Sofia was.... disappointing. The city was dead, like a ghost town. Not just lacking tourists, lacking people in general! Not to mention the lack of things to see and do..
We walked around down town for about three hours and saw everything there was to see then aimlessly wandered back toward the hotel for an early night, glad we only has two days there!
Even dinner was a let down. A quaint traditional Bulgarian restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge desk, although the ambiance was great, the food was very plain and didn't impress me at all.
Next day however, Day 21, the city redeemed itself when we set out to explore the mountain. Sofia is nestled at the base of Mt Vitosha, a 7000-odd foot mountain, with its base only a short taxi ride away from down town.
A chairlift takes you up a few thousand feet and drops you off at a ski chalet where a number of hiking trails up to the summit begin. And here is where we found all the people! It turns out this is a popular weekend attraction for Sofia-nites. (Not surprising considering the lack of things to do or see in town.)
The climb to the summit took us about an hour and a half, just a little mountain, but it was fairly steep going. We went off-road to get more of a 'hike' out of it, since the actual path was a cleared gravel road, boring! Our track was slightly more perilous, over rocks and up a river bed climbing straight up. We passed by some ice sheets left over from winter and joined up on the main path right as we reached the top where an old weather station is sotuated. We found a niche out of the wind and had lunch, before trekking back down again for an all up five hour round trip.
Day 22 was uneventful - ten long hours on a train from Sofia to Bucharest, Romania. The countryside is beautiful here - rolling fields of sunflowers interspersed with forests and open farmlands. So much open space, it goes on for miles!
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