“Don’t dig in this city – you never know what you’ll find.”
These were the parting words of our tour guide in Plovdiv, after showing us the restored Roman theatre in the town.
His words had a lot of sense to them – legend has it that up to 30 homes had to be destroyed once the remains of the theatre had been found. Similarly in the capital Sofia, construction of the long-awaited Metro system was delayed due to numerous archaeological finds.
This makes a fitting summary of present-day Bulgaria, which like most Balkan nations, has a long and complicated history of war and conquests stretching back to the Roman period. These days the country is looking increasingly to this Roman legacy for its national identity after the downfall of communism. Roman ruins are proudly displayed in its cities with further excavations planned.
But that doesn’t mean that visitors to the country won’t find a thoroughly modern side sitting atop these layers of history. In May, I spent three days in Bulgaria, centred around Sofia (two nights) and Plovdiv (one night). Here’s what I discovered.
Sofia: an eclectic capital
I found Sofia to be a big, bustling and modern city, sitting in the shadow of the nearby Vitosha mountain.
The best way to sum up Sofia would be: eclectic. The city has a mixture of architectural styles, including from Ottoman, socialist, classical and Orthodox, as well as a huge variety of different religious buildings, including churches from also every era.
My favourite buildings were probably the Central Mineral Baths, the Ivan Vazov theatre or the Alexander Nevski cathedral, all of which were very different but very beautiful.
Nezavisimost Square (Independence Square) is another great spot: on the surface it is the ideal communist square, surrounded by daunting symmetrical socialist buildings and yet below the surface (quite literally), you’ll find some of the city’s best preserved Roman ruins, including the one of the original Roman city gates, which you can pass through.
Sofia is a fairly big city, but I would still say that one full day is enough to feel like you have taken in what there is to see. To make the most of Sofia, I would fully recommend the Free Sofia Tour, which lasts around two hours and will take you to all of the city’s landmarks.
What do to in Sofia
- The National Palace of Culture park in the early evening is great for people watching
- Vitosha Boulevard, the city’s very chic pedestrianised shopping street, has plenty of nice cafes and bars for a drink
- Skaptobara is a popular bar which does excellent (i.e. huge) burgers
A day trip to Rila Monastery
I went to the Rila Monastery almost reluctantly. I knew I wanted to do a day trip out of Sofia, but I wasn’t necessarily sold on the place. However, Rila Monastery is by far the simplest excursion you can do from Sofia, which was eventually what won me over.
The drive there is pleasant enough – after an hour of motorway driving, you begin winding through a wooded mountainous valley, which is pretty impressive.
Our driver first took us to a small cave where the original monks used to live before building the monastery. (Hilariously our driver was a bit confused and kept telling us about the ‘monkeys’ that worshipped in the area and I didn’t have the heart to correct him.) We then had to literally crawl through this old, incredibly narrow cave with no prior warning. It was not the best part of the trip.
We then circled back to the monastery, which I have to admit, totally blew me away. It’s a huge imposing structure and the interior colours are incredibly bright in the sunlight. The church is covered in beautiful colourful frescoes and the whole thing looks beautiful against the backdrop of the blue sky and the green mountains.
…however there isn’t a whole lot to do there really. We were given two hours to wander around and explore, which (even with a leisurely lunch) was far too long.
Conclusion: well worth visiting but try and find a tour which will also take you somewhere else. Thirty minutes at the monastery would be more than enough.
Plovdiv: the gem of Bulgaria
Plovdiv was the place I was most looking forward to in Bulgaria and it did not disappoint. I left wishing I had had more time to spend in the city, which is exactly the best way to leave any place.
Plovdiv is one of those great cities that boasts both a cobbled-stoned quaint old town as well as a thriving, cosmopolitan hipster district. And luckily in Plovdiv the two sit side-by-side.
The old town is home to some of the country’s best examples of Bulgarian revival architecture. This roughly translates to colourful old houses with exposed wooden beams and higher floors that jut out over the ground floor. The old town is littered with them, just begging to be instagramed.
The old town is also where you’ll find the famous Roman theatre, which is one of those rare structures that is far more impressive in real life than it is in pictures. Not just a ruin, the theatre is still used for performances today and visitors can walk all over the site to find the best views. The fact it is only partially reconstructed makes it even more appealing in my eyes. I think I spent around an hour exploring the site. Definitely worth the entrance fee.
Kapana is Plovdiv’s cool bohemian area. Meaning ‘trap’ in Bulgarian, the place is named after its maze of streets that make it difficult to navigate. Today the area is home to plenty of cool bars, small restaurants and interesting street art. Kapana is seeing a lot of local investment thanks to Plovdiv’s upcoming tenure as the European Capital of Culture in 2019, in the hopes of turning it into a world-class artistic quarter. During my one day in Plovdiv, I did not see nearly enough of this area.
Top tips for Plovdiv
- Stay overnight: a day trip won’t be enough. Consider the Old Plovdiv guest house, a welcoming hostel inside a beautifully-restored traditional villa.
- The Free Plovdiv Tour covers the old town almost exclusively, which is easy enough to visit independently. I wish I had skipped the tour and instead devoted my time to exploring Kapana.
- Head to Nebet Tepe (Nebet Hill) just before sunset for nice views and great Instagram conditions.
- Rahat Tepe restaurant in the old town is a good shout for typical Bulgarian food. They have a large beer garden which unfortunately looks over the uglier side of the city, but is still a nice spot to enjoy the sun for an hour or two.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Bulgaria and I would love to see more of the country one day – including the dreamy coastline. I really enjoyed both Sofia and Plovdiv, but I would definitely recommend spending more time in Plovdiv than the capital.
One thing to note is that Sofia and Plovdiv were not as cheap as I was expecting. Though this might be because I had visited Ukraine only the week before (which is suuuper cheap).