Sofia, Bulgaria by Valerie Streif, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

A quick trip to Sofia, Bulgaria, turned out to be quite the whirlwind for me and my friend Melina. We left Madrid late Friday evening, back on the Eastern European budget airline Wizz Air for a direct flight to Sofia. I couldn’t wait to explore the opposite side of the European continent for another weekend.

Sofia is very spread-out topographically, but there are trams that run throughout the city as well as an underground metro system. The architecture throughout the city varies tremendously. You can see everything: from ancient Roman ruins to beautiful baroque style buildings, and socialist-era compounds.

We stayed at Hostel Mostel, which was fairly centrally located and inexpensive to get to from the airport. Be wary at the Sofia airport - there are lots of scammers who try to charge double or triple what the official taxi stand operators do for rides into the city. Sure enough, they approach you right in the waiting area. The line for taxis was long but it was worth it to wait and get a cab, which cost less than €10 total for a ride to our hostel. The hostel was nice - really friend staff with a great included breakfast every day.

I wish I had a long list of foods that I ate and loved while in Bulgaria, but the honest truth is that we didn’t have much luck with the cuisine. The one restaurant experience that was memorable was in Plovdiv. We went to a restaurant called Smokini and I highly recommend giving it a visit if you take a day trip there. I got to try the Bulgarian salad with cheese on it (who wouldn’t like that?) as well as some awesome sausages with grilled vegetables. Melina had a pork stew that was also awesome. Definitely, stop at this place if you’re wandering in Plovdiv wondering where to eat - and there is a roof terrace. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).