Via the border city of Ruse and a few hours in Pleven, I crossed coming from Bucharest in Romania into the next country of my trip: Bulgaria! It was also the last country of my trip around the Balkans and put a great ending to that amazing region. Located west of the Black Sea, Bulgaria has a great mix of beaches on the seaside, natural highlights in the mountainous center and interesting cities with great architecture.
My 16-day itinerary started in the capital Sofia and roughly went from west to east until the coastal city of Varna. Sofia really is a nice city with just a great mix of Renaissance architecture and modern urban projects. It really has a unique combination of communist & European buildings and the most beautiful Orthodox churches I have seen so far. Especially Aleksandar Nevski cathedral is beautiful!
The true highlight of my Bulgaria trip was my second stop: The city of Plovdiv! The second-largest city in the country became one of my European favorites and I extended my stay in a great hostel three times. Plovdiv is an ancient city with a wild variety of different influences: A Roman stadium, a Greek amphitheater, a beautiful Old Town, all kinds of different religious buildings and it makes one of the oldest cities in the full world. The city's history began in 6000 BC and that makes it the oldest on the full continent! On top of all the interesting history stuff, it has plenty of nice cafes and food options!
Before heading to the final destination Varna, I had a stop in Burgas by train. The coastal cities were a little personal letdown for me. It is a major tourist destination for all kinds of holiday bookers and the two cities' infrastructures are mostly more catering to people, who are enjoying their TUI-booked yearly vacations. Nothing wrong with that, but not my cup of tea. Most beaches in that area are totally overcrowded and are not even nice. Maybe one day I will figure out, what hundreds of thousands of people try to find there every year :D
In Varna itself, I found at least some good Bulgarian food. Banitsa (a traditional Bulgarian food prepared by layering filo pastry with various ingredients) and Meshana Skara (mixed grill plate) were among my favorites.
2 Highlights:
- walking around the beautiful city of Plovdiv
- exploring the capital Sofia
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| From Ruse anticlockwise to Varna |
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| Hostel in Sofia |
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| A park in Sofia |
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| A typical alcohol shop in Bulgaria |
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| First glimpses of Plovdiv |
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| Pretty Plovdiv |
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| View from a hill in Plovdiv |
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| Typical Bulgarian BBQ meal |
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| Beaches in Varna |
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| A German teenager partied too hard in Golden Sands |
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| The oldest processed gold in the full world (dating back to 4400 BC) |
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| Varna Archaeological Museum |
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| The cats of Varna |
