What to do in ... Sofia?

goldtop

Ms GT has a work thing there during this Summer and I will tag along and explore. Alas, I know SFA about Bulgaria and Sofia.

All suggestions welcome. We typically do the usual mix of food/drink + art/culture + (very) casual hiking/cycling.

Kurtis

Museums. If you don't know much about Bulgarian/Thracian history I'm sure you will be very pleasantly surprised.
Sophia is Sophia, it would be a disservice to try and compare it, take it for what it is and enjoy. More culture than you can shake a stick at, but there is poverty, and you will see it. 

Food is excellent when it's good. Excellent wine and raki. Nice cafe/bar culture. Shopska salad and a glass of wine in the evening. Excellent value too. 

The things you have mentioned are in abundance without going far. 

Stay safe, general rules apply. Make sure taxis are licensed. Stick to the main avenues. 


EDIT - They nod their head for no, and shake fot yes. 

ewal

I can't help about Sofia, but I've been told Plovdiv is worth visiting, if you're there long enough to explore elsewhere.

scrumhalf

Plovdiv is okay but I enjoyed Sofia more.

Both are good for just walking the city streets and exploring, and if I could remember the name of the hotel we stayed in I'd mention it purely to warn you not to stay there. It was run by the laziest bunch of bastards you could imagine. 

Emp_Fab

I've always fancied visiting Bulgaria but I believe it has a large complement of Russian tourists, who, in my experience usually have the consideration and manners of football hooligans in a library.

Axe_meister

Cum?

Flanging_Fred

If you’re feeling energetic, you could take a bus to the foot of mount Vitosha (it’s not far) and have a hike up the mountain. Amazing views on a good day.

As has been mentioned, the food is usually very good and fresh ( I hope you like feta cheese, it’s on everything!). Wine is very good too. Although it’s not as cheap as it once was. I remember when it was 6 lev to the pound, you could eat and drink like a king for about ten quid.

If you fancy a day trip out, you could get a coach trip out to the Rila monastery. That’s certainly worth a look if you have time. 

Watch your bags and pockets, especially around the railways station, where gypsies are very skilled at pick pocketing. I’ve caught old ladies with their hand in my bags before. Oh and if you’re in a bar and a group of Neanderthal looking gentleman tell you that you are sitting in their spot, it would be wise to move, quickly, and without an argument!

BTW Mrs Fred is Bulgarian and we first met in Sofia 24 years ago now.

stonevibe

I went to a New Year's Eve party in a nuclear bunker in 1999 there. Also went to a party in a private club in a forest full of Russian mafia, strippers, and vast quantities of cocaine a few days before that. 

McDonalds was also a highlight of my trip to Sofia, but that's another story...

EricTheWeary

I know someone who went and had a look at their Facebook: Bulgaria has terrible roads, good Roman ruins, home of yoghurt and feta. 

Dominic

One of the few European countries I haven't visited ....although I know a few Bulgarians quite well .I'm keen to go .I'm expecting it to be culturally similar to N Turkey and similsr food .......lots of Borek , Ayran , Tripe Soup and char grilled meats

goldtop

Thanks for the suggestions and warnings. Feta and wine overload is perfect. I suppose the inrush of EU money must have changed the economy and tourism prices?

Hopefully the hotel we use will be one recommended by the OH's conference organisers and not one like @scrumhalf describes (which somehow brings back memories of that Hostel film).

Kurtis

Feta is Greek BTW.

Bulgarians are generally a proud nation with a very rich history of its own, so try not to mix these things up 

Gassage

The caves just outside the city in Saeva are incredible. About an hour to get to.

EricTheWeary

Kurtis said:

Feta is Greek BTW.

Bulgarians are generally a proud nation with a very rich history of its own, so try not to mix these things up 

To be called Feta it has to be made in Greece or Lesbos now but it’s what we might generically call feta (and to Bulgarians is apparently sirène or just cheese). 

distressed

Kurtis said:

Feta is Greek BTW.

True. Every Balkan nation had its version of Feta until it's prohibited.

distressed

Regarding the food, it's typical Balkan stuff - banica (sort of burek - pastry/pie with white cheese), sarma (sauerkraut leaves stuffed with minced meat), tripe, grilled meat, yoghurt/kiselo mleko (not Greek type yoghurt, slightly different).

If you have time, I strongly recommend visiting Macedonia for a few days - they have top quality stuff of all sorts. I think Anthony Bourdain mentioned it in his top 3 countries ever regarding the cuisine .

Kurtis

EricTheWeary said:

Kurtis said:

Feta is Greek BTW.

Bulgarians are generally a proud nation with a very rich history of its own, so try not to mix these things up 

To be called Feta it has to be made in Greece or Lesbos now but it’s what we might generically call feta (and to Bulgarians is apparently sirène or just cheese). 

Oh, yeah it's a very similar type of cheese, and they probably won't club you to death for saying or anything.
It's nice to get these things right though.
Same with moussaka, raki etc. 

Emp_Fab

EricTheWeary said:

I know someone who went and had a look at their Facebook: Bulgaria has terrible roads, good Roman ruins, home of yoghurt and feta. 

And Russians...  Don't forget the FECKING Russians !!

Emp_Fab

I spent ages making that gif and not a single LOL.

Bastards.

goldtop

Just back. Thanks to all who gave suggestions. We only managed to cover Sofia, Rila and Plovdiv. The history is super interesting. Some random stuff in case anyone else is off there soon:

The rather excellent but very low-key museum under St Sofia church - it's amazing to see the layers of history peeled back as you descend deeper. V cheap to visit and perfectly coooollll when it's 30+C outside. Same goes for the Bishop's Basilica in Plovdiv. Plenty of museums and many have in-depth English explanations, rather than plain captions.

Nice to see the Soviet Army monument in Sofia being dismantled, albeit in stop-start fashion. The Russian Embassy complains every time the JCBs turn up, and it's taking years. A popular spot for satire, now boarded up to stop political graffiti. From some time ago:



Rila Monastery - as good as it looks, but definitely don't stay over unless you are doing hiking, too. There's f-all else to do there. We stayed at the large communist-state hotel/spa - we were two of only 5 guests, with 2 staff. No concierge, no room cleaning, cold pool, no dead flies skimmed off the water, no turkish hammam, mud bath, etc. They begrudgingly switched on the sauna after we insisted. Two days was as much as we could take.

Plovdiv old town = nice. Plovdiv kapana = dull, despite its reputation.

By happy coincidence there was the 2024 Balkan Wine Awards festival on at Sofia's Palace of Culture. Most excellent, and we especially liked the Mavrud red and the Misket white. 

The Cyrillic alphabet isn't that hard to learn, and knowing it really helps when using the metro/bus/tram/etc - to be able to transliterate (?) the place names to English words on the tourist maps. Doesn't really help with conversation, of course.

The free local tour guides were pretty good, and managed to convey the rather convoluted post-Roman pre-Ottoman history. They rather glossed over the trickier bits of the 20th century: Bulgaria siding with Germany. Twice. Getting it so wrong that at one point they were at war with GB, USA, Germany AND Russia.

And we did get most of the way up Vitosha mountain. High enough that my phone pinged when Vodafone said "Welcome to Serbia". WTF - given the ... 'neighbourly' history, that's a bit cheeky. And Vodafuckers have charged me £7.39 for that message.  

Vitosha's foothills is clearly where the development $$$$s are - lots of luxury pads and cars. Complete contrast to other outer neighbourhoods.

We felt pretty safe overall, even when mooching around way off the tourist trail. The OH's conference host was a bit worried about us walking through part of Sofia, and insisted on escorting us as far as the safe University area.

Bad stuff:
So many Roma (including children) begging
Pavements = shocking - it's no place for anyone with any kind of mobility disability
Rudeness - it's not a service culture, courteous/professional hospitality staff are the exception rather than the rule
Smoking - it affects almost every outdoor restaurant, bench-with-a-view, etc