I read in a guidebook before moving to Bulgaria that you could easily see Sofia in a day and then continue on to one of the surrounding countries. (Really!? This is how the guidebook is “selling Sofia?) That was as you may imagine kind of depressing. I’d already made my commitments to the Fulbright and that was that. I was moving here whether or not you could see Sofia in a day and frankly, now that I am here it’s clear that a day wouldn’t do Sofia justice.
I’ve got a friend coming to visit this weekend–R. She’s on a Fulbright too but she’s living in Hungary. Budapest to be exact. At Christmas, I went to visit R. (and Vienna) and now R.’s on her way to visit me (and Istanbul). She told her Hungarian co-workers that I was coming for Christmas and get this, they told her: Oh she’ll love Budapest after living in Sofia for five months. (What?!)
Of course what ensued was my friend and I engaging in a long drawn out back and forth (or battle if you will) about which city was better and why. I told her that Bulgaria is awesome because every time you leave the country you get a stamp in your passport, that the night life is hopping, and there is tons of great shopping. I can’t remember what she told me about Budapest because well, Sofia is clearly better (sorry, R.). Oh and at one point at the end of my visit, I started crying after some point had been made that Sofia was dirty and backwards. Hey, this is my city and I don’t think you can say things like that until you’ve visited. So instead of using words to stand up for myself and my city, I started crying.
Now I am determined to give Sofia a better sell than I did last time. I also think it helps that she’ll be in my city and on my turf this time. Sofia is I believe an easier sell in person. Here’s what I plan to do:First, I plan to pick her up at the airport (I wrote out my address and directions in Cyrillic and Latin for her but she still made me promise to come and meet her–apparently Cyrillic is scary and it is at first…). Then I suggested that we go shopping, have coffee at some point, maybe a cocktail later, then we’re going to meet friends at Veselo Selo for a traditional Bulgarian meal and probably go out dancing after that.
Saturday I plan to take her to the major tourist spots so that we can do some serious sight seeing: Aleksander Nevski Cathedral, the Russian Church St Nikolai, the Church of Saint George, Sveta Nedelya Cathedral, the Mineral Baths, the Banya Bashi Mosque, the synagogue (the largest Sephardic synagogue in Europe), the Sofia monument and the Women’s Market. If all goes well and R. still feels like walking and drinking, we’ll go to Griffin for dinner and then maybe grab some drinks at either Bilkova or Hambarat.
Sunday it seems will be a good day to explore a museum or two, to have a coffee at Toba & Co and if the weather’s good to walk through Borisova Gradina and maybe even by NDK.
When asked my students at school all suggested that I take R. to the Mall of Sofia or to KFC. I don’t think either of those are on my “to-do list” but maybe I’ll tempt her with Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. If I remember correctly, Budapest doesn’t have either one of these American chains.
The one thing R. asked to do was to go to a smaller city outside of Sofia for a day and I’ve reserved Monday for this adventure. I’ve already been to Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo, Tryavna, Gabrovo, Melnik (twice), Rila, Koprivshtitsa (twice) and Pazardzhik. So maybe we’ll go to Kazanlak, Shipka or Vratsa. But really I’d be open to any other suggestions for a day trip or even to spend the night. The most important thing in planning this day is that I have to teach at Sofia University on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm so I’ve got to be back for that.
And on Tuesday night, we’ll head to Istanbul for the next leg of our adventure! If I am lucky, Istanbul will pale in comparison. Okay, that’s unlikely but what I’d really like is for R. to leave at the end of the week and say: Bulgaria was a great unexpected surprise and then to tell of our other friends how great Bulgaria is. There’s a lot to like here after all.
Day trip suggestions, assuming you have a car available:
- Vratsa with the Ledenika cave. If the weather is good, do not take the highway and use the mountain road through Svoge – plenty of great sights, imposing rock fomations, a monastery, the river, etc.
- Kazanlak and Shipka can be combined with a lot of charming small towns on the way to Kazanlak. Again, do not take the highway and instead pass through Sopot, Kalofer, Karlovo. This may take the whole day though.
- Assenovgrad (very near Plovdiv): you can visit the Bachkovo monastery and the fortress of Assen.
- completely off the beaten path: the Iskar gorge and the caves near the village of Karlukovo. There is a large cave that resembles a tunnel with two eye-shaped holes at the ceiling known as “God’s Eyes” – amazing.
- Kyustendil and the Ruen monastery. Kyustendil is a nice small town full of cafes, the monastery is up in the mountain and the road offer great views.
Hi
Two weeks ago I was in Budapest. 1 thing for sure: Sofia IS dirty. Very dirty. And you can’t perceive fully how dirty it is untill you come back from some “normal” place. I can understand your good will (and thank you), but well… we have to be honest. Sofia is very dirty and badly looked after.
And you intend to show her the “major” (major?) tourist spots? Did you see Danube in Budapest? The royal palace? The parliament? The citadel? And you still say Sofia has “major” tourist spots?
And yes, good thing that she wants to see a smaller city. Thus she may not be left with the impression that Bulgaria is one big junkyard.
Looking forward to read your impressions from Istanbul. I was there last summer and I was blown out. And if you have the time, go visit Ankara as well… won’t regret it.
I’ve been following your blog for awhile now because I applied for the ETA in Bulgaria for this coming year…it was my way of both living vicariously through your experience if I didn’t get it, and to kind of mentally prepare if I did. And it’s done the trick!
Anyway, I visited Bulgaria a few years ago to visit some friends there and, after Sofia, they took me to Plovdiv, Rila, Bansko and Varna (that’s obviously too far). Since you’ve already been to Plovdiv and Rila (both of which I love), I highly recommend Bansko. Even in the spring/summer. For me it provided a really stark/wonderful contrast to Sofia, and expanded how I saw Bulgaria, with the little restaurants with the traditional pottery/tablecloths, etc, and the wonderful babas EVERYwhere, and more of a folk culture than I remember in Sofia. There was more to it than that, but it’s what I remember off the top of my head. At least look it up!
And, in your defense, my memory of Sofia is wonderful. I don’t remember it being all that dirty (though I’m from Philly?), and I’d live there any day. Have fun on your trip!
@Amanda Wow! Thanks for your comment. Last year I was dying to read blogs or comments about life in Bulgaria from a Fulbright perspective now there are three of us writing (check out a dog in plovdiv and legends of sofia). Hope this works out for you. Please keep me updated!
Hello Karolinka,
This is Kyle Dietz, I’m an Californian Junior in a small private christian high school in Simi valley (near La).
My AP language class required me to comment on a blog so i asked god to lead me somewhere and found your fabulous blog about Bulgaria!
I myself love tutoring, teaching and all that jazz so this sparked a particular interest of mine. I’d love to know a personal opinion on the Fulbright program and your time helping the homeless in Washington DC with the AmeriCorps. I have a feeling god is calling me into ministry through teaching and would love to hear how it is teaching abroad.
Love,
Me.
@elykinabox The Fulbright is a great program. The goal of the program is to promote the exchange of culture and ideas between people, to increase the creation of knowledge through research, teaching and study and finally to help foster world peace (as I write the last one I feel a little bit like a beauty queen waving from a parade float but that’s another story). For me this year has been a challenge. There was some part of me that thought that after working in a rough and tumble neighborhood in Washington DC where I was regularly the only white person that I would be prepared for the differences I would face here in Sofia, Bulgaria.
But that’s the interesting thing about culture–it doesn’t work that way. Some of the differences here are very subtle while others hit you across the face on your way into town from the airport. This said teaching and working with the teachers and students inside and outside of the classroom has been one of the most rewarding (and challenging) things that I’ve done here. It’s also given me a lot of insight into the culture. In the field of intercultural communications theorists talk about the objective culture (for example, the things that people make, eat, and wear) and the subjective culture (for example, people’s values, attitudes, norms and behavior). They say that the subjective culture is the place that most cultural misunderstanding occurs and I can’t agree more. However, being able to work with so many Bulgarian students and teachers has given me insight and access to this subjective culture and I am thankful for this exposure because it’s clear that many of my expat friends don’t have similar access to how Bulgarians see, imagine and value the place and the space that they live in.
I will not go so far as to imply that I “get” Bulgarians or fully understand the underpinnings of their subjective culture (this seems like an impossible task) but I will say that teaching has forced me to challenge many of the ideas and opinions that I hold about education, Bulgarians and the complicated, messy and often confusing country I grew up in. Good luck on this project and your class. –From a Fellow AP English Student
Hey, the mysterious “R” here, weighing in to say — you don’t need to sell Sofia to me! You know I am already sold on all new places…and being an imperfect little piece of work myself AND living in the imperfect little piece of land that Hungary is, if there is one thing I have learned this year, it is that the real beauty is in the imperfect. Anyone can be charmed by, say, the clean sparkle of Kensington in London; that’s the easy surface charm. But when you can walk through the crumbling Jewish district in a frozen-over Budapest January and still be charmed, you’ve learned how to see life better.
Which is why I am so looking forward to discovering Sofia. It’s new, it is unlike anywhere else I have ever been, it’s going to be an adventure. So, “R” isn’t in need of creative marketing! (or KFC, ha ha)
A word of defense for my Hungarian colleagues who made comments at Sofia’s expense, however: none of them have been there. And, unfortunately, they say unflattering things about every one of their fellow post-Soviet countries. Indeed, considering the fact that I have hear people here say such things as Slovakia shouldn’t exist or Romania needs to be re-annexed as part of Hungary, their comment on Bulgaria is almost a compliment. Of course, we could look at it from our American perspective and say how silly/nationalistic/wrong they are. But then again, considering the weight of economic crisis Hungarians are facing, their dropping currency, their failed bank, their resigned Prime Minister, etc., I think a lot of it has to do with the old, sad truth that in tough times, people can lash out at others, looking for somewhere to put the blame for a situation which is too complex to understand. It’s easier to poke at your neighbors than to try to understand the jumbled mess of political and economic policy and global factors that brought them to this point. That’s not to say their attitude it right, just understandable; suffering and open-mindedness rarely come together.
But all that said, yes, I am scared of Cyrillic. I mean, I can’t even tell what the letters are!
Please, don’t take her to see NDK. Some things are better left in the dark…
Apart from the graffitti in the surrounding area and the dystopian tram stop underneath, NDK is quite nice. It may not look like much on the inside, but it’s an architectural marvel on the inside. Much more tangled than the Sofia University (and I love it). My father knew the architect and he sad the man was a genius. Also, do show her the National theater and the nearby former King’s palace which is now the National art gallery.
As for out of Sofia… well, there’s so much stuff to see, one wouldn’t know where to begin. But I would definitely recommend Koprivshtitsa – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koprivshtitsa – it’s an architectural and historical preserve and is in the list “100 Tourist Sites in Bulgaria”. And it’s closer than Plovdiv (which is also a great place to visit, especially the old town)
Some great locations have been suggested here for “showing off” Bulgaria. I’d like to suggest another… About two hours away from Sofia is a beautiful village called Koprivshtitsa that will really give them a taste of old-world Bulgarian culture.
We stopped there for a few hours last year on our way across to the Black Sea and it was truly amazing! Some of the most beautiful pictures I brought home from Bulgaria came from Koprivshtitsa.
Anyhow, good luck “selling” Sofia, and the rest of the country. Don’t forget… ultimately, its about the people!
[...] Fulbright, as she was our fellowships advisor at Georgetown. Before I came to visit, Carolyn had blogged about wanting to “sell” Sofia to me, worried that the city — and indeed the whole country — were viewed negatively in the [...]