Bulgaria

#7 Bulgaria – Sofia AGM – October 2022. Age: 28

I feel a little bad for capturing Bulgaria in one short 3 day galivanting lads trip. I’ve heard the skiing and the countryside is both cheap (but underdeveloped) and fabulous, respectively – especially the wine regions in the central / south. 

We did cover quite a lot though. Sofia is basically one large, well developed main tourist trap road, with offshoots with quaint more local bars. We explored the edges and dipped into an entirely Candlelit bar called Hambara – this place is an absolute vibe. It feels very rustic and the drinks are cheap and good quality. Lots of locals having a jolly old time. 

We went on a walking tour of the city and saw lots of beautiful buildings which somehow largely blot out the Soviet remnants. You definitely cannot miss the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral; it’s absolutely spectacular.  It was probably a bad idea that we did this after a wine-tasting, which rendered us rather impatient with our poor guide as all we wanted to do was find out next drinking establishment. 

The wine-tasting was great; Bulgarian wine is (apparently) very nice; I am unfortunately, to this day, still an uncultivated swine, exclusively enjoying a lager in the sun over any pretention. The closer to a warm Carling, the better. Maybe an Aperol Spritz if you capture me on a particularly flamboyant day. 

We did encounter some rather troubling groups of right-wingers. I’m not talking about your standard privileged conservatives, I’m talking full on White Power vibe which in each instance, led us and our liberal nitter natter to skedaddle out of the establishment in haste. Cowardly you say? Unfortunately, they filled all the stereotypes of being massively jacked, white incel characters with large beards; kind of like Daniel from Guess Who if anyone else loves this game, but less-sweet looking. 

I digress… our final activity was a shooting range (you start to understand the deep south vibe that can be reflected in parts of Eastern Europe in my experience). This was actually great fun and felt very safe – we all tried a number of different hand guns – it was my first time firing anything but an air rifle or a shotgun at clays – quite exhilarating, I will say. I won’t be in a rush to do it again though; feel like that’s ticked off the list. 

It would be remiss not to mention the food which was surprisingly very good, if a little heavy on the pork knuckle, meat, potato and veg. Simplistic but effective. Certainly prepares your stomach for a few beverages. 

Good place, good fun for a long weekend, maybe even slightly extended … Won’t be going back. Skiing elsewhere however…