All holidays have to come to and end. Fortunately, I managed to make mine as gradual as possible, by stopping in Sofia, after my stay in Cyprus. It was all the more sweet since I visited Sofia last summer and I enjoyed it so much that I could not wait to spend the last 24hours of my holidays there.
Of course, I did the usual stuff and paid my respects to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral with its huge unmistakable golden dome.
And it would not be a visit to Sofia without a photo at the Palace of Culture, which is to Sofia a little bit what the Palace of Parliament is to Bucharest: the monumental megalomaniac architectural project.
But I also tried to see the city from a different angle and found an art gallery opened nearby with an uncredibly opened terrace giving a great panorama on all the city, including the cathedral and the Russian church:
Of course, the Theater Ivan Vazov is a wonderful place to hang out when it's hot. There are bands playing, hundreds of people milling around, and a refreshing fountain:
I remembered that I had some of the most somptuous meals last year in Sofia and Plovdiv and therefore I was decided to find the best restaurants, pubs and terraces. Since I had only three meals to take, it was a bit difficult but I managed to find at least three places, from which I can definitely recommend the Checkpoint Charlie place:
As its name indicates, its theme and decoration is based on the Berlin's checkpoint made famous by the Cold War and all the spy movies you can imagine.
The funny thing is that it's very famous and all the walls are adorned by autographs and photos from famous people. I remember seeing one from Samuel L. Jackson, but I forgot to take a pic of it, so the only one I can show is the one from Umberto Eco:
Finally, I had my last meal in the lovely called Thirsty Dragon Inn, with its beautiful green terrace.
As you can see, I fell for the meatballs, which were absolutely succulent. I wish I could say the same for the fries on the side, but it seems that you can't find fries in Sofia which have not been fried in two weeks old oil! It happened exactly the same last year :-/
And then, it was time to take the plane back home, and to put down my suitcase, with a thousand photos and as much memories.
