Blogs from Sofia, Sofia City , Bulgaria, Europe

A pretty easy distance of approximately 50kms into Sofia today. No need to leave too early and we've lost the hour by changing time zones so we settle on an 8:30am leaving time. It's nice and cool and a clear sky, perfect riding conditions. We head off from the hotel around the soccer ground and we're already on a crushed rock road (1), following our route, we're led onto a single track dirt track (2) before being directed onto nice newly laid bitumen (3) which lasts for about 150m before turning into cobblestones (4) and we're less than a kilometer from the hotel. This road is right up against the motorway and a car pulls up and a guy gets out and tells us we can't use the road we're on because it's blocked for road ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Avant de vous parler de ma journée, je voudrais vous faire part d'un constat de comportement entre la Roumanie, surtout de l'est, avec ces 3 jours à circuler en Bulgarie. Ici j'ai retrouvé ''la civilisation'', que ce soit, surtout, au volant et dans les rues. Fini ce climat, ces comportements agressifs de la Roumanie. Fini la mendicité belliqueuse, qui est chia…. à la longue. J'y ai réfléchi, et fait le constat, qui n'est qu'une hypothèse, et ça n'a pas valeur d'étude, c'est qu'ici les gens ont beaucoup plus le type caucasien, voir pas du tout le teint foncé, type rom, j'ose à peine dire basané. Et cette différence, elle est sur une courte distance, 200km, et une concentration de population bien différente, mais que c'est agréable d'évoluer dans cette ambiance. Question, pensez vous ... read more

Today was a holiday in Bulgaria. Bulgarian Liberation Day celebrates the liberation from the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War in the 19th century. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too busy with people out and about. My first port of call was the bus station to get my bus ticket for the next day to Skopje. I took the subway to the Railway Station and took the exit for Serdika Bus Station. Domestic buses go from the main bus station and international buses go from the Serdika Station. Luckily, the two stations are next to each other. Something that I found quite annoying in Bulgaria is that buying bus tickets is not on a centralised system, for both domestic and international, so you have to go to the specific office or counter for the bus company you ... read more

I booked a tour through the place I was staying to visit Rila Monastery. I waited to be picked up and was a little concerned when the driver was late, actually the pick up time had been changed and I could have had longer in bed. A little late we were on our way, just down the street we nearly hit a car as the other driver just opened his door without any regard for passing cars. We drove out on to the motorway and left the city behind. We got about half an hour out of the city and then the engine made a loud noise. That was the end of the trip, there was no way the car would last the distance, and we turned around headed back to the city. I was a ... read more

For well over 10 years there has been a gathering in Europe of the former members of the once popular travel blog site, VirtualTourist. Refusing to let the bonds of friendship be broken even though the website that brought them all together is gone, every year these former members vote on a proposed site for an annual gathering called a "Euromeet" where they reunite. When the votes were counted for Euromeet 2019, the winner was announced: it was Plovdiv, Bulgaria, one of two cities chosen as Capitals of Culture for 2019!! It was an exciting choice to be sure! Bulgaria, a country we have never visited previously, would present some challenges due to the "many moving parts" of the trip. Most of us would be traveling independently and would make travel decisions as such, but many ... read more