If you’re following these articles in order, you’ll know that we just traversed Europe by bus for 46 hours from Madrid to Sofia. We’d been sitting on our bottoms a wee while and we were ready to explore!
I think I’ll start by saying that we were not fans of Sofia. There were some great moments and some pretty sights but some experiences left us with a sour taste in our mouths, quite literally. We had two days in Sofia: 37 hours, to be exact. I think it was enough.
Of course, we didn’t do everything. That would be impossible. One thing we did a lot of was Sofia churches. Although, if you know of some incredible place we didn’t go to, please let me know.
Come with me and explore Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria.
Accommodation Evaluation
After such a long time on a bus, my partner wished for a more luxurious hotel as a treat and to catch some well-deserved zzs. So, we booked a fancy room at a hotel just over the road from the National Palace of Culture and its surrounding park and gardens – map here:
Rosslyn Central Park Hotel – Panoramic Superior Room for one night – £111.97
With a King-sized bed and about 269 square feet of space, the room was incredible. It was decorated in a lovely teal/bluey décor and palm leaves wallpaper. The panoramic view was terrific, with the whole left-hand side of the room being windows. The bathroom was superb with large mirrors and a luxurious walk-in shower. It was perfect for some fanciness and spoiling ourselves for one night.
We did kind of lower the tone by hand washing our smalls and leaving them to dry in the room, as well as freshening up in the public toilets downstairs on first arrival (when dropping bags off). But needs must, however, in order to pack light and make the most of sightseeing and voyaging.
Voyage and Discover
Again, we took no public transport and walked everywhere. Things were fairly close together and we managed to fit a lot in. Sofia has a lot of churches. Get ready for a lot of details on Sofia churches.
Day One
For context, we left the hotel at around 10am. We started by heading to Slaveykov Square which was marked down as a tourist attraction. It is, however, no more than a shopping street and we found it rather dull. Quickly moving on, we happened to come across a quaint and pretty tiny park square close by but even so, there wasn’t much happening. Tantalising titbit: we saw lots of street cleaners (all women) out at that time of morning, and they all used old straw brushes. A mildly interesting point 😊
Ivan Vazov National Theatre
This was a beautiful building from the outside. It was red brick with white columns and borders, complete with black figurines on the very top and white and gold ornate figures carved into the triangular front.
The theatre was closed as there wasn’t a show on, so we couldn’t see the inside. Onwards we walked.
Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker
Despite the Visit A City guide I built placing this church after the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, we happened upon it this Sofia church first whilst walking and so decided to do a switcheroo of the schedule.
From the outside, it was quite unique and, dare I say it, Russian-looking. Funny that, being a Russian Orthodox Church. Post-trip research tells me it dates to 1914. The relatively small church boasts a colourful tiled exterior & gilded onion domes that shone gold.
Inside it was rather cramped, but it was very much in use. There was a woman crying in the teeny chapel and a man praying, prostrated on the floor. The tiny chapel room was quite sad, in terms of the decoration and images; it felt like death. There were old Russian religious artifacts on display and it was certainly a type of church I had never been to before.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Now this was an impressive cathedral. Without a doubt, it had a wow factor. Standing tall across the cobbled Aleksander Nevski Square, the gold and blue of the roofing glinted in the sun. In short, you couldn’t miss it if you tried.
Inside, you were forbidden from taking photographs without paying for a ticket and there was a small-in-stature security guard enforcing this power. I must admit, I didn’t think it worth it to pay the ticket. Rather naughtily, I snuck one quick photo which didn’t turn out wonderfully, but you get the idea.
It was dark in the Cathedral. Really dark. My partner loved the inner decorations: in particular the huge, low chandeliers and dark, faded paintings on the ceilings. All things considered, God was particularly well depicted on the ceiling above the alter, however, of course, I don’t have an image to show you that is my own.
It was cool and fairly relaxing in the church; you could feel a nice vibe in the air. A peaceful and tranquil place. There were no pews and the carpets had been rolled back so tourists didn’t muck them up with their grubby feet. A couple of benches around the perimeter allowed a couple of moments rest.
Sofia’s Central Market Hall
Hunger pangs echoing, I was looking forward to exploring the Sofia Central Market. We deemed it a good idea to purchase local food from a stall and then order a drink at the bar in the centre of the hall and eat and drink at the tables there. It looked not unlike a food court kind of situation. Spoiler alert: it was not a good idea.
Selecting our stall of choice, we proceeded to try and order which was a rather embarrassing and difficult task as the stallholder had no English and she had even less patience. Having no idea what we had bought, we approached the tables only to see they had ‘No food’ written on them.
Wondering if this was a ‘customer-only’ situation, we asked the barman for clarification. He merely said: ‘No food’. We explained we had hoped to buy a drink from him, and could we have both at the table? He just repeated: ‘No food’.
My boyfriend pointed to an area that did not have any ‘No food’ signs and enquired as to those seats. The barman proceeded to just repeat ‘No food’ in a much louder voice. He then turned to a supposedly Bulgarian customer stood close and judging by the tone, he was complaining about us, right in front of us. We went outside to eat but the food was overall not nice or inedible (full details in Bites and Beverages section). A very unpleasant experience overall.
A Triangle of Sofia Churches
The Sveta Petka Samardzhiiska Church, the St. George Rotunda Church and the St. Nedelya Church are all very close to each other in distance and vary in sizes and ages.
St. George Rotunda Church (not pictured) is known to be the oldest church in Sofia, built in the 4th century by the Romans. We viewed it from the outside only, with its complex symmetry and red bricks. Sveta Petka Samardzhiiska Church was even smaller and the internet tells me it was built in the 11th century. A simple rectangle. Again, from the outside only. From the Sveta Petka Samardzhiiska Church, you can see the National Assembly of Bulgaria.
These two churches are accessed by going underground into the metro/subway system. It seems quite a surprise as you don’t expect these cultural and archaeological buildings popping up in courtyards from a subway full of tacky gift shops. Another surprise is the roman-era archaeological finds and ruins that are on display as you go through the metro and subway tunnels. Keep an eye out for them!
The St. Nedelya Church was certainly larger than either of the others, probably both put together and times by 10. This Eastern Orthodox church was heavily decorated with gold and every inch of the walls were painted. To put it another way, it was actually quite awe-inspiring.
Synagogue of Sofia
Located on Exarch Joseph Street, the building is fairly unassuming from the outside. I had never been to a synagogue before and research prior to the trip had told me this was meant to be the largest in Europe. Go big or go home!
Given that the door was closed, we had to press a buzzer and request access to look inside. Granted said access, the staff member searched our bags and we walked through body scanners before entering the building itself.
The floor near the door consisted of a beautiful mosaic, with some seemingly mistake tiles. The inside of the synagogue was at the same time ornate as it was pretty simple. Few furnishings, the walls were painted had intricate patterns on but no grand paintings or murals. The chandelier was enormous.
I think this was a pretty interesting place to see, something out of the ordinary (unless you’re Jewish). A bit of a break from the Christian Sofia churches.
Vitosha Boulevard
We ended the sight-seeing day with a couple of drinks at Vitosha Street Bar and Dinner on Vitosha Boulevard. This is a street lined with shops, bars and restaurants and has a more western Europe feel to it, in my opinion. It’s the main commercial street in Sofia and it stretches quite far. I liked the atmosphere and variety of businesses.
As a matter of fact, I am fairly used to waiting staff switching mine and my partners drinks around: he receives my beer and I his spirit and mixer. The first order went like this. However, for our second and final order, the staff here took it a bit too far…
I ordered a local craft beer, even asked questions about it first, and my boyfriend ordered a Malibu and coke. When the drinks arrived, the waitress put the beer and the Malibu down in front of him and set just the can of coke and a glass down in front of me. This really got my goat. The man gets two alcoholic drinks and the woman gets just a coke, completely ignoring the specificities of the order? Completely ignoring the fact I had previously ordered and drank a beer? Another unpleasant interaction and experience.
We arrived back to the hotel to change for dinner at around 18:15 – so around 8 hours sight-seeing.
Day Two
Having such a luxurious room, we decided to spend more time in it than usual. Especially as Sofia had not exactly enchanted us. Checking out eventually at 11:30am, we left our bags at hotel to collect tonight before taking the 12-hour, overnight Flixbus to Zagreb.
Sofia Central Mineral Baths/Regional History Museum
I particularly enjoyed the areas dedicated to “The Home and Clothing of Sofians” and “Cultural Life and Entertainment”. You are not allowed to take photos inside and so I have nothing to show you, but you can find out the information on the official website. I would definitely say it’s worth a visit, I do remember it being very interesting, despite the staff hovering and watching us. I was scolded for leaning against some glass, when in fact I wasn’t touching it but stood close to it.
The area just in front of the landmark building was where we ate our lunch the day previously. I’d say it was the prettiest natural place we’d seen in Sofia. So. Many. Pigeons. Threw half my lunch to them and alarmed a poor bystander when a tidal wave of birds rained down to feast. At least someone liked it and it didn’t go to waste.
The building was opened in 1913 as home to the Central Mineral Baths and then again in 2015 as the museum. To clarify, the baths ceased to operate in the 1980s. The building from the outside was pretty, unique and bright yellow and the design/architecture is really cool as well.
We decided skip a couple of other sights planned. This is because they were far away and the route there looked uninteresting. We spent the rest of the day milling around Sofia centre, and trying some more local food and drinks. Read about them next!
Bites and Beverages
Considering the short time we spent in Sofia, I think we did well to try at least a couple of traditional, local dishes. Tantalising titbit: They always write the weight of dish on the menu so you can compare it to the price for value. Unfortunately, I didn’t make sufficient notes to tell you some dish names, or their ingredients, let alone their price.
Do you remember our failed lunch efforts from Sofia’s Central Market? Well, I had purchased chicken in a sauce, a sausage-type product wrapped in cabbage and what appeared to be a cauliflower quiche. The chicken was rather pink inside and I did not trust the taste, nor texture nor colour, and so that was the pigeon’s first course. The cabbage-wrapped sausage thing was not very nice. This became the pigeon’s second course. The cauliflower quiche… turned out to be a disgusting sweet rice pudding kind of thing. Yuck. I can’t stand rice pudding. My partner ate that. Epic fail, basically.
Traditional Bulgarian Restaurant Chevermeto Sofia
Booked in advance, we struggled to find the location with Google Maps but eventually arrived. Overall, it was a really enjoyable experience. You see, here they offer a traditional restaurant and a show of traditional music and dancing. Occasionally, you could join in with some simple dancing after some instruction. In truth, it was super fun.
-The Food
Tasty and really very good. I absolutely, hands-down loved the crockery they served the food in. The pattens and colours are just epic and awesome. You can find a link to the business’s page and menu here.
-The Show
-The Service
For the most part, our waitress was really friendly and helpful. However, there were a couple of issues which could be just down to cultural differences or perhaps not:
Firstly, when asking me what sized beer I would like, I replied: ‘the large’ (better value). She ignored this, however, and she proceeded to bring me the small bottle, already opened, saying: ‘In case you don’t like it, I brought you a small one’. Of course, I could not say no because the bottle had already been opened. I was quite irritated because I had ordered the large bottle because I knew I’d like it fine. Was it because I’m a woman and therefore stereotypically not a beer drinker or don’t know what I’m doing? Who knows? Anyway, discover more about the beer I got here (when written lol).
I’d like to point out that if she had brought over the small and suggested it to me, in case I didn’t like it, but the top was still on and therefore I still had a choice, that would have been thoughtful and understood. But that was not the case.
Secondly, when paying the bill at the end of the evening, we left a tip for the waitress as, despite the snub, she had been pretty good. She took the money away and we were putting our coats on to leave, when she returned. She told us bluntly that the tip wasn’t large enough, and that in Bulgaria it’s normal to tip 10%. I’d like to point out that coming from the U.K., we are not in the habit of tipping and I must admit, perhaps we did not tip enough but it was a more expensive restaurant. She stood and waited for more money and made us feel very uncomfortable. We paid it, out of embarrassment and, again, feeling like we didn’t have a choice in the matter. We left quickly.
Tips should not be obligatory. We dropped the ball on the ‘social norm’ but we considered her demand for more money to be rude and not okay. Let me know in the comments if you agree or what you think!
The Thirsty Dragon
This was a super cute little place we happened upon by accident; a happy accident. Selling traditional food and some local beers, we ordered a small dish each to accompany our drink.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a menu or the name of this dish but essentially, it was egg, vegetables and cheese all cooked in a pot. I do love those clay/ceramic pots. And what was in it was beautiful, I recall.
Hadjidraganov’s Cellars
Now, this place was gorgeous. Decked out in traditional wooden style with colourful folk-style furnishings; this place really stood out. Due to the shape of the room, I couldn’t get decent photos but I think it’s better to see it in person. A great way to spend the last of our 37 hours in Sofia.
Sharena raziadka – (current price 8.70lv for 120g) Mix of appetisers (aivar, kiopoolu, katak, chily appetizer)
Shopska Salad – (current price 9.90lv for 350g) – Roughly chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted peppers, onion and grated cheese.
Parlenka with garlic and cheese – (current price 5.40lv for 150g) – flat bread (not pictured)
This author dug into it more when home and learned:
Kiopoolu = An eggplant purée with pepper, tomatoes and garlic
Aivar = Roasted pepper relish
Katak = Prepared as a fermented yogurt that is mixed with white cheese and served with roasted peppers and garlic.
You can find the current menu and website here.
We truly enjoyed these traditional dishes and moreover, the whole experience. It must be said, though, that the plates were markedly less ornate. I’d recommend a visit.
If you’re reading these articles in order, then you’ll know that up next is Zagreb, Croatia. So far, we are two places in to our 9-day, 6-country European Tour. If you missed the first country, or want to recap the route and transport we’re taking, here are your respective article links and I’ll see you in Croatia!
