Since we were moving cities again today, I decided last night to double check our hostel booking to make sure I had the directions to get there correct.

It was only then that I noticed the place was rated 8.3.

Now, on a scale of 1 to 10, an 8.3 seems pretty high, right?

Well, in the world of hostels, anything below a 9.0 isn’t good.   In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that anything below a 9.3 isn’t that great.

So, an 8.3 rating?   Yikes!

I took a quick peak at the reviews and there were alot them talking about how dirty the place was and how rude the staff was.   So many, in fact, that I decided last night to cancel the booking and book something else.

Yup, at 11:30 at night, lying in bed, I’m frantically rebooking a place to stay for the next 4 nights.

It was a teensy bit stressful…

There wasn’t much on Hostel World, so I switched over to booking.com just to take a look.   Since there were two of us traveling together, perhaps a hotel room or apartment wasn’t out of the question.

Sure enough, there was an apartment available for us for the four nights and the price ended up about $30 more than what we would have paid for our dorm beds.

A quick double check to make sure there were two beds available and I booked it.

Not even 2 minutes after booking and paying for the place, I received a message from the owners.

The first of our four days wasn’t available.

Hmmm…

Just when I thought I had it all figured out…

So, I went back and looked at Hostel World again and ended up booking one night at a hostel that, while high rated, is known for alot of rules and a passive aggressive owner.

Well, we’d just have to suck it up and stay at the hostel one night before moving on to our apartment for the following three days.

It was now after midnight and I just wanted to go to bed.

Wow, that was a long intro…

Hello Sofia!

Anyway, today we checked out of our place in Plovdiv and headed to the bus station to catch our 10:30am bus to Sofia.

Thankfully the bus was a normal size, air conditioned bus and the journey was only a couple of hours.

At 1:30 we were pulling into our new home for the next 4 days.

Sofia, compared to the other Bulgarian cities we’ve visited in bigger and more modern, but, as we’d come to find out later, there’s still alot of history to it.

We found our hostel for the night and, sure to form, there were a ton of rules and printed notes all around the hostel.

The best part though?   The two people working the front desk didn’t speak English.   Hell, they didn’t even speak Bulgarian.   One was Portuguese and the other Russian and they used Google Translate to communicate with us.

Just one night.   Just one night.

After getting settled, we went back out into the city streets in search of something to eat.   Neither had eaten today and we were both starving.

We essentially stopped at the first place we saw.   Their menu looked pretty decent and prices were alright, looked good to both of us.

I had BBQ ribs and a “Snow White Salad” which I came to find out was just a bunch of diced cucumbers smothered (and I mean smothered) in yogurt.   The ribs weren’t fall off the bone which was a shame but the salad was actually pretty decent.

I will say that they love their yogurt here in the Balkans…

For dessert, I had the place picked out.   I had found a place nearby that served coffees and desserts that had some gluten free options.

Yes, please!

I had an almond cake with white chocolate and a tiramisu latte.   Now, the waitress said they were both her favorites but I think she was just sucking up to me.   Mind you, she didn’t say that about Nathan’s desserts and he ordered first.

Anyway, obviously it was amazing.

I’m telling you, all it takes is finding a gluten free dessert option to make me smile.   I’m that easy!

Free Walking Tour

We decided to take the 6pm walking tour this evening rather than taking one during the day tomorrow.

We had the energy and we really hadn’t done anything today, so why the hell not?

Oh my God!   Why have we not been doing evening walking tours this whole time?

Granted, many companies only offer tours at 10 or 11am, but some had also offered tours in the evening and, for whatever reason, we passed on them.

It was so much nicer walking around for a couple of hours as the sun was going down.

Today was actually one of the few days where I didn’t come back to the hostel at the end of the day drenched in sweat and in need of a good, long, hot shower.

The tour itself was one of the better ones we’ve been on this trip.   Our guide, Kris, just had the right mix of story telling, history knowledge, and fun anecdotes and jokes.

He also moved us from stop to stop at a faster pace than some other tours had which was nice.   Nobody wants to stand in one spot for 15 minutes listening to the history of a country.   We want to see what’s next!

A real dinner

The tour ended at 8pm and as everyone went off their own ways, we hung around and were talking about what time restaurants around here close.

He also recommended a place that serves a Turkish buffet if we wanted real, authentic food.

Sounds good to us!   The place was a bit out of the way but we weren’t super hungry at the moment anyway so we walked the 20 minutes to get there.

The place was a on some random street away from all the stores and restaurants littering the main downtown streets.

I’m not even sure a tourist had ever even seen this place let alone stepped inside and sat down.

Aside from a few locals sitting at the one and only table outside, we were the only people in the restaurant.

As we walked in, we saw a welcome sight.   In front of us was a glass case with a bunch of different prepared menu items.   Everything from chicken to lamb to stuffed peppers and sides of rice and beans.

I was in heaven!

This was what eating out in a foreign restaurant was all about for me.

I ended up having a leg of chicken with potato, a side of rice and beans, and a little side of cucumbers with yogurt sauce.   Oh, and a cherry drink which I proceeded to finish in like 2 gulps.   Yeah, it was that good.

Definitely a great way to end our first day here in Sofia.

Tomorrow we have an early start as we’ve joined a tour going to the Rila Monastery and Boyana Church a couple hours outside of the city.

It will be a long day but I’m sure we’ll be rewarded with some amazing sights.   I can’t wait!