Sofia, the Capital of Ancient Heritage

To be honest, my expectation before coming to Bulgaria was not high. My reason going to Bulgaria was mainly because it would be more reasonable to do a circle trip from Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and then go back to Vienna within 1 week (Easter holiday). So that’s all, nothing much.

Of course I wanted to see the capital city, Sofia and the Black Sea coastal area. But I really didn’t expect that Bulgaria would exceed my expectation so high…

Posing at Ivan Vazov National Theatre

Statue of St. Sofia

To begin the story, I went from Belgrade to Sofia by using (too) early morning bus (I had to go at 3:30 AM in the morning! >_<) and it took 8-9 hours. There I met a really nice and friendly Bulgarian girl, Hristina. 

Me and Hristina

She explained me some useful Bulgarian words and the Bulgarian unique body gesture  (nod means no and head shake means yes), which is the complete opposite to most of the world. Later I forgot this rule and I ended up eating too spicy wrap because I nodded when the waiter asked whether I want lot of chili. I have to admit, Bulgaria has a higher level of spiciness compare to Western European countries.

Subway in Sofia

Anyway, I started my trip in Bulgaria from Sofia and initially wanted to go to Nessebar after Sofia. But I changed my itinerary because every Bulgarian people that I met always recommended going to Plovdiv before Nessebar.

In Sofia, I joined free walking tour which I think one of my best decision in this trip because there I met a Morrocan guy who became my new friend. His name is Othman and he helped me to take lot of beautiful pictures of Sofia (with me in the pictures of course). In my opinion, Sofia is a really beautiful and unique city. There you can find ancient ruins in the subway station. So, instead of going to museum, you can just go to subway station to look some Roman Imperium ancient heritages.

Ancient ruins beside subway station

Ancient gate in subway station

St. George Rotunda (the oldest building in Sofia)

The most beautiful building that I saw in Sofia was Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which is the biggest Orthodox church in Bulgaria. We visited this place just on time, when the sunset shined on the wall of the church. It was just breathtaking. I took picture but it still couldn’t capture the beauty when I saw it by my own eyes.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

After seeing all the important places in Sofia, I hung out with my couchsurfing host, Joel and his working colleagues. Joel is a Portugese guy who works in Sofia and he is a really cool and funny guy! It was my first couchsurfing experience and I really like it a lot because Joel treated me very warm in his place. Hopefully we can travel together in the future because he has lot of crazy traveling ideas!

Me and my couchsurfing host in Sofia, Joel

To be continued to Plovdiv and Nessebar....