We made an impromptu trip to Sofia, Bulgaria this past weekend and let me tell you, it is a fine city and beauteous journey to get there from our home in Istanbul.
We left bright and early to avoid heat and time our arrival during the daylight hours. It is about seven hours of drive time, plus a border crossing and several breaks for food, bathroom breaks and baby stretching his legs time.
First stop was Edirne, Turkey, home to Selimiye Mosque, a fantastically beautiful building designed by famed architect Mimar Sinan. We wandered around the quiet streets beating the tourists and having the place mostly to ourselves. Edirne is a quiet town in general with a population of only around 130 thousand compared to Istanbul's 15 million. Horses roam free through the town. It is quite pastoral for a town of over a hundred thousand people. We all took some delightful pictures and found a barely open cafe that brought us some coffee and tea and we were off again.
The countryside of Turkey and Bulgaria is oddly familiar. There is a lot of rolling farm and grasslands and plenty of forests. I was surprised there would be that amount of open space even though I know it's not the city. I still find myself being overwhelmed occasionally with a sense of "foreignness" here, so to see landscapes that look like Northern California was a refreshing calm.
Entering Bulgaria and having all the signage switch to the Cyrillic alphabet is still a wee bit foreign to me. I wrote down some key words, but all the important signs are either also printed in English or use pictograms. So sorry, no reports of me using the wrong restroom.
Sofia is the largest city in Bulgaria, rightfully so, being the capital and it is both glamorous and a little shopworn all at the same time. It makes it seem very enchanting. I kept thinking the whole weekend how much it reminded me of Prague, although the locals would not agree at all (nor the Czechs). It is a "Grande European Capital" with pleasant greenspaces, grand architecture, noble statues and plenty of open air cafes. And though it is the largest city in Bulgaria, again, compared to Istanbul, it was cozy and quaint. There is bustle, but not the same frenetic energy that you feel even in the suburbs where we live.
And the mountains! Sofia is nestled at the foot of Mount Vitosha (7513 ft!) and it adds to the cozy ambiance of the city. I would love to repay a visit to the city during spring or fall with snow on the mountains. I can imagine it is quite beautiful.
So there are all the facts*. Verdict: You should go there.
Now onto what we did:
We (Leslie) found a nice spot to stay not too far out from all the main part of the city, so after checking in, we set off on foot to look over the town and find some dinner. At the top of a small hill, we found ourselves close to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a modern Christian and somewhat counterpart to the Selimiye Mosque. Somewhat mainly due to the age and architectural importance of the two and being the two more important holy buildings we saw that day. The Nevsky Cathedral is gorgeous as well. There were no photos allowed inside so I can't share any of those views. Each one has absolutely beautiful mosaics inside and out and at the risk of offending anyone, I'll leave the comparisons at that.
We had a delectable dinner at the Grand Hotel Sofia and were all pleased how painless the bill was. I had my first shopska salad (cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, shredded cow's milk cheese and a spicy pepper on the side) which was beautifully arranged. We took advantage of the prevalence of pork now that we were not in a Muslim country. Our server thought we were nuts for ordering Archer his own order of risotto. Archer enjoyed it though, and the service was excellent and very gracious. The Grand Hotel sits by a quaint park which was filled with evening strollers of all ages and combinations. Parents watched their kids play on the slide, couples young and old nestled in benches, the more rebellious youths drank beer and chatted with friends. It was all very mellow and peaceful.
The next morning, after coffee and fresh croissants, we ventured out looking over more neighborhoods and finding a nice subterranean pub for lunch. They have a tap at each table and you pour your own beer. There is a meter that keeps track of how many liters you have poured. I was again reminiscing about my days in the Czech Republic and ordered the pork knuckle. It was not nearly as tasty as the one I had tried previos, but it was adequate.
There is a daily market by the Nevsky cathedral with vendors selling "antiques" and assorted artwork. The antiques consist of old coins, military medals, albums, cameras, pins, signs and more. The artwork consists of paintings, reproductions of religious icon paintings, some embroidery and knick-knacky stuff. We found a nice embroidered table coverlet (not really a tablecloth, but sort of) and "haggled" our price down to about 60 USD. Haggled because we made one counter offer and she immediately accepted it. Could we have gone lower? Probably. It's okay. We're supporting the local economy! And now we have a souvenir from Bulgaria and none from Turkey where we've been for over three months. Hmm.
Dinner that evening was another treat, with the availability of pork and soft cheeses. I had pizza with prosciutto, artichoke hearts and truffle oil with a Czech pilsner, Staropramen. Slices of heaven. Leslie had a calzone the size of Archer. The restaurant looked something right out of Portland; below street level, but open on two sides to a garden, the kitchen behind a large wall of windows, wood tables, floors and chairs. It felt so nice to be there.
Our final day we took it easy and planned on a late departure so as to miss Istanbul's Bayram related traffic. We took one last peek around the neighborhood, visited a grocery to stock up on pork, cheese and Bulgarian beer. I also picked up some maple syrup, which is CRAZY expensive in Turkey and normal priced in Bulgaria. We got misdirected heading out of town and missed our trip to The Mall (capitalized because that is its name).
We made one last stop in Edirne on the way home and it was fun to be back in the crowds of people all out to celebrate Bayram. Edirne is known for it's fried liver and we found a nice little spot where I, not a fan of liver in general, downed the entire contents of my plate in minutes. I love fried food. Some tiny ice cream cones, quick photo ops during the beautiful sunset and we were off to our respective homes before midnight only for all of us to be back at work early the next morning.
You should go to Sofia!
You should go to Edirne!
*One more fact: So...I don't really get it, being such a welcoming individual and all, but there were swastikas aplenty painted around the neighborhood were we stayed in Sofia. That and the antiques sellers at the market seemed to have plenty of nazi memorabilia for sale. It was the most uncomfortable part of our trip which was otherwise so fantastic. Is fascism the only alternative to communism? It's a weighty issue and I'm not up to speed on the issues facing Bulgaria today. The buddhist/humanist in me does not want to react with anger, but Fascists pretty much suck all around.
