Mariano's Trips
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  • Trips in Africa
    • Morocco >
      • Marrakech
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      • Beijing 2010
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  • Trips in Europe
    • Belgium >
      • Brussels
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    • Bulgaria >
      • Sofia
      • Plovdiv
      • Bansko
      • Rila Monastery
      • Leshten (village)
      • Bachkovo Monastery
      • Sozopol & the South Black Sea
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  • TRIPS IN SOUTH AMERICA
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      • Rio
      • Ilha Grande
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      • Havana
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Sofia

This is the city that saw me growing, at least, for the first 10 years of my life.

Why do I love Sofia ?

My family lives there: my parents & sister, grand parents, cousins and some good friends. Essential reasons I believe. While i am writing this I can't really resist not mentioning  all those childhood memories with my friends and me running out, screaming, playing football or throwing snowballs, ... Enough nostalgy!

Well here I won't talk about trips but more about things I do like in my home city.

Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria. I do love it even if I think that the communist architecture is very present in the city. It is indeed a beautiful city which can be visited in few days allowing to contemplated some different eras: Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Ottoman, Austrian architecture and Stalin style one. They used to call Sofia the small Vienna, but after the bombing and the communist arrival everything has been rebuild.. it is just Sofia :)
It is also a city which transforms a lot thanks to the investments in the infrastructure and the upgrade of the downtown. It is becoming also more and more cosmopolitan which I really like.

One of the things which I really love is in the downtown is the area of The central Halls. Indeed, over there you can find an old Mosque, a synagogue (the biggest one in the Balkans), the Saint Nedelya church and on the other side (Todor Alexandrov boulevard) a Catholic Church. All those 4 religions in such a small perimeter shows also the multi-culture of the Bulgarian people. Having the Vitosha mountain about 30min away from the downtown is just great for several reasons: escaping from the city crowd,
  • fresh air,
  • beautiful view over the city,
  • hiking during the summer
  • and skiing during the winter.
Not bad at all!

I think all the area around the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is nice to be seen. Below a small scheme of lot I am usually showing to my friends when they come to Bulgaria.
Picture
There are also excellent Bulgarian and foreign restaurants, bars /pubs and disco clubs.

My favorite places to eat:
  • Hadji Draganovite Kushti (nearby the Central Railway Station) -  Bulgarian food. 
  • Manastirska Magernitza in the downtown  -  Bulgarian food. 
  • Divaka (international food)

My favorite places to chill:
  • The Boris garden.
  • The national palace of culture.

Bars:
  • Beach bar - on Levski blvd
  • 5L - cocktail bar that friends of mine showed me and where the cocktails are awesome. 

My favorite places to dance, it has been a long time I haven't gone clubbing but I would say:
  • PM with house music
  • Biad - with chalga music 
  • Maybe the clubs in Studentski Grad (the student area) but where the growd is much younger 

Talking about that I think one of the music style that can the most impress a foreigner is the "chalga" one. Indeed, it is a balkan music that you can find in Greece, Turquie, Romania and in all the former republics of Yugoslavia. The music is normally very rhythmic with high representation of percussions and trompettes.
Several clubs are offering this type of music in Sofia, one of the most famous ones is maybe Biad. I remember bringing several times there foreigners and they did like it.
Moreover, Sofia is getting more and more cosmopolitan. The presence of the different seasons makes it also rich! 
It is always nice to see the improvement of a city when you come back. I do believe that Sofia will keep growing and in the meantime improve. 
Several upgrades are now to be done in the downtown which will make it much more open for pedestrians. 

To visit Sofia you won't need more than 3-4 days but there are also very nice destinations around if you want to make a complete tour: Plovdiv (an Roman and Bulgarian style city), Rila Monastery, Veliko Turnovo (the old capital), Varna (on the Black Sea), Roussé (on the Danube river - an open air museum), Bansko & Borovetz (for the sky sessions), Melnik (for the wine amateurs - the smallest town in Bulgaria), Kazanluk (for the rose oil sensation).  

One word: Enjoy ! :) 
  • Home
  • About me
  • Trips in Africa
    • Morocco >
      • Marrakech
  • Trips in Asia
    • China >
      • Beijing 2010
      • Beijing 2013-2015
      • Beidaihe resort
      • Dunhuang
      • Guilin & Yangshou >
        • Guilin
        • Yangshou
      • Inner Mongolia: Hohhot & Grasslands
      • Longmen Grottoes
      • Pingyao
      • Qingdao
      • Shaolin
      • Shanghai
      • The Great Wall
      • Tianjin
      • Xi'an
      • Zhang Jia Jie
    • Hong-Kong & Macao >
      • Hong Kong
      • Macao
    • India >
      • Delhi
      • Taj Mahal, Agra & Holi
      • Amritsar & Pakistano-Indian boarder
      • Chandigarh
      • Rishikesh
      • Dharamsala
    • Indonesia >
      • Bali
      • Gili Trawangan
    • Japan >
      • Tokyo
      • Kyoto
      • Osaka
      • Mount Fuji
    • Malaysia >
      • Kuala Lumpur
      • Perhentian Islands
    • Philippines >
      • Puerto Galera
    • South Korea >
      • Seoul
      • DMZ
    • Taiwan >
      • Taipei
      • North-East coast
    • Thailand >
      • Bangkok
    • Vietnam >
      • Ho Chi Minh & Mekong Delta
      • Phu Quoc Island
  • Trips in Europe
    • Belgium >
      • Brussels
      • Han Caves
    • Bulgaria >
      • Sofia
      • Plovdiv
      • Bansko
      • Rila Monastery
      • Leshten (village)
      • Bachkovo Monastery
      • Sozopol & the South Black Sea
    • Czech Republic >
      • Prague
    • England >
      • Hastings
      • Brighton
    • France >
      • Paris
      • Chateaux de la Loire
    • Greece >
      • Athens
    • Italy >
      • Rome
    • Malta >
      • Valletta & Gozo
    • Poland >
      • Warsaw
    • Portugal >
      • Porto
    • Spain >
      • Barcelona
      • Ibiza & Formentera
      • Madrid
    • The Netherlands >
      • Amsterdam
      • Rotterdam
    • Turkey >
      • Istanbul
  • TRIPS IN SOUTH AMERICA
    • Brazil >
      • Rio
      • Ilha Grande
      • Paraty
      • Sao Paulo
      • Iguazu
      • Salvador
    • Cuba >
      • Havana
      • Viñales & Cayo Jutias
      • Cienfuegos & Rancho Luna Beach
      • Santa Clara
      • Trinidad & Ancon Beach
      • Valle de los Ingenios & Sancti Spiritus
      • Varadero
  • Contact
  • Blog