Sofia, Bulgaria

We arrived in Sofia at sunrise after a brutal overnight journey from Istanbul. The journey included a land border crossing around 3 am. With snow mountains surrounding the city, and the air temperature about 6°C, we were happy to finally have arrived and be starting the next chapter. Our plans for our next 10 days in Bulgaria are to hopefully get to the nearby ski fields of Borovets. But despite my research showing the season planned to start this weekend we’re unsure of whether there’s even snow there. With the local language written in Cyrillic and websites impossible to navigate it’s been hard to get any clear information.

We checked into our apartment early thanks to the automated check-in process having a lockbox with the key available before the determined check-in time. Similar to my impression of Albania, it was nice to be in a city that felt modern and civilised after the constant hustling of Istanbul. We indulged in a deluxe breakfast - a Brekkie burger and scrambled eggs on toast. Then, we returned to the apartment and slept for a few hours. It’s amazing how comfortable a bed can be after 2 back-to-back overnight buses.

At 2 pm we went and joined a 2hr walking tour that took us around the key points of the city centre. We heard about how Bulgaria had evolved from the Therasians thousands of years ago through multiple conquests of the Romans, ottomans and the Soviet Union. And now it has emerged as a democracy proudly retaining the various cultural influences of the past.

That night we wandered into the German Christmas Market which was something I’d been super excited to introduce Jessie to. Being her first time experiencing a “white Christmas” I’d been hoping to find a Kristkindlemarkt in Iceland once we were properly in the snowy weather. I never could’ve guessed that we’d get it in Bulgaria!Read more