Spending a weekend in Sofia

Eastern Europe is more or less a black point on my world travel map. I have wanted to go and explore but other places has been higher prioritized. Then I had to take some summer vacation, I know it is October now but still. I had high hopes on going to Bali but Indonesia remains closed so I had to do a Europe vacation. There are not endless of places to travel to right now and also traveling between some countries is a bit difficult but when I found out there was a marathon in Sofia I decided to start off my vacation with a trip to Bulgaria. A country I never been to before. I didn’t had that much knowledge about the place and I like that. Traveling for me is also a way to get interested in places and learn about them.

Travel to Bulgaria

Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria and there are flights there from all major airports in Europe and also some international ones. I booked my ticket with Lufthansa and flew through Munich on the way there and Frankfurt on the way home. The journey from Sweden took about four hours. When I got to Bulgaria you just needed to show the passport and then you were in. I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. They had a taximeter but I negotiated a little and paid 5 EUR. I prefer going with Uber but couldn’t find it was available.

Accomondation

There are quite many international hotel chains in Bulgaria like Intercontinental, Marriott and so on. Since I want to have a good standard while traveling and also wanted a pool I booked Hilton to be on the safe side. The hotel was fine. The common spaces were renovated but the room was not the newest one I had seen. What I liked though was the view facing towards the mountains. The pool was not huge but it worked. It was warm and it was a pool. Since the days were sunny and warm it was also great to have a terrace where you could sit in the sun. Right outside the hotel you have the beautiful park Yuzhen Park which is worth having a stroll in. Location was also good and I would recommend the hotel for a trip to Bulgaria.

What to see in Sofia

Well, it wasn’t that much to see to be honest. I wasn’t counting on a lot either though but there was more or less nothing. One main street where you could sit at the sidewalk cafés was basically the city center. Some parks and some more cafés. People in Bulgaria must love to go to cafés. And churches. There were churches everywhere.

While walking around I suddenly bumped in to the major church. A huge white building that is an icon of the city. Alexander Nevsky is the name.

Then you have the National palace of culture and Bulgaria square. I stopped by there for a while to watch out the city life and noted that skateboarding is popular among the younger generation.

While walking the streets of Sofia the city reminded me about a mix between a calmer version of Istanbul and not so fancy version of Moscow.

Food was super cheap. And the portions were huge. The last evening after a drink in the hotel lobby we went to a Bulgarian restaurant Pod Lipite. The food was very good and we ordered a bit of everything. The few days I spent in Sofia was enough. I heard Bulgaria is a skiing country so one time it would be fun going there for skiing. Anyone who have been?

Would I recommend a trip to Sofia?

Yes. It was a different and nice experience. I liked the place but wouldn’t need to stay another day in the city. If I stayed longer I would go out and do some excursions. I am sure you can find gems around the city in the surrounding mountains. Have you been to Sofia or would you like to go?

/ Pernilla that loves to explore the unexplored