Beautiful Bulgaria

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Dear Blog Readers,



We'd been really looking forward to this trip, our first time visiting Bulgaria! We'd managed to use some Avios points and a free cabin upgrade resulting in business class returns for 55,000 points and £1 which felt like a steal! Flying this way, the holiday starts at the airport after going through business class check-in, fast-track security, and then straight into the lounge. At Terminal 3 there are several OneWorld lounges to choose from even though we were flying with BA - we decided to go to the Cathay Pacific Lounge. The main reason was that it has its own noodle bar so we could have some miso soup and Vietnamese pho before even taking off!



Once in the air, we were treated to a meal and the three-and-a-half-hour journey flew by, landing at about 7:30pm. We booked our hire car with SurPrice for just £125 for 5 days, they're based only 2 mins drive from the airport and not one of the kiosk ones at the departure gate so just phone them once there and they come and pick you up in no time. We were in the midst of an intense heatwave across Europe so this will be referenced regularly - but it was still in the 30s once we'd landed! SurPrice was absolutely fine, a bit mardy because we were about 30 mins late, but the car was decent - a little scratched and rough around the edges but sometimes that's better than a pristine car when you're hiring! We got straight onto the A1 road to Plovdiv and arrived at the HillHouse Hotel after about an hour and a half - a very smooth journey and the room was lovely with a great location near the town center.



Once you get past the town sounding like a primary school insult, Plovdiv is quite an interesting town, full of history and surprisingly Bulgaria's second largest city. Fuelled by a fab breakfast (croissants were great!), we initially had a walk to the Old Town (heading left and up out of the hotel). The first stop was the Ancient Theatre of Philippopolis - looks like it's now used for concerts, but has an unreal vista view of the mountains behind it, and apparently was only discovered after a freak landslide in the 1970s - one wonders what other secrets are underfoot! Around the area are loads of museums (Google reviews the historical museum as "the smelliest museum in the city"), churches, old Georgian houses, and the little walks around Craft Street transport you back to what feels like Ancient Rome.



Heading back towards the main high street, we went to the Ancient Stadium of Philippoplis. There is an exposed curved section at one end of the 2nd-century stadium to look around and an excellent 3D video to show what the whole stadium would have looked like back then. Amazingly, it's 200m long and would have catered for 30,000 fans to watch all manner of athletics, chariot racing, and probably gladiators. Now the rest of the stadium is underground and the main high street is built on top of it, but if you go to H&M, about halfway down, you can go to the basement and you'll see in its foundations, the seats lining the middle of the stadium, including the equivalent of the 'royal box'. Laura picked up some new PJs whilst we were there.



Once we made it to the other end of the stadium/high street, more ancient ruins are sprung out of the ground with the Roman Odeon just by where the entrance to the stadium would have been. Then we had a lovely wander around Tsar Simeon Garden with its massive Singing Fountain (which has a full lights show on Thurs/Fri/Sat at 9pm). We had a spot of lunch overlooking it at Morado Bar & Dinner and then back to the hotel for a siesta now the temperature was nearing the 40s! In the evening we went through the Kapana district, which has a really nice vibe, and some lovely-looking restaurants. We ended up at Pavaj which did a brilliant meatball and salad dish - the meatballs are more like flavored patties. For dessert, we headed to Vivaldi on the main street for their ice cream which was superb!



The following day, we woke up after a lovely night's sleep and cracking breakfast before hitting the road. It's a lovely drive, about 2 hours south along route 866. About an hour in, we stopped atop a viewpoint overlooking the Vacha Reservoir but it was close to 40 degrees even though we were fairly high up at this point, so back in the car and the comfort of air conditioning! Devin itself is a lovely mountain town and we parked up outside our hotel having arrived a little before check-in so decided to go for a walk. We found a restaurant called Starata Varba which served up some decent meatballs/meatcakes and a whole plate of warm, freshly made crisps!



The hotel was called Persenk Spa Hotel - a grand-looking building with a lovely room overlooking the mountains and church next door and a bathroom that included complementary bath salts, a shoe horn, and fresh fruit in a bowl! There's a swimming pool on the ground floor and a spa on the floor below which was cracking, including a steam room, sauna, and solarium. After indulging in that, we went exploring some more around the hotel and found it has its own nightclub/bar and 4-lane bowling alley! Costing about £3 a game, Laura and I got involved, with equally impressive scores of 141 to 47. For dinner, we went down to the crossroads that center the town, just over the bridge that crosses the Devinska River, and dined at the fancy-looking veranda of the Royal Cafe. They did a traditional pork/peppers stew pot with cheese on top in a wonderful clay pot - it seemed to be a specialty around here and was delicious! The street opposite the hotel turned into a really vibrant community-feel like a street party in the evening as the temperature dropped. The smell of hot popcorn, kids enjoying the inflatable slides and bouncy castles that had sprung out of nowhere, and the hustle & bustle of people gathering around the ice cream carts.



After a decent night's sleep, we had high hopes for breakfast given the quality of the hotel, but wouldn't say it was a standout; the fresh orange juice (complete with an industrial sized juicer) probably stole the show. We jumped back in the car to continue our road trip and experience the mountain roads towards Velingrad, a town about 2 hours northwest of Devin. We nearly got off to the worst possible start with a flashback to Iceland as the front right tyre dropped into a massive pothole with a thud, thankfully the tyre didn't burst this time and Laura took charge of pothole watch on the right-hand side as I navigated the mountain roads! Things went even more wild as we cracked on, the blistering sun in Devin soon turned to huge downpours of rain, and then even hailstones! Some of the cars were stopping mid-journey to wait for the freak storms to pass through. Thankfully it wasn't too long until we reached a lookout point and walk down to Despot Reservoir which had some stunning views and then after stretching our legs we finished off the fairly smooth journey, albeit with some roadworks, and generally cars were going really slowly!



In Velingrad, our hotel was slightly out of town, called the Enira Spa Hotel, and our room was bright purple having passed through a corridor with a random Communist-era style portrait greeting us on our way past. We went out to find somewhere for lunch and stumbled upon Pectopaht, from the road you'd think you were going into somebody's back garden, but then it opens up into a lovely restaurant with great food and portion sizes. We had a walk around the back which went through a nice park complete with a workout station & bars/rings for Laura to do some circus skills on!



Back at the hotel, the spa was actually really nice. They have a small indoor pool, a massive hot tub, sauna, steam room, and cold bucket, and then outside the pool is also super warm; apparently from the mineral water from the mountains and natural thermals heating it up. I also had a cracking massage whilst I was there for about £25! We decided to drive into the town centre for dinner and stumbled upon Ladi Bar and Grill. The waitress was super friendly and loved trying out her English with us, so we were truly spoilt. We got to choose what steaks we wanted from the butcher downstairs and they cooked them there and then to perfection which was amazing! The evening also had a great buzz around the town too, there seemed to be a small fairground ride set up as well as all the main buildings/churches/fountains being lit up beautifully. It seemed to have a similar vibe to Devin the night before which was really nice to walk around without the heat of the midday sun.



Not the best night's sleep or wake-up call being the builders that started work on the nearby block of apartments at 7:30am on a Saturday morning! The power had gone out too so the lifts were out of action and the breakfast was nothing short of abysmal! Unfortunately, we couldn't really stomach the mouldy tasting coffee and bread which had been out for days. Thankfully, the temperature had noticeably dropped, now in the mid-20s which was pleasant as we got back in the car and headed south-west to Bansko. This mountain town is even more spectacular in the winter as it converts to a ski town ready for the season, but in the summer, it still has the charm and views to die for. Having had a lovely walk around the town to stretch our legs, we ended up in a quirky little restaurant called Dedo Pena, sitting in their little courtyard out the back for some delicious food and homemade ice cream for dessert. We were the only ones there when suddenly about 20 students turned up and we found out the International Linguistics Olympiad was being held that weekend! It was an absolute nerd-fest but check out some of the problems online - incredible talent to try and solve them!



Back in the car, we headed west in a 'C' route cutting into the Rila Mountain range to visit the Rila Monastery. We parked about 5 minutes walk before the entrance, saving on the parking fee, got changed into some trousers as shorts aren't allowed, and headed straight around the back of the Monastery to the donut cubby-hole. These are made fresh by the monks there, looking a bit like a fluffed-up pancake, and dusted with icing sugar, they are magnificent!! Wash them down with their local yogurt drink and you'll be chuffed you reinvested the parking fee saving on them! Fuelled up, we headed into the monastery to take in the magnificent sight - it really is an unbelievable place. Most tour groups will have come from Sofia earlier on in the day, so by 3pm when we got there, it was fairly quiet and most parts start closing around 4:30/5pm. The place is probably Bulgaria's most famous sight, with unbelievably colorful paintings on the walls, the black & white striped paintwork, and bright yellow domes framed by the mountains that encircle it. The inside of the main building is really impressive, with some ancient seats for the clergy, and frescos adorning the walls. We also headed up the Hreliova Tower next to it and were the only ones in there, but got great views from the top of the domed roofs and of the surrounding mountains. There are several galleries, museums, and some of the worst toilets ever, to frequent whilst you're there.



We got back in the car and drove to Dupnista - about 45 minutes away, whilst listening to Test Match Special which had become a firm favourite for the road trip (even Laura was getting interested in the cricket!). We stayed in Hotel Rila - and I'm glad I checked the route before leaving the Monastery as there was one of the same name another 45 minutes away! The room was really nice and included a spa again (!) which was fab. The town itself was fairly quiet actually, as we struggled to find anywhere for dinner, ending up at a bar down close to the hotel which did a decent salad & gyros whilst the DJ cracked out some Bulgarian tunes. We continued to hear it back up in the hotel room as the music didn't stop until well into the night!



We'd planned a hike into the Rila Mountains for the following day so took advantage of the breakfast buffet and made up some sandwiches to take with us! It took about an hour to get to the Lower Cable Car park (5 lev) to take us to the Seven Lakes. The cable car only takes 2 people at a time and the queue was already massive - the whole of Bulgaria had turned up for the hike! It splits into two lines - one for the cable car and one for the ticket office, it's worth splitting yourself up and one of you do one and the other otherwise you'll be there even longer! The ticket office is cash only too - and costs 50 lev for 2 people return so have that with you! It was about 11am when we were there, with no shelter at all, and three horrid porta-loos so come prepared or get there way earlier - I heard that the day trips from Sofia get there for 8:30/9am which might be a better shout! We applied plenty of suncream and fashioned hats out of the cooling towels we'd brought with us but we eventually got onto the cable car and could enjoy the wonderful views and cooling breeze that accompanied the 20-minute long trip to the start of the hike!



The hike takes about 3 or 4 hours depending on your route, but you get to see the famous Seven Lakes of the Rila Mountains. From the cable car, taking the route right starts quite steeply but at least you get that part out of the way, after about 30 mins you'll already have great views of the Triustnika Lake, and soon will find yourself on the north shore of Babreka Lake (or the Kidney). It's really spectacular, wonderfully clear, and the north shore is a bit quieter than the southeast nearer the walking route. Despite having a drone buzzing overhead, we were able to enjoy the breakfast-made sandwiches, and crisps we'd bought the previous day, and filled up our water bottle from the lake (no swimming allowed, unfortunately!). We cracked on, and soon were heading upwards again, stopping at the shore of the Okoto Lake and looking back at the amazing view. At this point, you can go even further up, but given it was already about 2:30pm, we decided to turn back to not rush getting the cable car back down. We snaked through the other lakes on the way down, and the route is clearly marked. Unfortunately we hadn't packed our walking shoes which ended up being a big mistake as I rolled my ankle about an hour from the cable car. Immediately knowing I was in trouble, I managed to fashion a support bandage from the towels we'd used earlier, and necked some ibuprofen and paracetamol to try and reduce the already egg-shaped swelling that had appeared on the side of my foot! It was a struggle but we were soon back at the cable car and able to enjoy the view on the way down, thankful that it could have been a lot worse!



The drive north back to Sofia was fairly uneventful, unlike the Ashes, which kept us entertained throughout! We dropped the car off at Surprice, near the airport, and they kindly offered us a lift to the Metro station at the airport - we really can't fault them! The Metro is only 1.60 lev for a journey, and takes about 20 minutes, with us popping up at Ohridski which is on the sight of a huge park with Communist-style statues adorning the center. We had a short walk to our hotel, the Sense Hotel, which we'd been recommended despite being quite pricey but worth absolutely every penny!! Our room was magnificent, with floor-to-ceiling windows, with a view of the nearby St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (more on that later!). As we were pretty tired from the day, we just popped down the road to Boom Burger for dinner which was fantastic, and they do nice shakes too!



Having slept like a log, the breakfast up on the rooftop bar was spectacular. The food was only matched by the amazing 360-degree views of the city and Vitosha mountain that overlooks the capital city. We'd booked ourselves on a free walking tour to get to know the city and our bearings a bit better. Starting at the lion statues outside the Palace of Justice, we headed first to the St Nedelya Church and then headed through the Serdika metro station. As they were building the metro, they unearthed a fantastic archeological site of the ancient Roman city of Serdica. Here also lies the Sveta Petka church - a tiny Ottoman-era church that also gives a nod to how Sofia has been built up over time. Moving north, we saw the wonderful Banya Bashi Mosque before turning back on ourselves to look at the fantastic building of the Portrait Gallery - which used to be a Roman bath house (wish it still was!). The wonderful gardens continue and we took a photo next to the fountains and in front of the National Theater.

Heading underground back at Serdica metro there's the entrance to one of the 4 Roman gates that would have been entered through for the city. This is close to the 'Triad' of buildings which includes the National Assembly of Bulgaria (which was once the Communist HQ complete with the red star on top), the Council of Ministers, and the Ministry of Education & Science. Impressive buildings and we were able to see the guards of honor there which are now seemingly protecting the courtyard which houses the St George Rotunda Church (hidden from view like many religious landmarks in the Communist era). After this we ended up walking close to our hotel, getting to see the marvelous Russian Orthodox Church (which looks even better lit up at night), then our guide gave a really insightful and funny history of the political landscape of Bulgaria in the nearby park before seeing St Sofia's Church and finally finishing at the magnificent St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. What an amazing tour!! Well worth going on - so much to see in a couple of hours and tonnes of fascinating history!

As you can imagine, my foot was hurting a little bit by now and had bruised up a treat. We went back to the hotel and used the wonderful spa facilities before heading back into town in the evening. On the way to Vitosha Avenue - the main street with loads of restaurants - we suddenly heard the introduction to 'It's Time' by Imagine Dragons. Surprised, we checked online and realized they were playing at the stadium that night! Absolutely gutted to have not got any tickets, we walked there anyway and listened to a few songs from outside along with a few other unlucky ones!

We found a place back on the street for dinner and had a salad before heading back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the salad didn't sit well with Laura and she was up in the night being sick which continued into our last day in Sofia unfortunately. We were able to have a walk around the town, retracing some of the steps from the walking tour, and going into the churches, mosques, etc. which were even more spectacular than they look outside. Especially the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which is absolutely huge - one of the biggest in Europe. The hotel was great too - as our flight was in the evening, they let us use the spa facilities that day even though we'd checked out in the morning. What a fantastic holiday - if Bulgaria isn't on your list yet, then make it so, you won't regret it!

Tink & Laura

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