2012 Trip #1 Sofia, Bulgaria

06:30 Alyson 0 Comments

One of the best parts about living in Istanbul is that it is a great starting off point to visit lots of other cool places.  I made a goal for Paul and I this year - visit at least 10 new places.  My list includes locales that I may never be able to easily visit again; cities around Turkey, Croatia, Sarajevo, and more.

This weekend, I got to tick one off my list! Paul had some work in Bulgaria this week, so I decided we should make a weekend out of it and see some of the city.  We found a dog sitter for Belle and off we went!

Now, you may have heard in the news about these terrible snowstorms sweeping through Eastern Europe.  Sofia, Bulgaria was definitely included in this.  There was a lot of snow and extremely cold temperatures - it did not get above 0 degrees celsius the whole weekend.

Despite this, we made the best of it on Saturday and took a walking tour around the city.  It was a great way to see a lot of the best sites in the city centre. If you are ever there, check it out here: Free Sofia Tour.  We saw a lot of the great city sites, including the famous Nevsky cathedral.  It was so cold though, that once the tour was over, our feet, fingers, ears and more were frozen, so we gave up on actually going into see any of the sites.  Hopefully we will get to go back soon when it warms up some.

Saturday, we had some great food, including my new favorite salad that is a favorite in Bulgaria, the shopska salad, followed by a few drinks. Feeling a little tired on Sunday, it was perfect day to curl up with a good book in the cold weather.

Now, the question is, where will be the destination for trip #2?