Sophia, Bulgaria

Part One ~
We left Skopje, Macedonia bright and early in the morning to catch a bus to Sophia in Bulgaria. We were hoping the bus was going to be a coach, but it when we arrived at the bus station we saw a small minibus waiting for us.
Oh well, it just meant we had to make sure we were first onboard, to get the seats directly behind the driver.
Success! Laura rushed on nabbing the first two seats.
We don’t have particularly long legs, but we do like to keep our luggage with us, not load it in the back with the other passengers belongings, so we prefer to have the seats with the most legroom.
Having said that, it rarely works out that way for us. But this time we had a slightly less uncomfortable journey than usual – and all thanks to the extra couple of inches of legroom. Sometimes size does matter. ;o

The journey from Skopje to Sophia was only a couple of hundred kilometres, but we were told it would take about six hours. It took five hours, but with the time change, we lost six hours of the day.
The journey itself wasn’t too bad. The bus wasn’t as stuffy as they often are, most of the other passengers were quiet as they slept the whole way. There was one man who didn’t sleep, initially he was sitting behind us, but then he moved to sit in the front with the driver. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man talk quite so much. He hardly stopped for breath during the whole drive.
Oh well, at least he kept the driver awake.

The bus only stopped for about ten minutes en-route to Sophia, for a tea and pee break. Actually it was for coffee and pee, but that doesn’t rhyme as well.
The worst part of the bus ride was the final few minutes driving on the cobbles through the centre of Sophia. The roads may have looked quaint and oldy-worldy but they weren’t much fun for our poor old bones as we sped over them towards our final stop at the main bus station, which is also the train station.

We caught a taxi from the bus/train station to the centre of town. I’d booked an apartment online for our first three nights in Sophia.
The apartment was described as a studio. It was as expected, small. We met the booking agent at the studio. I gave her money, she gave me the keys. We dumped our bags, then went off out to explore the local area.
After a little wander round town we were beginning to feel peckish, not surprising as we’d hadn’t eaten much for the past four days.
We decided to stop for lunch.
Lunch done and dusted, we had a slow stroll back to the studio, via a stop off at Carrefour for drinks and snacks.
You can leave France, but France will never leave you. ;o

Video of Sophia, Bulgaria – Part 1

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our second morning in Sofia we woke early, but didn’t leave the apartment for several hours. Not sure what we were doing, the time just vanished. It was almost lunchtime by the time we saw daylight, so we had a wander round taking photos and shooting video of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (blog post HERE) and the town in general, before stopping for lunch.
Apparently Laura says I don’t listen to her. I suppose this could explain why we ate at Happy Bar and Grill again despite her not enjoying her lunch there yesterday. I suppose it may also explain why today we both disliked our lunch.
Hmm, maybe I should start listening more to my wonderful wife. Bad husband!

Part Two ~
We changed apartments.
From a hot and sweaty tiny studio apartment to a spacious, cool, one bedroom apartment, which was still in the centre of town. Happy days!
Over the next three days we explored Sophia on foot, but at a very leisurely pace.

Video of Sophia, Bulgaria – Part 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eating in Sofia, Bulgaria

Happy Bar and Grill ~
On our first day in Sofia we ate lunch at the Happy Bar and Grill. It was a lively place with lots of customers eating and drinking various things. The menu looked good. We were happy! I ordered a local beer, Kamenitza, Laura chose fresh orange juice. For food I picked lamb shank with mashed potato and gravy, Laura chose a chicken dish, served with mashed potato, and mushrooms. We also ordered a fresh tomato, roasted red pepper, black olive, raw garlic, and feta cheese salad to share.
I really enjoyed my meal, Laura said hers was not the worst thing she’d ever eaten.
Unfortunately for us, we also ate there again on our second day, but at a different branch, mainly because it was just across the road from our studio apartment.
Big mistake. As I wrote above, apparently I don’t listen to Laura. Yesterday she said the food was mediocre at best, and yet today here wet were eating there again.
This time I ordered pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes, Laura chose a tuna salad. We shared a cheese and garlic focaccia. My meal was slopped on the plate and microwaved, so not nice at all. Laura’s salad was not good either, she said the lettuce was snotty, and the serving of tuna was so minuscule that she couldn’t see or taste it.
The bread was not much better. My Kamenitza beer was cold though as was the strawberry smoothie Laura ordered.
Hopefully my travel weary brain will remember not to eat at Happy Bar and Grill ever again.

Anbaka Restaurant ~
We came, we saw, but we failed to conquer.
We ordered a sprat salad, which had a generous amount of sprats, gherkins, black olives, red onion, and lots of lemon wedges, plus a dish of veal meatballs to share. We managed to polish off the sprat salad, but only ate 3 of the 14 meatballs. It was a hot muggy night, and I don’t think either of us were particularly hungry. We only went out for dinner because we knew we needed to eat something.
The food was really good though, so we took the meatballs away with us. I scoffed them the following day.

Capriccio ~
We ate a very good lunch at Capriccio.
I ordered Lemon Chicken, served on a bed of creamy mashed potato, with a salad of lettuce and cucumber. Laura ordered Bohemian Chicken, which was chicken strips in a creamy blue cheese, potato wedges, and broccoli sauce.
We drank bottles of beer, of which I can’t remember the name, shame as it was good beer.

Mayor’s Pub (Pre Kmeta) ~
Having a slight fondness for beer ;d we decided on giving a micro brewery/ restauarant a try for lunch. Big mistake.
I ordered Serbian sausages. Laura ordered a chicken and potato baked dish. We chose a tomato, cucumber, pepper, red onion, and cheese salad to share.
The service was terrible. We received a wrong dish delivered to our table, Laura got a ham dish instead of the chicken she’d asked for.
One dish was not deliver at all, I didn’t get my Serbian sausages.
Plus we were served one glass of beer we hadn’t ordered, instead of the one we had chosen.
The food was mediocre at best, and even more disappointingly, the beer was not of a quality you would expect from a micro brewery.

Nine Dragons Restaurant ~
Mountains of food.
We had gone out with the intention of eating sushi for lunch, but somehow ended up in a Chinese restaurant instead.
We ordered a few dishes to share. Duck with bean shoots and mushrooms. Rice with chicken and vegetables. Fried aubergine. And last but not least, crispy spring rolls.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen such large portions of food in a Chinese restaurant. The rice dish was seriously large. It would have been more than enough for both of us, without any of the other dishes.
We quenched our thirsts with bottles of Kamenitza beer.
By the time we’d finished eating, the plates on our table looked like we’d hardly touched them. We asked for the food to be packed for us to takeaway. That’s something we never do. It wasn’t just us though, we noticed that almost all of the other diners were taking bags of food away with them too.
Our lunch turned out to be excellent value, we ate the leftovers for dinner on the following two evenings.
The food at Nine Dragons Restaurant was good, as was the service.
Nine Dragons Restaurant, Tsar Osvoboditel Bl

Drinking in Sophia, Bulgaria

Clubhouse 19th Hole Pub ~
On our first evening in Sophia we popped into the Clubhouse 19th Hole for a pint. I say popped in, but actually we sat outside on high stools at a bench, watching the world go by. The beer could have been colder, but it only cost £1 a pint and it slipped down well, so we weren’t complaining.

Tricycle (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot) from Minkov Brothers (www.minkovbrothers.bg). A decent Summer red. Light on the palate but with nice soft red fruit notes and soft tannins. It is from the Thracian Valley region.

Contemplations 2010 (Merlot and Malbec) from Katarzyna Estate Winery. A very enjoyable medium bodied wine, with a good rich red fruit balance and soft tannins.

Lozova Rakija ‘Zolta’ Brandy from Tikves Winery.
I purchased this bottle of Brady on our last day in Skopje, Macedonia (FYROM). I was trying to use up our Macedonian currency.
We only travel light, so not wanting to carry the brandy on from Sofia to our next stop, we decided to have a few brandy only evenings. Very nice, smooth, drinkable!

Supping beer.
Too many to mention, so I’ll let the photos do the talking for me. ;o

Summary ~
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Sophia. It’s a nice city, easily explored on foot as the centre is quite compact. It has a cosmopolitan, relaxed feel to it, and the people are very friendly.