Trip date: October 14-16, 2011
Sofia (София) is the capital city in Bulgaria, a post-communist country. Street side used book stands here are as plentiful as hot dog stand in New York. Another parallel to the big apple is the high availability of taxi cabs which, unlike New York and everywhere else I’ve been, are super reasonable and cheap.
All in attendance: Gordon and Kristen
A favourite game is the skyscanner game. Where you click about on skyscanner until something impossibly cheap comes up. I played this game this past August and lo and behold, a 42 euro round-trip flight to Sofia, Bulgaria out of Milan.
I have major ennui of taking my trips out of Milan. The past few trips (Krakow, Venice and Sofia) have required me to intermittently stop and stay overnight in Milan. I haven’t even seen the city but I have had full use of their trains, buses and airplanes. On Thursday night, Gordon and I took the 19:09 train from Zurich to Milan. This time it was only a half hour late arriving – a new record !
We stayed at Ambrosiana Hotel for 24.50 euros/night which had a small room but the most comfortable Milan bed yet. I will offer up a reward for anyone who can recommend me an under 20 euro accommodation near Milan train station. The next morning we woke up leisurely and took a direct bus from Milano Centrale train station to Bergamo (Orio al Serio) airport. A big thumbs down to Wizz Air because our 12:35 flight to Sofia was delayed until 14:00.
Arriving late in Sofia, we took the 84 bus (1 euro) from the airport to Sofia university. We walked to our hostel, which wasn’t too far away. Nightingale Hostel (6 euros/night) is incredible value. It’s located right next to a large outdoor book market. The owner, Mikhail, gave us great Sofia information, confirmed the route we planned to take to the Rila Monetary, gave us a great restaurant recommendation and even gave us some free shots to celebrate our arrival in Bulgaria.
By the time we put sheets on our bed, it was dinner time. We went to the recommended Bulgarian restaurant and ate some delicious pork and coleslaw dish. Again, we got more free shots and even a free dessert of what I discern as a cactus fruit jelly of sorts. We also had a trio of Bulgarian musicians who serenaded me right at the table. There was a flute player, a drummer and an accordion player. The accordion has now migrated to a high place on the list of instruments I would like to learn to play. All this for only 20 BGN each which included a 20% tip!!
After dinner, it’s time for a guideless walking tour of Bulgaria. In case you didn’t know, Bulgarian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet. Street signs written in the Cyrillic alphabet partnered with a map using English street names makes navigating all the more challenging.
The most notable building is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. According to one of the employees at our hostel, the Americans tried to bomb Sofia in WWII and targeted this cathedral but ended up bombing one of their own bases through a miscalculation. Therefore the cathedral is said to have some otherworldly energies keeping it safe.
The next day we took the tram/bus to Rila Monastery. The whole trip took about 3 hours to get there and back but it was well worth it. It was only 22 BGN (11 euros) for the round trip through public transportation. I met a French student on the bus who was living in Turkey and he gave me some good traveling advice for my planned trip there. The monastery is located in the Bulgarian mountainside and it’s beautiful – especially in the fall. It was a bit chilly but nothing a pair of Canadians couldn’t handle.
Inside the building is incredible and adorned with so many gold statues. The paintings on the outside are really bright and colourful, unlike anything I've seen before. The colours are so playful and so different from that Italian renaissance style that I've seen so often now.
That night we walked around the streets of Bulgaria again. After a failed attempt to find one of the restaurants recommended in Lonely Planet, we ended up choosing a place we could get Bulgarian BBQ. After a big after dinner walk we ended up at our favorite snack spot– the Soupeteria. The Soupeteria is a 24 hour soup café right next to our hostel. We ended up there on Friday night as well. On Saturday night we ate some late-night soup again and drank delicious cider before making our way back to the hostel for a bit of lounging in the common room before bed.
We woke up on Sunday, trudge through the wet sloshy snow and made our way to the airport to take the plane back to Milan. We made a quick stop in Bellinzona, Switzerland where we looked at the castles while we waited for our gleis7 to take effect.
All in all, we spoiled ourselves on this trip. We took out 150 leva for our weekend trip but we probably could've done everything for half this budget.
Thing I learned:
In Bulgaria…
… the food is incredibly cheap and delicious
… there is an abundance of bookstores
… there is an absence of streetlights
… pedestrians do not have the right of way
… shaking and nodding your head have opposite meanings
Things I will do if I go back:
- Go to Vitosha Mountain to do some hiking
- Take one of the numerous free walking tours that for one reason or another, Gordon and I kept missing
