Our day starts early with a nice cup of tea in our hotel room at the Ibis Styles, Heathrow. We only need to go across the road to catch a bus to the airport. Obvious bus stop, not the right one – back down the road, lugging all our bags. How are we going to cope in Bulgaria if we can’t even find the right bus in Hillingdon?
Made it to Terminal 3. Check-in and security are smooth. Breakfast at Giraffe, then pretty much time for boarding – let the queueing commence.
Turns out there are good and bad reasons for choosing the rear seat on a plane: Bad: no windows, furthest from the trolley service; Good: no one behind to pull on your seat back whenever they want to get their heavyweight backside out of their own seat. Luckily, none of the seats reclined on this plane, so we didn’t get crushed. On balance: don’t choose the rear seats again – just go for the random allocation and blame the system.
The booking.com special offer transfer from Sofia airport to the hotel worked a treat. Click on a link add a few flight details and there is Arsen waiting for you with your name on his phone. How easy is that compared to a finding a taxi, or trying to work out the metro. Best £18 of the entire holiday spent so far.
So, here we are at the Sofia Balkan Palace.
Rather nice—marble interiors, concierge service, helpful receptionist. I wondered if we were at the right hotel. Surely, we couldn’t afford all this?
We were offered a room upgrade (supposedly) to a room with a cathedral view. Room not quite ready yet, perfect excuse for a drink at the bar.
Once room ready, quick freshen up, unpacking because we are staying two nights, but now the room looks a complete mess.
Out and about for a walk along Vitosha Boulevard the main pedestrian street – the place to see and be seen – quiet in the late afternoon.
Walked all the way to the park of the National Palace of Culture. Sounds very Soviet; had that look about it too. Lovely fountains.
A bit more wandering, then time to try the hotel’s recommendations for dinner. How about the Hagjidraganov’s Cellars for some typical Bulgarian fayre? Yes that is what the sign says – and Google Translate managed to translate it too.
Food and wine really good, the portions far too generous – no room for dessert.
After, an evening stroll to see some of the Roman ruins of ancient Serdica, revealed twenty years ago when they built the metro.
Lastly, some night-time photos of the Presidential Quarter near the hotel – very grand – not Soviet at all.
