Over the last few years, a couple of my girlfriends and I have marked the run up to Christmas with a craft workshop and lunch / dinner out. We’ve made several pieces of Christmas pottery, and last year a bauble wreath. When we talked about what to do this year, and considered the cost of a workshop (around £50) and lunch (probably about the same per head), we decided to investigate a Christmas jaunt away. We looked at some UK Christmas markets, but soon realised that the cost of travel and accommodation in the UK was significantly higher than in certain parts of Europe.
And so it was that we decided on 4 days in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. Our round trip flights came to less than £34 per head and 4 nights in a 3-bed flat in the Oborishte district was £110 per head. None of us had been to Sofia before, so it was sure to be an adventure.
As European capitals go, Sofia is pretty small. To get from one edge of the city centre to the other was around 40 minutes on foot, or 2 metro stops. It was also amazingly quiet! Yes, there was traffic, and there were people, but not a huge number of tourists at any of the places we visited, and between the hours of around 7pm and 9 am, there was hardly a soul to be seen. We were very lucky with the weather – apparently this year Sofia has had the mildest and driest autumn for years. It was certainly warmer and drier than home.
Our first full day we named ‘Churches day’. We saw five in total, starting with the awe-inspiring St Alexander Nevsky cathedral and the adjacent Saint Sophia cathedral. We then went to the St George Rotunda, considered the oldest building in modern Sofia, and the nearby St Nedelya. Finally, we had a look inside the Central Synagogue. These visits were punctuated by lots of walking, coffee, and some banitza (traditional pastries) for lunch. After a brief respite back at our accommodation we took a taxi to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant for dinner and a visit to a small Christmas market in the City Gardens.
On day 2 we took the metro as far as the National Palace of Culture. There was a larger Christmas market outside there, which we enjoyed looking around. We then strolled down Vitosha Street – the main shopping street, stopping for coffee and a sandwich. We then added another church to our list, visiting the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas the Wondermaker. Pretty outside… very small inside. After that, we headed to the Hyatt Regency to rest our weary feet and enjoy some cocktails and nibbles in the sky bar, before heading to a concert by the Sofia Philharmonic in the Bulgaria Hall.
Day 3 was a rather more relaxed affair. We visited The Red Flat, an interactive reconstruction of a communist-era family residence. That was interesting, and good value at about £10 for over an hour of information and entertainment. We had a coffee and bagel lunch and then split up, with one electing to visit the National Gallery and two heading back to our flat for some downtime. Our evening meal was at a local restaurant where the food was hearty, home cooked and inexpensive. A very enjoyable evening.
My overall thoughts on Sofia are that it is certainly worth a visit, but that 2.5 days of sightseeing would be enough unless you want to do all the museums, which we didn’t. As a Christmas markets destination, it was disappointing, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker. I would recommend exploring the city centre after dark, as the buildings looked really beautiful when illuminated – probably prettier than in the daytime. Public transport was really cheap; food, especially in restaurants and some cafes less so, which was a surprise given previous experiences in Poland and Romania.
Anyway, another European capital ticked off my travel bucket list, and infinitely more memorable than Christmas crafts and overpriced food in Cardiff.
Thanks for your company, ladies!
50shadesofbrave 