I want to start this off by saying, I never intended to go to Bulgaria. I don't mean that in a negative way, but it literally was never on my radar haha. But when a round trip flight deal came up for under 100 euros, I had to take the chance. When I told my parents they were very concerned; Bulgaria isn't super frequented by Americans, at least not to the degree of somewhere like Italy, and doesn't always have a positive perception.
I took the leap, and boarded my flight on Wizz Air. (Also surprisingly generous for a budget airline in terms of baggage.)
The flight was about 2 1/2 hours, which I barely made, like literally just made it as they were closing the doors. And as I was getting on the plane, a thought went through my head. Uh, why am I going to Bulgaria am I insane? But it was too late I was there for the ride. We land and it's quite the odd little airport, it's a little dilapidated and the border guards seem to be angry you're there. (I later found out this is the old airport for the cheaper flights, the new one is modern and nice). Anyways I strictly follow the instructions of my hostel to ignore the Taxi drivers and go for the bus, which I did. The bus was confusing, but I stuck to my rule when traveling alone in a foreign country unless it's police don't show that you speak English albeit unless it's an emergency. Here's what the scenery was going into Sofia.
And here's my reaction
And this worked well for keeping people from harassing me haha. Anyways the bus stops halfway into the city and the bus driver just gets out and starts smoking and everyone gets off, so I'm just like welp guess that's that haha so I get off. And my phone was NOT connecting to the internet which made for a bad situation, here's the thing in most countries I can sort of determine where im going by sounding out the word even if I don't know the language. But Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic and not Latin letters, so I was like ummmmmm. And I wandered the streets for about an hour trying to determine my route (didn't work) Thankfully I found two police officers who were extremely friendly although they didn't speak much English they pointed me in the right direction (which I am forever grateful to them for)
It was so cool walking to my hostel let me tell you, it was so Bulgarian if that makes sense. I've never felt more foreign (in a good way)
At the end of the day Coke is everywhere!
I took a walking tour the next day in the morning, and it was amazing. There's so many cool buildings and a rich history in Sofia. From Roman times; to the Ottoman Empire, to the Soviet age all the way to modern day Bulgaria.
(our guide says at this building, "our government is very dysfunctional" reminded me of home :p )
(Clash of the west and the east)
( I can't remember if this is the mosque or the church but I think it's the church and the site of their largest terrorist attack in history, there's an amazing and sad story behind that but ill let you look it up)
This is a newer statue of the founder of the city, it's a gift from another country if I remember correctly but im not sure which
Ok yeah I was right going through my photos, that is the church and this is the mosque.
Then we reached the main area of the city and it's dense with culture and history.
This is the former Bulgarian Communist HQ pretty crazy.
(This is the entrance to the country's main department store, and it has a really sad history apparently everyone had to come here during the communist era to get all the basic necessities traveling hours from around the country, and it was the first place to have escalators in the country, and schools would take field trips NO JOKE to ride escalators up and down.
And they had these awesome Roman ruins that you could just walk into and touch as you wish, I don't know any other place so lax about it. Very unique experience.
And even cooler, they incorporated part of the Roman road into their subway, so down there, the walkway of the subway is a Roman Road you can walk on!
And here's the President of Bulgarias office
I can't totally remember the story behind this one so don't ask lol, but it's really cool how the modern and old buildings intermingle like this.
This is the Byzantine or Roman bathhouse, Im not sure which, either way people came from very far to drink the natural hot spring water WHICH YOU CAN STILL DRINK TODAY. I mean how cool is that, and it's totally safe it comes from the ground warm. Crazy stuff.
This is their Opera house I believe? Very pretty building.
This is a Bulgarian tradition called Martenista, which they tie these pieces of rope to trees I think to symbolize the passing of winter for spring?
Heres are some random cool photos, the one with the flame is their unknown soldier tomb.
This is the Sofia Orthodox Church, its one of the largest in the world. Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside as the orthodox priests will come at you, but its still cool from the outside.
More random photos
I stopped to eat lunch after the tour at this street vender, he was incredibly nice and this accordian player next to him was super nice as well, Bulgarians are great people
This is how part of the roads are, gold. The reason it's only part is they ran out of money while doing it so many years ago haha, but it's still very unique
This is an old soviet sculpture falling apart in the middle of a park, gated off. vvv
This is the main strip of stores and restaurants its very picturesque and although you can't tell in the photo so much, you can see the mountain looming above you.
Would you believe in this photo im just steps away from that very strip!
Oh and did I mention how great my hostel was? For under 20 euros, I got two meals a day plus an excellent bed with 2 lockers and a curtain for my bed for privacy and high speed wifi, AND the dinner came with beer :)
There were cats living at the hostel!
I also went on a bar crawl, met some Germans who were there on a little trip, turns out it's a popular spot for young Germans. That was fun.
But the time came for me to go and I was back to Germany. But let me say, Bulgaria was the biggest surprise of my travels around Europe. A beautiful and friendly country, I felt safe always, and it just goes to show you sometimes you need to just take a leap and try. I would go back in an instant.
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