of knowledge and we passed the two hours quickly talking about everything Bulgarian, what the country is famous for, its long and extensive history and involvement in territorial disputes and more, and his time as a tour guide. I felt very lucky to have my own personal tour guide and planned to glean as much information as I could!

Our journey took us through the hills and across flat plains on what turned out to be a surprisingly foggy day but the landscape truly was vast, stretching for miles and miles around. We eventually arrived in Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv which on the outskirts looked like the Soviet city I had envisioned, with tall and quite ugly apartment blocks, which Stancho assured me where much nicer on the inside. Our destination, however, was the old city. The narrow cobbled streets were lined with glorious large houses, which now no longer affordable to be maintained by a family, most had been turned into museums highlighting what life used to be like – I assume the equivalent of stately homes back in the UK. I’m sure Plovdiv must have one of the highest concentrations of museums within a small area.

We wandered around the quiet streets, many of which appeared deserted (it was a Monday morning after all), stepping into the occasional stunning church completely covered in frescos and rich in so much history, or even buildings which had once been home to Turkish Dervish Whirlers. Perhaps most interestingly, and what I would never have guessed, is that Bulgaria has many links to the Roman Empire, the remnants of which can be found in cities like Plovdiv. For instance, we passed by a large amphitheatre that would not have looked out of place in Athens, and parts of a huge Colosseum, only small amounts of which have been excavated as so much still remains under the city streets and therefore impossible to get to without destroying all of the shops and houses on top.

Never will you find a better time to visit Plovdiv as it prepares to be the European Capital of Culture 2019 – no doubt more tourists will come flooding in after then. We spend our final hour in Plovdiv wandering around a small museum which once had been a Roman home, as evidenced by the mosaic tiles that lined the floor, still in very good condition. Along the walls were cabinets showcasing various intricate glassworks – how they had created this hundreds and hundreds of years ago without the technology we have now is beyond me, but I was glad to have seen it!

Back in the car, we wound our way through the gorgeous autumnal hills until we reached Bachkovo monastery. Like Rila, this was a monastery ensconced within a residential casing, but included not one, but three churches, each dating from different centuries. The first and most glamourous was a large church in the centre of the courtyard which was undergoing renovations to restore its frescos as years of candles burning had left them blackened and dull. What had been restored looked wonderful. This church also held a famed icon of the Virgin Mary said to result in miracles, and so the few people who visited the church on this cold Monday took their time to pray in front of her and leave an offering.

The second church was attached to the first, and surprisingly was an outdoor church, with no walls. However, they’d used this to their advantage as this was now the designated candle burning area in order to avoid the blackening that had occurred in the other church. Amusingly, our admiration of the frescos was accompanied by the bleating of a sheep which had been given to the monastery as an offering and was now a permanent inhabitant. The final church remains closed to the public but its exterior frescos, including vivid depictions of Heaven and Hell can still be admired.

After a few photos in front of the stunning autumnal hillside, we made our way back into town past a variety of small stalls selling ceramics, honey and homemade wine which I’m sure are swamped in the summer months. Handily, Stancho agreed to drop me straight to the airport and I couldn’t have asked for a better day trip to finish my time in Bulgaria. I felt like I had seen what I had come to see, and explored a beautiful and often underappreciated country.

My tips for visiting Bulgaria: Firstly, go! I hope this blog has convinced you that this really is a country worth visiting and there’s plenty to keep you occupied for a long weekend like I had. Secondly, take advantage of local knowledge – the Sofia walking tour and my day trip with Stancho were made all the more special because we were able to use the expertise of our local guides. I made sure to ask as many questions as I could and feel that I certainly got a lot more out of these experiences than I would have done with just a guidebook. Finally, if you’re a foodie or a cultural fiend, I can’t recommend some of the places I visited enough – Sofia has something for everyone and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Did you enjoy today’s blog? I’d love to hear your thoughts – drop me a note on Twitter @CiarasCountry or in the comments section below. This is absolutely my suggestion for an undiscovered gem of a city, and I’d love to hear where you think is underrepresented and I should visit!