Bulgaria – Sofia
January 2020
So I finished work at Physioflexx on January 17th. The next day I caught a flight to Sofia, Bulgaria to have some well-earned time off. Why Bulgaria? Because there were cheap flights and I knew nothing about it.
Well and truly an eastern European city, Bulgaria lies on the Black Sea, between Romania to the north, the Balkan states to the west, Greece to the south, and Turkey to the east. It has a complicated history – like most central and eastern European cities. People are said to have been here for about 7000 years old and has been Thracian, Roman, Ottoman, and until only recently, outright Bulgarian.
The Bulgar tribe migrated here in the 7th century and having been exposed to the country's history somewhat, I couldn't help but hold an appreciation of the nation's pride in their tribal past – similar to my experience of Hungary. Very old cultures and traditions seemed to be kept very close to heart.
Sofia is an odd city, there’s no other way to say it. Nestled between the Vitosha mountains, it is one of the few European capital cities that I’ve been to that doesn’t have a river running through it. The city itself reflects its history and has a bizarre mix of ancient ruins, roman columns, typically drab eastern European houses, and Brutalist soviet buildings. Walking around town, different levels of the city expose these layers – it’s often not pretty, but it’s fascinating.
That is to say nothing of the old town – which is typically gorgeous. The Alexander Nevksy Cathedral, State Theatre, Russian Orthodox Church, National gallery, and surrounding monuments are all rather grand and lovely to walk around
I wasn’t overly taken with the food, as it was somewhat familiar, having been to both the Czech Republic and Hungary in recent memory. Lots of paprika, heavy on the meat and potatoes – it just wasn’t going to excite me too much. That being said, there was an interesting mix of both Turkish and Greek flavours which were really interesting – Bulgarian takes on tzatziki, bread, kebabs, and salad were all rather inspired and delicious. The white cheese in particular is delicious.
There were a few notable dishes, the most well-known one is banitsa, which I had a few of. Banitsa is basically a Bulgarian crossaint – typically filled with either cheese – and I can highly recommend starting your day with one.
I can also recommend that you don’t follow tradition and wash it down with Bosa (бо́за), a mildly alcoholic fermented drink that tastes exactly like what I imagine beer would taste like if it was brewed from old, soggy Weetbix – apparently it’s great for your health, but I could manage 5 sips and that was me finished.
I stayed in Hostel Mostel and for the first time in my life, stayed in a hostel dorm alone. I had some reservations, but was eager to get out of my comfort zone and just live the backpacking life – even if it was just for 4 days. The hostel proved to be a wonderful place to stay – free breakfast, free dinner, free beer in the evenings, and lovely staff and people. I came across an eclectic mix of Australians, Americans, Dutch, Brazilians, Spanish, Kiwi’s, and South Koreans, to name a few. I hung out the most with a guy from Maitland, NSW, named Brendan, after a heavy evening of sharing our despair of Australian politics.
One night I booked myself a pub crawl, which turned out to be great fun, as I met several more interesting internationals and went to a number of off-beat pubs - my favourite was housed in a dimly lit, old printing house.
I kept myself busy with the typical mix of walking tours, sightseeing, and museums. The city itself was nice enough to be in, but you likely only need 2-3 days at most. I'd highly recommend making the trek out to the former residence of the dictator Todor Zhivkov, which now houses the National Historical Museum, as well as the Fine Art Museum (which Brendan and I perused), the Russian Orthodox Church, and the old flea market in front of the Alexander Nevksy Cathedral - which exudes the peculiar Ostalgia this side of the world often has.
I couldn’t help but think I had a wonderful time because of the hostel and the people around me, as opposed to the city itself. I won’t be back in a hurry, even though I had a lovely long weekend.
On a number of recommendations, if I were to come back east, I’d probably head to Serbia.
I’ll have to keep an eye out for flights…
JC
"Um... Bulgaria is an interesting country. The people are lovely. There are potholes the size of small planets"
Rachel Nichols
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