Sofia, April 2023

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from my first time in Bulgaria, but I really loved walking around the center of Sofia. Before going, I didn't know much more about it other than the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, but I really enjoyed being able to explore a new city that I didn't know much about. We stayed right by the main shopping street, Vitosha Boulevard, which was full of cafes and restaurants, with a beautiful view of the mountains in the background. 

The weather was beautiful while we were there but unfortunately  the same couldn't be said up in the mountains - There'd been loads of unexpected snowfall which meant the day trip we had originally planned to do while we were there was cancelled. Although that was a shame, it meant we had extra time to explore some of the local areas and parks that we probably wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And besides, it was freezing back in England when we left so we were enjoying the sun and blue skies too much to face snow!

The Alexander Nevsky cathedral lived up to expectations - It really is so beautiful, and the golden domes look amazing against blue skies. In fact, Spring was a great time to visit Sofia - There were so many beautiful parks to visit, all which had flowers in full bloom, and in general there were so many well looked after squares within the city with beautiful plants in. We visited both the Borisova Gradina Park (had a lovely outdoor bar area within a small woodland area) and the South Park (lovely fountains), and both were well worth spending an afternoon walking around in. 

Sofia has an amazing Street Art scene, we stumbled across so many amazing murals whilst just exploring the city before doing an organised Street Art tour to get a bit more background on some of the local artists. I've added a few pictures of some of the one I loved the most, but the standards really were amazing so it was hard to narrow it down!

And last but not least, we did a wine tasting evening session (with loads of amazing cheese!) which was great. I mean, you can't beat a few glasses of lovely local wine...