Sep 8 2025

Both Mihail and Georgi had set us up for disappointment in Sofia. We liked it. Certainly more than Bucharest. 

It was back down to the bus station for our ride on the public bus to Sofia. After decanting into the Budapest Hotel (yes confusing) it was out to tour the city. First a huge lunch at Izzy’s Cafe.

Still a lot of well preserved Hapsburg era buildings on top of the early medieval ruins. Was clever the way the underpass incorporated the “buried” parts of the city. 

The streets were paved gold. Well yellow paving stones. When Sofia was selected as the capital (taking it away from VT and Plovdiv) it was only a small provincial town with dusty streets. The (possibly apocryphal) story was that Emperor Franz Joseph was so put off by the dirt that he gifted the paving stones from what is today Slovakia. 

Problem is they are virtually impossible to replicate and therefore replace. 

Our walk took us to the main plaza and the very impressive Alexander Nevsky cathedral. Apparently he was Russian. So too the statue of the fellow honoured for liberating Sofia and Bulgaria from the Ottomans, General Gurko.

But there was a statue of Tsar Samuil, ruler of the first Bulgarian Empire. Krum looked rather fierce, but that may have just been a result of the pigeon on his head. 

We chose to visit the archeological museum which was to serve us well later on as it straightened out the Thracian-Roman-Byzantine-Medieval-Ottoman-Independence timeline some. 

We chanced to exit just in time for the changing of the guard. A chance detour led us to the 4th century church of St George ensconced in a courtyard. 

Also by chance we ended up on the main pedestrian street and in the thick of a massive book fair. Tired and foot sore we still ended up walking the entire length down to the very communist looking Palace of Culture. 

Ended it in a cafe advertising bar & ice cream. Perfect combination. 

Even more to like: the transit system used NFC tap on for fares.