Manastirska Magernitsa is a restaurant you have to deserve... by finding it ! Lost in a very small and dirty town near the center of Sofia, you'll need a map to find it... And then, just enjoy ! You'll be served in a beautiful house (or in the as-beautiful garden in summer). It will take you at least one hour to decide what you order (impossible to make a choice among hundreds of appetizing meals, overall when you're being given a full description about how it's cooked, where the recipe comes from, ...). You'll eat like a king/queen : plates are huge, and meals, made after old recipes from monasteries of all the country, are succulent ! And the waiters are very professional, you won't lack anything. You'll drink like a prince : they have a large choice of excellent wines. You won't get ruined, as everything is very cheap (compared to what it is...). We only paid 10euros each for drinks, appetizers, meal and tea. You'll thank me for the advice ! (well, I hope so !)

What is great with this capital, is that it doesn't look like one. Some beautiful monuments in the center, next to whom wild parks that makes you feel like you're in the middle of countryside, old dirty streets that makes you feel you're in the ghetto of a very poor town, and everything is melt. It's like there is no "rich neighborhood", "black ghetto", "poor place", ... Everyone share the streets with everyone, and that gives you the chance to make every kind of meeting.

And most of all, there are some great restaurants in the middle of nowhere, where you can eat the best food ever for almost nothing !

This is a good hostel. It's a very hostel-y hostel with a huge common room filled with young travelers from around the world playing games, watching the neverending music videos on the large screen television, writing home or researching the next leg of the trip on the free internet stations... It's a very social place, good if you want to meet other travelers. They have the system down pretty well here with a variety of rooms and configurations for single travelers or groups. The reservation system worked well, although there were the usual mysterious extra fees in the "final price". It's a very well run hostel with professional staff and good equipment. One nice thing is the free pasta and glass of beer that comes with the room. Well, free but they add a Euro to your bill.. but it's still a good deal. The food and beer portions are generous, and there's a nice breakfast spread available in the morning - a nice filling breakfast buffet, not just a pitcher of juice and some bread. You also get a nice map of the city they've produce with the major sites marked. A good map is always of great value... Internet access is fast and good, but there may be a wait for the three available stations. The dorm room was nice and clean, but a little crowded and hot with 9 beds I think in a 4x5-meter room. it seems to run at capacity during the high season with 50-60 guests, I'd estimate. The building is great. It looks like a Spanish hacienda with the huge common area downstairs, rooms above connected by a wide balcony, and large restrooms at one end. The two story building is in the large courtyard formed by tall high-rise housing on all sides. You enter throuh a tiny door in this wall of buildings, expecting to enter a staircase, but a tunnel leads to the open courtyard. I'd reccommend Mostel Hostel if you like a social, crowded hostel with a lot of activities and interaction with other travelers. It's not too noisy at night, but you won't get to bed too early. It's a fun place to stay.

The train to Bulgaria was more what Zvonka remembered of eastern European trains... ancient and graffiti-covered, it rolled out of Belgrade late that night. We settled into chocolate colored seats that had been soaking up the sweat of travelers in this sweltering compartment since maybe the late seventies. Our own perspiration quickly infiltrated the seats and released the funk of the ages which penetrated our clothing and skin and followed us for days. The compartment did stay empty most of the trip, with the exception of a girl who told us that she'd ridden the train three hours into Belgrade to go to the beach and escape the heat (the "beach" is a little stretch of sand on the Sava River...) Of course we were on our way 500 miles east to swim in the Black Sea ourselves, so we couldn't really make fun of her.

Sofia must have been the hub for all rail traffic through the area with massive rail yards decorated with trains and equipment spanning the last 60 years. The central rail station was a preview of the general architecture of the city which consists of massive concrete Socialist architecture and monuments overlain with a more recent veneer of advertising and signage. Navigation is difficult with a combination of Cyrillic script and Bulgarian language... We found ourselves more decoding than reading signs... A train schedule is just a mass of characters until the city names are sounded out letter by letter and matched phonetically with the sound of the city name.

Sofia also has a radial layout rather than being a grid like a western city, so following a street out takes you on a slow vector away from your target if you're not careful. It took a day to really get our bearings and have much luck finding things we were looking for, which actually allowed for more exploring since it was more an exercise in wandering than a tour of the city.

We had booked a hostel which turned out to be pretty nice. It was probably the most hostel-like hostel we stayed in, with a big common area and dormitory style rooms
both packed with travelers from around the world. After dropping off our giant backpacks, we set out on what would become a routine, looking for a park to nap in after the overnight train ride. Central Sofia is relatively parkless,

Heading farther out we found Saint Nedia church. A big funeral was in progress, obviously of someone pretty well know since all the local TV stations were there to cover it. It was an interesting crowd, plenty of people bringing flowers and viewing the body, but very few seemingly in mourning. People seemed to be coming more as a tribute.

We found our park in shadow of probably one of the most dismal monuments we'd ever seen.  The hulking, 7-story tall edifice was slowly crumbling, with much of the original black marble fallen away, exposing a skeleton of internal support beams.  Rust and weeks were taking their toll on the thing and it was crumbling behind a graffiti covered wooden wall built to protect the citizens from their own monument.  It was built around 1981 as part of a sprawling "Palace of Culture" which included other monuments and a simply enormous bunker-like central building which was obviously build over a huge underground faciltity.  Again, the stark concrete walls, built in a style to project power and permanence of the state were now draped with 5-story high advertising banners and the building was converted into a shopping mall. Back at the hostel we ate the free pasta and beer dinner, made some emergency checks of the internet to reroute our next leg of the trip, and

By spending three extra days in Varna, my schedule was thrown a bit off wack and I had three days to travel three countries if I was going to meet my friend in Croatia on time. I had sorted out a plan of action and had planned to catch a bus to Skopje and then an overnight bus to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  As I was at the the Varna Bus station, a transport hub that led much to be desired, I was confronted with a new dilemma.  I was taking money out of the local ATM machine to pay for a bus ticket when the machine confiscated my card. I was shocked to say the least, I had been having problems with my card, but had thought that I sorted it all out with the bank the other day on the phone and was assured that everything was fine. So needless to say I was a bit shocked, furious, angry and every other emotion you can think of when you are confronted with being in a foreign country with only a couple of US dollars and a couple of Euros to get you across three countries. I spent the next couple of hours arguing with my bank on my international cell phone.  After two days and two countries, they were finally able to sort it out and wire me some money. Those two days were the most stressfull I have had on this entire journey and made me realize that sometimes you just have to let go and believe that everything will work out in time. It all sorted itself, but you can trust my bank will be getting a nasty complaint letter from me, since the entire fiasco was due their own incompetence.

Because of the card fiasco, my time in Sofia was a bit overshadowed. I did only have about 24 hours there and felt that I only scratched the surface. Other travelers had said mixed things about Sofia, some had thought it left much to be desired and others loved it. I felt a connection to it and believed that if I had more time it would be a fun place to discover and dig deeper into. Unfortunately, I had to catch a bus to Skopje Macedonia where I would catch a connecting flight to Dubrovnick to meet my friend. The overnight bus I had planned to take only left on even days......weird....but so it goes with traveling.

Hello, I want to thank to owner and to the personal of Villa Boyana in Bulgaria. It's really nice and relaxing hotel, good atmosphere and really nice view. I will visit you again with pleasure! Stepen Smith London, January 2008 http://villa-boyana.com/en

Early Saturday morning, as I was drinking my cup of tea looking out of the window I could see Vitosha mountain covered in snow and pine trees. The weather outside is cold, but extremely sunny with no wind at all.
I could not resist, but to wakeup few friend of mine (never mind the clubbing previous night) 8am Saturday morning and present them with the plan.
"The man with the plan is calling" presented my self when they answered the phone ....  : )  It didn't took me long to get them out of bed and on our way to Borovetc and ultimately to Musala peak.

The Rooms is a very small hostel in the heart of the city. There´re just six rooms in this old purple building, most have two twin beds, and a small bathroom. Every Room have different thematic furnitures, for example there´s a twenties room and a disco room. The hostel is located between railway station and city center, so it´s perfect for a stay in Sofia. And it´s also very cheap: In 2008 you pay 25€ for a double bed room/night. The Staff is very friendly and helpful and you can use a PC for free Internet.

A nice city.  I get taken for $25 by a scam artist changing money in the main square, but I'm not surprised.  He was acting very dodgy so I changed only a quarter of the amount I originally intended to.  Watching him in action was worth the expense.  I'm more concerned about my thoat.  I'm coming down with a viral infection, like the kind I used to get as kid that would block off my whole airway with hard sticky mucus.  I later discover that I'm allergic to some cold viruses and I still suffer from these infections periodically today.  I stay in my hotel room for two days and wait it out because the medications I had to help open up my airway were among the things stolen in Rostov. 

My mom's aunt took me for a quick tour around Sofia to bring back some old memories. It felt weird, I was being a 'tourist' in the city I was born in! :)

We stopped in Blagoevgrad for a short break. There were a few small shops and I knew straight away what I had to do: buy some banitsa and boza!! This is a typical Bulgarian breakfast. The boza drink is made of yeast and some other stuff, so it has a very special taste.. but me and my mom love it :)
Banitsa is like a sweet croissant with white cheese and eggs inside, very nice! My mom still makes them regularly...

And this was one of the funniest buses I've seen. He took a sharp left turn on the car park and we thought he was going to tip over on his side! Man that would have been funny :)

Born in Bulgaria and lived there for my first three years, I never had the chance to go back regularly to visit my family. Last time I went was 7 years ago! So I must say I felt slightly guilty towards all my nice relatives out there but nevertheless I was welcomed like a prince :)
It was nice to see everyone again and sense that there is warm blood running through each and every one of them. We went for long walks, had nice and delicious meals, and did lots of catching up.
After 2 days, me and my friend took a 2 hour bus to Bansko, the most popular ski resort. My friend's grandparents have a big house there, so they provided us with free accommodation and food!
We had lots of fun, had some great snow, but on the second day my friend fell for the first time and sprained his thumb... so we decided to return to Sofia a day earlier than planned. I was fine with that because I could see my family for an extra day, and to be honest, my entire body was aching from snowboarding! :)

As you see, this wasn't a proper adventurous back packing trip, so I wasn't intending to put pictures on travbuddy, but Anneke managed to convince me.. so there you go girl! ;)

This is a small but perfectly finished family run hotel on the square next to the World famous Unesco site Boyana Church. Nestled in the foothills of Mount Vitosha the location is very relaxing. The service can only be described as the best and most friendly I have ever experienced in any hotel (including 5 star hotels!). Krasimir, the owner has painstakingly and lovingly crafted this modern establishment with his own hands, and it really shows in the attention to detail. There are several nice restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and downtown Sofia is a 10-minute taxi ride. Forget the so-called “luxury” hotels, in the city centre; stay here. The value for money is unbelievable. Peter Middleton, Uk. September 2007-09-21" Thanks for a lovely stay and hope to see you soon, say Hi to Krasi Junior! Kind Regards Pete

Booked a flight to Sofia, Bulgaria with Olympic Airways for 200 euro.  Booked a hostel online before arriving called Art Hostel.  A double room with private bathroom, living room, and kitchen for 20 euro per person per night.

A note about taxis in Eastern Europe:  There seems to be a common practice among some taxi drivers to rip off tourists in most of the countries i visited.  Each country has a slight variation to the techniques they use, but i can somewhat summarize here.  In Bulgaria we learned that the cheaper taxis used a meter instead of just giving you a price, so make sure the taxi you are getting in uses a meter.  The taxi driver that is trying to rip you off, will tell you anything to get you in the cab, but it is all lies.  For example, immediately after arriving in the exit area of Sofia airport we were solicited by a "taxi driver" who told us it would cost 40 BGN to get to our hostel.  This is after negotiating for several minutes, so the original price he quoted us was much higher.  We decided to walk outside and find a taxi cue to determine if the price we were quoted was too high.  Sure enough we found a metered taxi, and the total price to our hostel was only 7 BGN!  Quite a large difference between the first taxi driver.  So be very careful here.

We get to our hostel to find out the room we booked was not in the same location as the office.  Most of the rooms at the main hostel were dorm rooms, so if you book one of those you will be ok.  But we booked a private room.  The directions we were given by the hostel were hideous.  It took us several hours, and some help from locals, who called our hostel to get us to the place.  All of which could have been avoided if we were given proper directions.

The room was located on a dark street lined with tall trees in a neighberhood reminescent of the soviet union.  The apartment building as well reminded me of old school soviet block.  The acutal apartment itself was adequate, but could have used some updates in certain areas that would have made the place really cool.  It was good enough for what we needed however.

For dinner we ate at a place called Ugo.  Ugo appears to be a small chain of restaurants located around Sofia.  We had salad, cheese bread, and 2 local dishes all for 15 US.  The food was pretty tastey especially for the price.  For that price we also had some local beer and wine.

Most important thing to remember while traveling to Bulgaria, especially if its with AllItalia, YOU MUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLOTHES IN YOUR CARRY-ON! They lost my luggage and I had forgotten to put extra clothes in my carry-on in case this should happen. Also, make sure there is nothing too important in there in the case its not found.

Personally, Im not a big fan of Sofia. Its quite dirty, the people are extremely rude (primarily because they are overworked and underpaid), and the only great part about it is Downtown, and it takes about 4 hours to see it all.

I arrived around 6:30, however the ordeal with my luggage had me out of the airport around 8-ish. My grandmother and cousin just about had a heartattack, thinking I missed my flight or got on the wrong one. Fortunately that wasn't the case and we grabbed the first cab to their apartment. As soon as I arrived at the apartment I urged my grandmother to get me a contact for a last minute bus ticket to Lozenets, a beachside village about 2 hours south of Burgas. I usually do not travel by bus, and honestly I've always refused because you cannot get up, there are no bathrooms, cant smoke, and are stuck next to another person for about 8 hours. Which isnt exactly pleasant as you have just gotten off a flight for the past 14 hours. The trains are of course, much dirtier, not as safe, quite slower, no airconditioner, and the people that cant afford the busses go, so its a bit shady. But the experience is amazing, especially if you take a day train. You see the beautiful countryside and can walk around as much as you like. And yes, the old carts still have the windows you can open and you can smoke a cigarette, and of course there are bathrooms (holes in the floor of the train in a tiny room). Either way, its a much better experience than the bus.

However, on this particular trip it was necessary that I take the bus, as I had just arrived from my trip from Miami, it was 8:30, and the night trains arent very safe or comfortable, and it was very important I got out of Sofia ASAP as I have only 2 weeks, and Im not going to waste a day traveling. So I grabbed the first bus out of Sofia to the coast at 10:30.

Quite comfortable I must say. The trip was smooth, and I ended up next to a really great girl, and we ended up talking all night, which didnt exactly help my exhaustion at that point. But the conversation was good, and it helped the time pass as I really count get to sleep. Just keep one thing in mind while traveling cross country in Bulgaria by bus. THEY STOP ONLY ONCE in 8 hours! So, keep the water and liquids in general to a minimum! Trust me, it gets painful. And as far as eating, the bathrooms arent exactly for shitting purposes, and not exactly the most comfortable for pulling out a book. :-)

Needless to say, aside from the slight wait to use the bathroom, everything else was great of the trip. The seats are comfortable and recline, good A/C, a little too good maybe, and they show a movie, maybe two, but I passed out.

Finally after about 8 hours on the road, we reached Lozenets, where both the girl I was traveling with and I got off, and my brother met me with the car in the parkinglot. He had not gone home that night, as the clubs in the area are some of the best! Which you will see pictures on the next post. :-)