Sofia from first and forth sight

Sofia is capital of Bulgaria situated in western part of the country. I had opportunity to visit this city 4 times and I really would like to visit it not one time. In the beginning I had a little bit different opinion about Sofia. It was a city I didn’t felt in love from the first sight, maybe even from the second. But now sincerely I want to come back there.

The first thing what get scared me a lot – homeless dogs, big homeless dogs everywhere around… I am even afraid of dogs with owners, so this for me was horrible. But after longer time I get used to them, actually they are behaving really well, newer barking or touching you. Also, all of them are marked and vaccinated.
If you will step from the city center you will see a lot of very very old buildings. And I was staying there. Before I left there for the first time, my mum told me that it is one of the most beautiful cities she ever been, and believe me she was in a lot of different places, so I was expecting a lot from Sofia. And after I came there I called for mum and told, “Sorry, but this city awful, I don’t understand what did you liked there.” I send her some photos and we understood that the city didn’t change at all after a time she was there and it was more than 25 years ago. Except the city center, touristic places all the time are nice and renovated. So not everything is so bad that it can look from my words. There are really nice places for tourists. There is perfect possibility to take “Sofia’s free walk tour” or “Sofia’s free bike tour”; actually nowadays such excursions are popular in all over Europe in country capitals. So before trip, just take a look where and when u can join them. There is unique architecture and culture. If you are religious, you will find a place to pray because they have all types of religious buildings, Church, Orthodox Church, Mosque… They saved them all for ages. No matter which one religion was at the moment, they newer destroyed old buildings.

Sofia is surrounded by mountains, located at the northern foot of Vitosha Mountain, in the Sofia Valley. So for me Sofia made the biggest impression because of mountains. Truly, it was my first time in mountains. And I will remember it for all my life. It is popular there to go to the mountains just to watch sunrise or sunset.

If you are lazy to go by foot you can simply take buss, metro, tram or taxi, which is not expensive there. Bus tram and metro goes from 5am to 12pm, it is really comfortable timetable, and price to one road is just 1 leva. You can call for taxi or just catch it in the street by raising your hand. I should say that I never paid more than 7 leva for taxi while I am using it in the city.

Nightlife. There are few nightclubs; entrance cost varies from 0 to 20 leva, it depends on what performance is there that night. Also there are few pubs; entrance is free, beer or vine inside cost around 5 leva. In the clubs it is just a bit more expensive. The first time I saw the nightclub (truly it was striptease club) on the bus, it is riding around a city with lights and loud music inside. Outside the bus was written that it is “Strip club on the weal”. It was something new for me to see even I didn’t stepped inside. For me the strangest thing was that there is no dance floor in the clubs, sometimes there is some really small area you can dance. People get used to dance around them tables, with friends they came. They are not used to get new with people in the clubs or pubs.
In Sofia they have high quality water. And if you will see siphon on the street feel free to drink it, people everyday before and after job or lectures going and refilling they bottles of the water, so don’t be shocked when you see the line to take some water, everything is just about quality.
If you thinking to bring some souvenirs and you are bored of magnets, in Sofia you can find some really nice things to bring home. Bulgarian roses! You can buy roses soap, perfume, shampoo, any type of cream, everything for your beauty and rose jam. Bulgarian vine or rake they are making it in Bulgaria and have some special ones so try it and bring it home.

Wish you to visit Sofia and spend there very nice time. And after YOU will return I want to hear your opinion about Sofia, don’t forget to share it.