What a great place once we got there. Took a train the 225 miles from Bucharest and it took 10 hours- nice train but an average of 20 mph is slow- 2 slow border crossing stops( 1 out and 1 in) didn’t help. The dollar goes far in Bulgaria. Following the weather is still working. Days in 70s- lower 80s, nights in 50s- windows open all the time- no humidity. The penthouse (8th floor) apartment is small but functional- it did have a nice balcony. The people are nice but the language is a bitch. It’s alphabet is Cyrillic, like Russian, so no reading or trying to pronounce anything- it’s google translate or your toast. The food is great- another carnivore country. We took a side trip to Plovdiv for a day, but otherwise stayed in Sophia with several guided and non guided tours. For some reason they love malls(big ones) so we had to investigate and saw they are just like ours- mostly small specialty clothing shops (international names) with hardly any customers in any of them. Busiest place was the food court- Subway/Mikky D/KFC as well as many local fast food.- a small ice skating rink- IMAX and multi screen movies showing 1st run American movies with Bulgarian subtitles (nothing worth seeing so far this summer or we would have gone). Now we rent a car and see what it’s like to drive in Bulgaria/Macedonia/ Albania/Montenegro/Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia/Kosovo before returning to Sofia with the car. It should be interesting-a little apprehensive but what the hell- you only live once. Anyway Beth will be navigating so we shouldn’t have any problem at all ( oh my God what am I doing- she can get lost going to the bathroom )couldn’t wear shoes in the apt (house rules) so chilling on the patio
the river that separates Romania from Bulgaria as seen on the (slow) train we took
cultivated fields on way to Sofia -2 pics
view from our balcony
Sofia mall-10 minute walk- they love malls???
meat eaters paradise- 2 pics
the lion is the symbol of Bulgaria- lions all over
another cute tour guide
cant remember but something old and meaningful
Roman ruins unearthed while building
national guards in front of presidential palace
national theater and mall
school children performing in historic dress from different areas of Bulgaria- suppressed during ottoman rule and again during communist rule their interest in heritage is now reviving
largest christian Orthodox Church in Sofia
more lions
monument to some politician assasinated with a sword to the head in the 1800s
more tour guides- some cuter than others
group pic of tour-can u find me?
local shopska salad- represents colors of the flag
more carnivore delight
and more
typical old house in Sofia
sunrise from the balcony
day trip to Plovdiv-many odd sculptures
Plovdiv roman ruins
model of roman ruin-very large- sat 30,000 people
restored town house in Plovdiv- upper floor jutted out as taxes collected based on size of bottom floor
overlooking Plovdiv
another cute tour guide
another sculpture- story was this guy played music for people and told jokes- he joked with the local head of the communist party-was sent to a labor camp and died in a few months- fun story-yes
Sofia is surrounded by mountains and this was a big thunderstorm in the middle of the night- it looks light out- I just caught the sky with the lightening to the left
cool shot of clouds with mountains in background
main pedestrian plaza in old town
two local drinks- white one is a yogurt type drink- brown on made from grain and sugar- both are drank by all the locals- both taste like shit
and another cute tour guide
last cool pic from balcony