Sofia, Bulgaria

Spent an relatively uneventful few days getting through Bulgaria to Romania.  Took a night train from Istanbul to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I figured out there isn't much to do.  Awesome.  I did have a lot of fun trying to interpret Cyrillic signs though.  I will have to ask Lonely Planet why their map is in English when all the signs are in Cyrillic.  It would have been much easier to play 'match the symbols'.

Met an Aussie within the 1st hour of checking into my hostel and as he'd just missed his train, he had a full day to kill.  We decided to check out the views of Sofia from one of the surrounding hills, and proceeded to take the LONGEST ski lift ever to the top.  It took 3 lift changes and about 45 minutes to get to the top.  The craziest part was that the majority of people taking the lifts were mountain bikers, carrying their bikes to the top, and whizzing down the switchback trails underneath the lift back down.  No joke this was an incredibly steep hill- I'm still not quite sure how these people do it without serious bodily injury.

view of Sofia from the ski-lift (still going up!)

After killing some time wandering around the top (which was actually really scenic and nice), we headed back to the hostel and met a few more people there.  Randomly, I seem to meet a lot of engineers on the road- I'm not quite sure how that worked out.  Our group of new friends bonded over pre-dinner drinks, then went out for food (and more drinks).

Left to Right: Canadian, American, Aussie & British!  The guys on either side of me are engineers.

One of the best things that came out of my trip to Sofia was a Bulgarian stew that I discovered at a local restaurant.  Served complete with a twirling ring of fire!!

ok, so you can't see the fire, but the stew!!!  yummm

My engineer buddies both left the next day, so I contented myself with a day trip to a famous monastery about an hour out of town in Rila (did I mention there isn't much to see/do in Sofia?)  It was well worth the trip though.  The Rila monastery is set in the mountains, and the views were pretty spectacular. 

paintings on the exterior of the main chapel

partial view of the Rila monastery complex