His View 

Bulgaria - Feliks' perspective

Sofia

So this was our first time booking a private room at a hostel, the only reason we did this was because it was the same price as the mixed dorm room. We were both pretty excited, especially because of our train experience. We had some problems. 

Coming from Brasov, we took an evening train to Bucharest, Romania where we were supposed to catch the night train to Sofia. Our Eurail app confirmed the train time and a ticket associate confirmed the time but was unable to book the international train when we were in Brasov. When we arrived in Bucharest, we had about 45 minutes to find our train to Sofia. It did not exist. Apparently they just stopped running the train but somehow Eurail is not aware of it. We had to spend the night in Bucharest. We booked the first train out the next day at noon. The train itself looked like it was from the 70s and hadn’t been properly cleaned since the 90s. We did get really lucky and had a really nice guy from Romania sharing the cabin with us. There was another guy in there but he got kicked out for not having a ticket. In the middle of the train ride, I had a brain fart and put my shoe on the seat, at that exact moment a Romanian train worker came by. The next 20 minutes were spent arguing. He wanted money for my shoe print on the leather or I would get a ticket. I did not want to give someone money that was trying to extort me while intoxicated. Long story short, we both walked away empty handed. It was by far the worst train experience so far. To the Romania gentleman in our cabin, thank you for your help. To Bulgaria, I will not judge Bulgaria for this man’s actions, nor by the actions of the actual train conductor that tried to help him extort me. Please, Bulgaria, try to look into this because it sounds like it happens often and I don’t think it makes a good impression on tourists.

We arrived in Sofia around 9pm and it was a decent walk to Hostel Mostel. There was another couple walking in the same direction and unbelievably that were headed to the same place. The hostel itself deserves a few words. It’s hidden behind some businesses behind the smallest hostel door ever. When you walk through the little tunnel after the door, you find a building the size of small motel squeezed in what looked like a giant backyard. We were both expecting a room off to the side but when the host said that our room was a few blocks away, I got nervous. We were led down the street and around a corner, into a residential building and through an apartment door. Our private room was in an actual apartment... awesome! Expectations blown out of the water and forever spoiled. 

Our first day in Sofia included a free walking tour, which was insanely cold. It was about 27 degrees and when you're standing around for 20 minutes at a time listening to the guide, the cold gets down to your bones. We did get some really good info about the city and some great history there from our guide Niki. We saw some churches and learned about the religious diversity in Sofia, checked out the old bath house and tried some thermal water that was safe to drink. We saw the changing of the guards outside some government building and got a really good recommendation for lunch. 

I love the walking tours, they are the best way to see the city. I love the food recommendations even more, no better way to taste the authentic local food. As it turned out, our guide and another tourist ended up at the same restaurant so we all had lunch together. It was amazing, another situation where I needed a stretch afterwards. 

Overall, Sofia was a nice city. There was plenty to do and see and the food was amazing. Most of the locals seemed very nice and some even spoke Russian. I don’t know if I would come back on my own, maybe the weather was just a little too cold. Summer I’m sure is much better. It definitely seemed like a great city to check out. They did have public restrooms, there was one in the subway for sure. WiFi was here and there but we didn't really need it because of our private room.