Monday (15 May) we checked out of the AirBnB in Brasov and headed to the station for a train back to Bucharest, for one night only in the NF Palace hotel, housed in “le dome” building on the edge of the old town. Impressive large rooms and chandeliers (a bit of faded grandeur).
Had a last traditional Romanian meal at the “Caru Cu Bere” restaurant, or at least what they serve tourists and tell them it’s local. The sweet dumplings were amazing. The restaurant building is stunning lots of wood panelling and stained glass.
Tuesday, we got our 1hr delayed train to Ruse, in Bulgaria. An interesting border crossing, thankfully an Intrepid group tour and tour leader were also on the train, so the tour leader kept telling her group what the border crossing process was. In short when exiting Romania you stay on the train and the Border officers come on the train and collect everyone’s passports, then disappear back to their office for 15 mins, then bring your stamped passports back!
However when entering Bulgaria, you give your passport to the border officer as you get off the train (with your luggage as we changed trains). They also disappear to the office for 15 mins before coming back to the platform with your stamped passport, with the added difficulty of trying to match up passports with the rightful owner!
The Intrepid leader also told everybody that their next train, also the one we were on, had waited at Ruse! Result.
So we made our connecting train to Gorna Oryahovitsa, a stopping off station on a scenic rail journey. Bulgaria doesn’t do Bolt/Uber, however they do have an app called TaxiMe, but Gorna is a bit local for that, so we had to chat up a nice local taxi driver and explain to him where we needed to go, the Hotel Terra, which was all slightly complicated by the fact that Bulgaria use the Cyrillic alphabet. The second complication was that we did not have any Bulgarian cash and he didn’t accept credit cards. Anyway we managed to get to the right hotel via an ATM.
The Hotel Terra was a very nice hotel, made mainly by the staff, the receptionist/bar women didn’t speak English (and we don’t speak Bulgarian) so via lots of Google Translate we managed to get Beers, a restaurant recommendation and ordered a taxi to the restaurant. She and Rog bonded over a shared birthday!
Wednesday, back to the train station for a train to Stara Zagora, another random town we had never heard of before. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was raining, a lot! The hotel was just close enough to the station for the taxis to not want to take us, but far enough for us to get very wet!
The hotel Merian Palace hotel is a slightly strange hotel, we were upgraded to a VIP two bedroom suite, but the restaurant was not open. So, at the recommendation of the hotel staff, we headed over the road to a restaurant which turned out to be fully booked. Back to the hotel bar we went, and Nic managed to order food delivery via the Glovo app. Another first for us!
Thursday, a train ride to Sofia along a scenic route, according to the European Rail map, it was spectacular journey through the mountains.
Checked into our AirBnB in Sofia
Friday, we wandered around the centre of Sofia, visiting the St Joseph Church, the Banya Bashi Mosque, the Roman ruins, the National Assembly building, St George’s Church (the oldest church in Sofia, now surrounded by offices), finally the Sveta Nedelya Church.
Saturday, more wanderings, via the church of St Nicholas the miracle maker, St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the National Palace of Culture, and a bit of the Berlin Wall.
We finished the day at a local traditional Bulgarian restaurant called The Hadjidragana Tavern. Local food, wine and spirits! Even some live folk music!
Sunday, a slow start!
We walked via the Synagogue to the “women’s” market, which had been established for over 130 years. We then sat in a cafe and watched, what appeared to be most of Sofia, promenade up and down the pedestrian streets.
Travurple 