Sep 9 2025

We had entertained the idea of getting driven up the mountain to hike to the Black Mountain summit (one of Cvetozar’s recommendations) but we simply did not have enough time. 

I did wake early enough to watch Dad’s being awarded his OAM back in Melbourne

Lori went for a morning run and I endeavoured to go for a swim at the nearby Ramada. Well a single visit that included pool, sauna and spa was 40 Lev. No option to just use the pool. And I would have had to buy a 10 Lev swim cap. 

And it was only 20m! 

We first wandered through the Women’s Market but we were even a bit early for them and eventually settled on what appeared to be a quite popular with the locals bakery for coffee as the hotel offering was very disappointing. 

We continued to the Catholic Cathedral which was quite compact and simple on the inside. Actually looked larger on the outside. We liked it better than the many of the other over ornate churches we’d seen. 

We managed to find our way to the Opera/Ballet. Almost walked past as it was sort of on a side street. We tried to find the National Theatre also but Google led us to a non descript part of the city with no theatre evident. 

So we tracked back to the National Art Museum via the Sofia trigonometric point marked by a tower. Unfortunately was closed. The gallery was just right for us. Not too many rooms. And placed in the former Royal Palace so we got to see some of the room interiors. 

Grabbing a salad for the bus it was off to Rila Monastery. The story goes that St John (St Ivan Rilski) set himself up as a hermit in a cave nearby. Well the monks that faithfully that followed kind of deviated from that ethos in their subsequent construction. The interior of the church was an orgy of gold (no photos). The attached museum was quite fascinating, helped by the “pre-tour” we received from the kind local fellow who was chatting with us while we waited for the ticket lady to come back from her smoko.  Most amazing was the intricately carved Rafail’s wooden cross. 36 scenes and 650 figures. Though it could be argued that a lot of them were just carved parts of helmets in the crowd scenes. 

After a very tasty local pastry and jam (the pastry seeming very much like bannock) we continued on to Bansko. Bansko was a very different feel. Very much a ski town at the base of the Pirin Mountains. Had one of the better local meals: a skillet of pork and (finally) vegetables. Just the right size portion as well. 

It was nice to be a little cooler. 

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. 

Sep 6 2025

Apparently the train between Bucharest and Veliko Tarnovo only runs once per day. Very slowly. So today was to be in the minibus across the Danube on the friendship bridge into Bulgaria. 

We first passed through/around Georgi’s home town, Rousse. Looked very much a working town on the river. We continued across the Danubian plain and up into the foothills of the Balkan Mountains that divide(d) Bulgaria into its two historical parts, the northern principality of Bulgaria and the southern Roumelia of which Plovdiv was the capital. 

They were unified on this day in 1885. 

Veliko Tyrnovo was the capital until it was moved to Sofia after 1879. 

Thus VT had that hill town, old capital feel to it. Checked into our hotel (situated on a steep hill) complete with towels arranged as elephants. Then it was time for a  city tour with Georgi starting out with lunch (perched on a hill) then walking  in the nominal pedestrian zone (as there appeared to be regular car intrusions). 

After the tour it was wine tasting and the local grapes did not disappoint. Especially the red. 

And the truffles were full of taste. 

Having earlier been introduced to the statue of the four brothers across the river we thought we should be able to wind our way down the streets and cross the bridge. Except the bridge was a “bypass” of the road emerging from the tunnel. So we had to make our way back around past the tired yet impressive Hotel Veliko Tyrnovo and the wedding reception therein. 

We eventually made our way onto the peninsula to get a closer look at the very dynamic monument of the Assen Dynasty whose uprising against the Ottomans ushered in the second Bulgarian Empire. 

That evening, because of the aforementioned unification there was a light show projected onto the citadel. So we, and it appears every person in Bulgaria, made our way down to the forecourt to watch. Unfortunately I placed us right under the speaker. Still it was fantastic to experience. 

On the way back we decided to stop for a drink and a pizza and watch the multitudes stream past. And multitudes there were.