I traveled to Bulgaria during my semester abroad in Berlin, Germany. I had a six day break in between my second and third semesters and used this time to go to Bulgaria and Ukraine. 

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Here is a look at my time in Bulgaria: 

 

On Friday, November 1, I took the U-Bahn in Berlin all the way to the end stop of the U7 line. I then transferred to the airport shuttle bus to Shoenefeld Airport. I had no problems at the airport or even during the flight. The flight was just under two hours.

 

My flight actually arrived in Sofia 30 minutes early. I had gotten instructions from my Airbnb host on how to get from the airport to the Airbnb. I had to take the metro. I first tried using the ticket machine but the machine would not take credit cards. I then went up to the ticket booth but the lady would not take credit card either. I then went to the ATM and had to get cash out. After forgetting pin codes and stressing a bit, I finally took out 20 Bulgarian Lev. The metro ticket was only 1.60 Lev, which is about $.80. 12 stops and 30 minutes later, I found myself in the city center of Sofia, Bulgaria. Now I did not have any internet so finding my way to my Airbnb was quite an adventure. I knew the name of the street on which my Airbnb was located, so I just followed the blue dot on google maps until I reached the street. I walked down the street the wrong way and had to turn around until I found apartment 7. The shops do not have numbers so this was extremely confusing for me. For example, I would see the number 11, and then 4 buildings later, would be the number 9. Also, the sidewalks in Bulgaria are so uneven and rocky. It looks like an earthquake hit the city.

 

I checked into my Airbnb and patted myself on the back for choosing yet another gorgeous apartment. I then walked down the street to go grocery shopping at Lidl. I bought a frozen pizza but could not figure out how to turn the oven on. I made the pizza in a frying pan and it actually turned out quite well and tasted great. After dinner, I relaxed and then went to bed.

 

Sunday, November 2nd- a 5:30 wake up, a quick breakfast, and a brisk walk to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral where I would meet my tour group to go to the Seven Rila Lakes- a five hour hiking tour. There were seven of us total on the tour: me, a couple from France, a couple from India but living in Mannheim, and a couple (one from France and the other from NYC). None of them were friendly and I felt a bit awkward being the only one not partnered. The driver was quite nice. It took us about an hour and a half to drive from Sofia to the Rila mountains.

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Morning View of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

 

We drove up a huge winding hill and eventually reached the chair lifts to go further up into the mountains. I did not know that we had to pay separate for a lift ticket. The price was 20 Bulgarian Lev and I only had 18.40 Thankfully, the guy accepted my money. I was a bit frustrated that this was not announced in the description of the tour. If I would have known this, I would have made sure that I would have had cash. We were not allowed to immediately go up the mountain due to strong winds. After ten minutes of waiting, we were then given permission to go up. The lift ride took about 20 minutes and was probably one of the most miserable rides of my life. As we proceeded to go up the mountain, the wind was getting stronger and it began to snow. I was not dressed at all for such conditions and was purely uncomfortable and in pain. At the top of the mountain, our group quickly walked to the lounge that they have up there. It was extremely foggy in the mountains and our tour guide informed us that we would not be able to see any of the seven lakes today. We decided as a group to hike back down the mountain instead of taking the lift. This was actually extremely nice. Since we were in the trees, there was no wind. I could unzip my jacket, the scenery was nice, and the hike only lasted just over an hour.

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View of the Chairlift in the Rila Mountains

 

Since we could not complete our five hour hike, we compromised and went to the Rila monastery. The monastery was about an hour away from the Seven Lakes. We had 45 minutes to explore the monastery. Rila Monastery, founded in the tenth century, is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox Monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the other side of the Rila mountains. Once home to hundreds of monks, the monastery today has only about 60 and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bulgaria. I was amazed by the natural landscape that surrounds the monastery and the beautiful architecture of the monastery itself.

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Rila Monastery

 

Although I did not get to see the Seven Lakes, which is what my tour was for, I am happy that I did get to hike a bit and explore the monastery. Overall, I had a pretty good day in Bulgaria.

 

My last day in Bulgaria consisted of some sightseeing. But first, a short story. I had messaged the Aibnb host that I would be checking out of the Airbnb at 10:45. At 9:30, I hear the doorbell ring and the next guests are standing outside of the apartment. I tell them that I will pack up and get out of the apartment. I also message the Airbnb host to tell him that his next guests are here. There is a reason for the 3:00 check in time. He has to clean the apartment and change all the towels and bedding. I left the apartment at 10:00 just to give the host some more time to clean the apartment so that maybe the next guests could move in earlier than 3:00.

 

Ok, back to sightseeing. There were only four sights on my list that I wanted to see in Sofia. These sites were the synagogue, mineral baths, national theater, and Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The Cathedral was my favorite sight in Sofia. It is massive and gorgeous. There were not many tourists at all in Sofia when I was there so I was able to get great pictures without many people in them. One of the aspects of Sofia that I really appreciated was all of the parks and how many benches there are in the city. My flight to Kiev was not until 8:50 so I had a lot of time to waste. I would walk for a bit and then sit on a bench somewhere and relax. It was a Sunday and Lidl was open. This was such a change from Germany, where everything is closed on Sundays. I got some pretzels and muffins for lunch at Lidl and continued exploring. I honestly had too much time in Sofia and did not have anything else to do. I took the metro to the airport and arrived for my flight four hours early. We boarded 30 minutes late and the process was so slow. The Wifi in Sofia's airport also sucked.

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Daytime view of Alexander Nevsky

 

Russian Church- Church of St. Nicholas                                                                                                         National Theater

 

My time in Bulgaria was actually quite nice, regardless of the change of plans in my hiking trip. I do not think that I would go back to Sofia or Bulgaria in general. The only way I would go back would be if I had a guaranteed hiking trip to the Seven Rila Lakes.