Sofia – Our 6 hour visit to Bulgaria
We left Istanbul on an overnight bus and arrived at 9am in Sofia, Bulgaria. Before boarding our next overnight bus to Sarajevo that afternoon, we did a foot tour of Sofia as it was the first time for both of us to Bulgaria.
There is nothing quite like traveling overland to truly feel and experience the differences between countires, regions, people, and cultures. As we crossed into Bulgaria from Turkey we felt a dramatic shift of moving from the Middle East to Europe. No longer did we see women with their heads and bodies fully covered or giant mosques dominating the views everywhere. Instead we saw wide boulevards lined with lots of trees and many parks and plazas. However, apparently due to its communist past and other factors, we knew we hadn’t quite reached Western Europe as our bus ride into Sofia showed a city that was pretty dirty and run down and didn’t seem fully developed just yet.
After arriving, we spent the afternoon wandering around Sofia as we had several hours to kill. Though the Lonely Planet did not have much to offer in the way of interesting things to do and see in Sofia, we were still hopeful. Lucky for us, we wandered into a local farmer’s market that was teeming with activity, energy, fresh produce and other goods and lots of people. Still recovering from the drought of pork we experienced in the Middle East, the first thing we did was treat ourselves to a pound of salami. You’ll find that it can be a bit of a challenge purchasing something by weight if the vendor doesn’t speak English. We found that the best way to go about it is to point at what you want to buy and then show the vendor the amount of money that you want to pay – works like a charm, unless you’ve got a line of inpatient customers waiting behind you.
We wandered around town and found our way to Yuzhen Park which houses the rather daunting yet mesmerizing and incredibly communistic style independence anniversary monument. We also saw the Alexander Nevski cathedral, which was built to commemorate all those, Bulgarians and non-Bulgarians, that fought for Bulgarian independence. We then made our way to the city center, which is known for being paved with golden bricks, to catch the less-than-impressive changing of the guard. On the way back to the bus station, we wandered thru an antique market full of old war gear and memorabilia along with every kind of Russian Matryoshka dolls (the kind that are nested within each other: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_dolls). Our favorite: Bill Clinton (the outer doll) –> Hilary –> Monica –> Paula Jones –> Cigar (inner doll)
As is probably apparent from how interesting this blog entry was, Sofia proved to be a nice, but dull town to visit, though that should not be considered indicative of what the rest of the country has to offer. Unfortunately for us, we had no choice in the matter as this was where our bus transit stop was so we didn’t get to see some of the country’s jewels. It turned out to be a pleasant place to pass the time between buses, and if one counts short-term visits (which is a huge debate in itself), Bulgaria would be the 53rd country that Anthony has visited in his life-time and my 36th.
For the few more photos that we have:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72157594158878192/
Onward to Bosnia!
Over and out,
Shan
Tags: Bulgaria, Europe, Travel
Shan
September 30th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Sofia is not a dull city. A couple of hours are not enough to view an entire capital.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Sofia is not dirty..well it can be dirty sum times but seriosly iT ROX!!its so much fun there…parying and ppl r all nice…the cafes amd resturants…..and agian the night clubs…if ur BG u know wut im talking about.