Global Wanderer

21/7/2023 – 22/7/2023

A flight delay meant that I eventually landed in Sofia Airport just a touch after midnight, narrowly missing the last metro train into the city. Taxi it is, then! Luckily, this didn’t set me back too much!

Bulgaria’s currency, the lev, is pegged at just under 2 to 1 with the Euro, which means its *almost* on par with the Aussie dollar – useful for me! The Bulgarian government fully intends to join the Euro, and pegged the rate at a set amount (as part of the ERMII, a currency stabilisation mechanism used by the European Central Bank prior to admission to the Euro), in preparation for a likely-2025 rollout of the new currency.

The country’s European integration doesn’t stop there though – when I landed in Sofia, Bulgaria was still outside of the Schengen Area, however since March 2024, border controls via air and sea with the Schengen area have been lifted, and the final obstacle – land borders- are likely to be opened in the near future, along with fellow Eastern European EU member Romania.

I arrived at my hotel – Central Hotel Sofia – in no time, and headed straight to bed. I only had two days in the Bulgarian capital, and I wanted to make them count!

Fancy hotel room!

Sofia is a pretty Eastern European city, very much like Prague or Budapest. It is easy to see remnants of the country’s communist past as you walk down the street – government buildings with hammers and sickles (some of which look like they’ve tried and failed to remove them) being the primary example, alongside several monuments and statues that have Eastern Bloc feel to them – you’ll see what I mean!

The Bulgarian capital also has a thriving Russian Orthodox community, who find their spiritual home at the impressive Church of St Nicholas the Miracle-Maker. I spent my morning walking through the city centre’s streets, on my way to this particular church – which I think was worth it, as it really is quite beautiful inside!

Sofia is home to an array of OTHER churches, which I kept stumbling across during this particular walk. Some, like the enormous Alexander Nevsky cathedral (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), are hard to miss – but others are hidden away in courtyards, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, and were fascinating to explore.

I ought to call Sofia the City of Many Churches!

The city streets do have a certain charm to them, and I was enjoying the general exploration, but decided in the mid-afternoon that a destination might be handy – so I set out for the National Palace of Culture, a magnificent example of Brutalist architecture in the former Eastern Bloc capital. The building, and its surrounding gardens and pathways, would not look out of place in any former Soviet or Eastern Bloc city, and exists in stark contrast to the beautiful churches that dot the streets.

As the late afternoon began to hit, workers in the city finished their days, and the city streets began to liven up a bit – restaurants pushed out into al fresco areas, bars opened their doors, and the city felt much more ‘alive.’

I sat down at one of these local restaurants, and ate away at a steaming bowl of gyuvech, a vegetable stew that tasted amazing!

My time in Sofia was unfortunately coming to a close, and whilst it is a small city (and very walkable!), I felt I could probably have stayed another day or two to get the most out of it. There’s always next time, I suppose!

Getting to the airport meant a ride on the Sofia Metro, which whilst not being richly decorated like its Soviet peers, had a very unique gate system in which a series of wires which divided the platform from the track were lifted as the train pulled into the station – hard to put into words, but very strange to watch!

I passed through the airport with no issue, and waved goodbye to Bulgaria as I boarded my Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, where I’d be making my final stop (a day out in the city) before heading home to Australia!

Goodbye, Bulgaria!