Sofia, Bulgaria

Most travel blogs suggest a day trip for Day 3 of a three day visit to Sofia. There weren’t many highlights remaining in the centre for us to visit, but we figured just wandering around was fun. We actually did spend the full day seeing stuff, but if you’re pressed for time, you could make it a two day visit and see most of the highlights.

We started by heading to Vitosha Boulevard, a pedestrian-only shopping area. It’s lined with cafés and bars, and was pretty bustling with school kids. It must have been some sort of day off for schools.

Anyways we walked down Vitosha towards Central Park and the NDK building (National Palace of Culture / ). It’s an old Soviet building, now turned into a shopping mall. The outside is interesting enough for a pic. Plus the park was filled with tulips, and the water fountain was operational. (Most fountains are still winterized).

The park was also hosting the annual Spring Fest, with food and craft vendors, a small Ferris wheel, and an antique merry-go-round.

We walked back down Vitosha to the other end. Along the way we shopped for some of our toiletries we were running low on. Bulgaria is part of the euro and had lots of western products and brands we use.

We went back to the Spring Fest for lunch, and had a bratwurst. It was okay, it looked like it would be better.

We walked towards Slaveykov Square, another pedestrian area. Along the way we passed through an embassy area, and found a cute little coffee shop for a break. Heather later spotted some martenitsi in a tree. These are red and white bracelets that the wearer ties to the first tree they see flowering. It’s one of the souvenirs we bought for the key shelf, but it was cool to see them in real life.

Slaveykov Square wasn’t much to see, the walk over was more interesting. So we walked back towards the hotel, through the same neighbourhood with the street art. Took some more pics down streets we hadn’t seen yesterday, and then called into the same beer place for a 0% beer. I tried a Pohjala, which was my favourite craft brewery in Estonia.

We got back to the hotel around 4pm, and got in a few more loads of laundry. It was nice to finally wash some items like our puffy jackets.

We enjoyed our 3rd day here in Sofia more than we had expected. Although I think it’s as Heather’s friend Fed once said, the enjoyment of a vacation is directly related to the weather.