I decided to spend my last weekend in the wonderful capital of Bulgaria. I left from the Zagreb Bus Station at 11 o’clock pm and after 12 hours on the bus, I finally arrived in Sofia. I went straight to the hostel and I left my luggage there, then I started to explore the city.

I spent my first day taking pictures of the nicest places of the town and eating delicious traditional food. Bulgarian cuisine  is very tasty and irresistible: the meat is very spicy and the homemade bread “Pogača” is an authentic delicacy. In the evening, I went to a small street market and I bought a book in Bulgarian, as I would like to try and improve my language skills. In the evening, we had a little party in the hostel where I stayed, because it was Halloween evening. A group of children came and sang some Bulgarian traditional songs, then we all had  dinner  together.
 
My second day in Sofia was the 1st of November, which is a Christian day of celebration and confession, so I decided to go to “Kirill i Metodi” Orthodox Church: that is a small church near the main street market “Ženski pazar”, in the centre of the town.




When I get there, I realized that the ceremony had already begun, and people were standing around a large table with a lot of different kinds of food on it: cakes, pies, biscuits, “Banici”, fruits, “Pogaci”, bread, salami, cheese, etc… I enjoyed the ceremony, and at the end of it, the priest blessed the food and all the people shared it. I was  a little surprised, because in Italy we usually have just the mass, without eating, in the church, so it was very interesting. I spent the afternoon wondering around the city. I had  explored the town by myself, and I’ve taken a lot of nice pictures. To tell the truth, I spent a lot of time in the “Zhenski pazar”, that’s the biggest street market of the city, they sell a variety of food, clothes, and other things. Moreover, this market is surrounded by many small shops, which have everything you can imagine!
 

On Sunday morning, I enjoyed done my last walk around the main parks. It was very colourful and quiet and with many sculptures and fountains. At 2pm, I caught the bus to come back to Zagreb. It's a pity that I spent such a short time in Bulgaria! I really liked Sofia, it is not a very modern city, in fact, it is quite old.  It is a very charming and fascinating and also full of history.  But at the same time, you can find everything you need there. The supermarkets are huge and with a wide range of products!

It’s a very cheap country to visit. You can get high quality goods for low prices and that’s great! I’m planning to go there again and spend much more time, as it’s a very nice city. I warmly suggest that you also visit Bulgaria if you have not been yet, and I wish you a wonderful stay!
 

Costanza Tonti