Nic
Strata Poster
Last weekend, Jake and I went on a slightly random trip to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It all started about 2 months ago. Jake was staying with me for a bit, the wine was flowing and we got into a conversation about going away for a weekend. Jake suggested Bulgaria, and that was it, before I knew it, flights had been booked <3
I'm not gonna do a proper report as such, I don't have enough photos for that, but more of a review type thing.
We flew from Gatwick on easyJet - return flights were about £70. The flight is about 3 hours.
Once in the city, there's a big contrast between the rich and the poor areas. We were staying in quite a deprived area. On reflection, I don't think it was particularly dangerous, but it did make us feel quite uncomfortable at times. The posher areas were really quite lovely for the most part. Although, that said, there were reminders everywhere that this is not a massively rich country. Probably the most prominent is the state of the pavements. Absolutely everywhere there's massive potholes and paving slabs missing. While walking round you have to spend the entire time looking at your feet so as not to trip over.
Getting around is easy. There's a metro which, while not extensive, is easy to use if there's a station where you want to go. Pretty sure that all journeys are 50p for a single. Once in the city, pretty much everything is just a short walk away. The only problems we found were on the buses. The drivers would just blank you if you tried to ask questions, making it difficult to know if you're on the right bus or not. You have to buy a ticket (50p per journey) before getting on, usually from a cigarette kiosk. We didn't know this on the way from the airport to the city, and got stung by an unscrupulous ticket inspector who happily took a note worth £10 off us, and got off the bus and walked off.
Apart from on the buses, most other people we met were very friendly and helpful. There were several occasions where fellow customers in shops offered to translate for us if the shopkeeper didn't speak English, then ended up in friendly a conversation with us. Most of the younger people there spoke excellent English, as did people in the bigger, more modern bars/restaurants. The majority of others knew enough that we could understand them.
There's some very pretty buildings in Sofia, but they're mostly scattered in amongst much less pretty ones.
Probably the most prominent is the Alexander Nevsky Catedral -
We popped inside (no photos) - it's very dark and atmospheric with murals all over the inside of the walls and ceilings.
There's loads of churches, loads. Here's a selection -
There's also loads of monument type things with plaques/statues outside remembering various conflicts etc -
There's a churchy type thing with some remains of ancient ruins outside -
The Presidential building has guards outside it. It's a bit like Buckingham Palace, but less impressive.
I personally think that the prettiest building there is the Russian Church -
There's loads of little parks and stuff that have artworks in -
So yeah, in terms of things to see and do, that's pretty much it. Walking round between that lot will only take a couple of hours, if that.
In the nicer area (where most of the sights shown above are) there's loads of really really nice cafes, restaurants and bars, loads. On the whole, food is about half the price it is in the UK, and drink is about a third of the price. A pint of local lager in a bar will set you back anything from 90p to £2 depending on what type of place you're in. Most of the food we had was really nice, but then, at that price, we could afford to eat at really nice, trendy type places. I think my favourite was HERE. 2 pizzas, garlic bread and a litre of (actually really nice) wine set us back £15. It's also worth noting that in most bars and restaurants, you can smoke indoors. They usually have completely separate smoking and non-smoking areas, usually with a glass partition between. The smoking area will usually be bigger as EVERYONE there smokes. Literally. But then, at approx £2.30 a pack, it's pretty cheap.
We didn't do very well with our accommodation. We booked it on Hostel world, and it was basically a room in an apartment. It was a bit of a dump, and they were horrendously disorganised, but at £10pppn, you don't expect much. I'm sure for a bit more money you could get something much nicer, in a better area which is still very good value.
Overall, would I recommend it? It depends what you want from a city break. If you want to spend your time sight-seeing, being entertained and doing activities, then this probably isn't the place for you. If you like your cities to be shiny and clinical, then you wouldn't like this either. However, if you like to spend time chilling out, eating lovely food and drinking cheaply in places with a bit of character, then you'll enjoy Sofia.
I'm not gonna do a proper report as such, I don't have enough photos for that, but more of a review type thing.
We flew from Gatwick on easyJet - return flights were about £70. The flight is about 3 hours.
Once in the city, there's a big contrast between the rich and the poor areas. We were staying in quite a deprived area. On reflection, I don't think it was particularly dangerous, but it did make us feel quite uncomfortable at times. The posher areas were really quite lovely for the most part. Although, that said, there were reminders everywhere that this is not a massively rich country. Probably the most prominent is the state of the pavements. Absolutely everywhere there's massive potholes and paving slabs missing. While walking round you have to spend the entire time looking at your feet so as not to trip over.
Getting around is easy. There's a metro which, while not extensive, is easy to use if there's a station where you want to go. Pretty sure that all journeys are 50p for a single. Once in the city, pretty much everything is just a short walk away. The only problems we found were on the buses. The drivers would just blank you if you tried to ask questions, making it difficult to know if you're on the right bus or not. You have to buy a ticket (50p per journey) before getting on, usually from a cigarette kiosk. We didn't know this on the way from the airport to the city, and got stung by an unscrupulous ticket inspector who happily took a note worth £10 off us, and got off the bus and walked off.
Apart from on the buses, most other people we met were very friendly and helpful. There were several occasions where fellow customers in shops offered to translate for us if the shopkeeper didn't speak English, then ended up in friendly a conversation with us. Most of the younger people there spoke excellent English, as did people in the bigger, more modern bars/restaurants. The majority of others knew enough that we could understand them.
There's some very pretty buildings in Sofia, but they're mostly scattered in amongst much less pretty ones.
Probably the most prominent is the Alexander Nevsky Catedral -
We popped inside (no photos) - it's very dark and atmospheric with murals all over the inside of the walls and ceilings.
There's loads of churches, loads. Here's a selection -
There's also loads of monument type things with plaques/statues outside remembering various conflicts etc -
There's a churchy type thing with some remains of ancient ruins outside -
The Presidential building has guards outside it. It's a bit like Buckingham Palace, but less impressive.
I personally think that the prettiest building there is the Russian Church -
There's loads of little parks and stuff that have artworks in -
So yeah, in terms of things to see and do, that's pretty much it. Walking round between that lot will only take a couple of hours, if that.
In the nicer area (where most of the sights shown above are) there's loads of really really nice cafes, restaurants and bars, loads. On the whole, food is about half the price it is in the UK, and drink is about a third of the price. A pint of local lager in a bar will set you back anything from 90p to £2 depending on what type of place you're in. Most of the food we had was really nice, but then, at that price, we could afford to eat at really nice, trendy type places. I think my favourite was HERE. 2 pizzas, garlic bread and a litre of (actually really nice) wine set us back £15. It's also worth noting that in most bars and restaurants, you can smoke indoors. They usually have completely separate smoking and non-smoking areas, usually with a glass partition between. The smoking area will usually be bigger as EVERYONE there smokes. Literally. But then, at approx £2.30 a pack, it's pretty cheap.
We didn't do very well with our accommodation. We booked it on Hostel world, and it was basically a room in an apartment. It was a bit of a dump, and they were horrendously disorganised, but at £10pppn, you don't expect much. I'm sure for a bit more money you could get something much nicer, in a better area which is still very good value.
Overall, would I recommend it? It depends what you want from a city break. If you want to spend your time sight-seeing, being entertained and doing activities, then this probably isn't the place for you. If you like your cities to be shiny and clinical, then you wouldn't like this either. However, if you like to spend time chilling out, eating lovely food and drinking cheaply in places with a bit of character, then you'll enjoy Sofia.
