The second leg of my journey has begun – my road trip around the Balkans. I left Istanbul on Wednesday by way of a sixteen hour overnight train from the outskirts of Istanbul, Turkey, to Sofia, Bulgaria, the capital. It was a slower train and a bit older, but I did not care. I love trains. I did my Reddit research before I left the states and found out that I had to buy the tickets in person. I went in person and bought tickets at a counter on my second day in Istanbul. I bought a single cabin so that I could have my own room, which was very much so worth the 45 euros.

When I got on the train, I looked around my room and I got so excited. I had my own (surprisingly comfy) bed, a sink, two cozy plaid blankets, a mini-fridge with free snacks and a juice box, storage, temperature and lighting control with multiple settings, and a window that opened. We also had to go through a series of passport checks at about two in the morning, which I expected because of my diligent Reddit research. There were also cute cats in the passport control area (aka the real border agents).

They must like Americans here because I was not asked a single question and I was treated better than any of the other people around me on the train. Weird. After a decent night of sleep, I woke up and stared off into the distance at the beautiful Bulgarian countryside. The mountains here are massive and the fall colors were stunning. When I got to the train station in Sofia, a Bulgarian woman saw a scammy taxi driver try and scam me. She told him to f off and helped me find a good taxi and conversed with the driver in Bulgarian to give him my address. What an angel.

Here are a few photos from the train and from walking around aimlessly in Bulgaria: (including some cats for good measure #Cats4ever):

After I got to my room in Sofia, I decided to go on a long, aimless walk around the city. I found a large pedestrian street and wandered around for a while, then went around the side streets. Then I went to a couple of cocktail bars and had two very delicious cocktails. I also worked on learning the Cyrillic alphabet that is used in several of the Balkan countries, plus in Russia. I recognized it from when I tried to learn Russian before I went to the Baltics this spring – only to realize that they did not use the Cyrillic alphabet and Estonia had even banned the teaching of Russian in schools. I am actually making good progress and I am able to somewhat read in Cyrillic now that I understand most of the sounds of the new letters or the different sounds that familiar letters make. For example, a B is pronounced like a V, a P like an R, and an H like an N. There is also a symbol that either looks like a hat or a house that is pronounced like a D. The only consonants that are the same in both alphabets are K, M, and T. My name in Cyrillic is Адель.

The cocktails: one was an egg white cocktail with aperol and a local liquor I have never heard of before plus a hint of fruit, and the other was a mezcal drink with a lemon and olive infusion. Both were exceptional. I am adding these to the list of drinks to put my own spin on when I get back. Here are the two drinks:

Snack of the moment: I obviously had to try Bulgarian food. I went to an embarrassingly early dinner at a local traditional Bulgarian spot and I ordered the Snejanka to start, which is strained yogurt with finely chopped cucumbers, garlic, walnuts, olive oil, and dill. It is served cold with buttered bread and it was delightful. It is being added to my list of recipes to bring home from around the world. For my main, I had the Chicken Kavarma, which is chicken, onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, white wine and hot pepper sauce, and spices all baked with an egg and served in a warm cast iron dish.

My dinner was delightful, and I love when food is served like this because I am a slow eater and it stays warm the whole time. I do not know what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Bulgarian food. Here are the snacks:

My second day in Bulgaria I got a workout in, put on my lipstick and a cute outfit, and then signed up for the free walking tour in the afternoon. I went to a breakfast cafe spot before the tour so that I could eat some local eggs and sourdough (delicious) and get some writing in.

Vibe of the moment – learning history: I have made it a goal of mine to learn about the local and regional history wherever I go. Bulgaria was previously dubbed a “Soviet puppet state” and had communist leadership that was friendly to the Soviets when they were a thing. You can see a lot of the Soviet influence in some of the city’s architecture.

During World War 2, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers. It was for political reasons, Mina, my free walking tour guide, told us. She also told us that 50,000 Jewish people were living here during the War, and that the Czar (aka King) in charge at the time wanted to protect them. He ended up deploying what Mina called a “very Bulgarian tactic” in order to save their lives: procrastination. When Hitler would demand that the Czar deport the Jewish people, the Czar would say that he needed more time or make excuses that he needed the people for help with various construction projects. It worked, and Hitler was defeated before the Jewish people in Bulgaria lost their lives. Brilliant. Mina was really excited to tell this story, and for good reason. “If you remember any story from the tour, I hope it is this one,” she said. I remembered.

In 1946, Bulgaria became a Soviet aligned socialist state in the Eastern Bloc. However, after decades of socialism they started to transition into a democracy during the revolutions of 1989. Bulgaria adopted a democratic constitution and has been a multi-party parliamentary republic ever since. Bulgaria is now a member of the EU (though they use their own currency, the Lev – which means lion and they love lions here) and a member of NATO. Way back when, Bulgaria was under Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman rule. Unlike other European capitals, Sofia does not have an “Old Town” area because the city is literally built in layers where new rule = a new layer of architecture built on top of the previous one.

Bulgarian politics is currently in a state of chaos, which Mina told us all about. They have had seven elections in the last three years. An election will automatically be triggered if a coalition government falls apart or if one is unable to be formed. In the meantime, the President, who is elected every five years, chooses a temporary government. The most recent election here was in October 2024, just two weeks ago. Mina seemed to be visibly frustrated about the sheer number of elections and said it had cost the country millions. Prior to the most recent election, one of the political parties split in half and each side tried to register as the real political party by using the former party’s acronym, DPS. Chaos ensued. Bulgaria has also seen a rise in nationalism, but the biggest party for that here (called Velichie) lost all of its seats in October when they failed to reach the 4% vote threshold to hold seats in parliament. The communist party, which has been rebranded into the socialist party, still exists in Bulgaria and has seats in parliament. Mina said that people are very torn here about communism, and that if you ran into two people in the street they may have vastly different opinions on the matter.

As much as I wish that we had a multi-party parliamentary system in the USA, those systems have issues too. And I highly doubt that the average American would have the brainpower needed to understand such a system. I started to short circuit when I looked at the list of all of the different political parties here, and I can mostly read. It is chaos everywhere right now politically.

Anyways! Mina also recommended a museum called The Red Flat, which I had already marked on my Google Maps Balkans list. I ended up going to the museum after the tour. It was about $9 and well worth it. The museum is an old actual Soviet-era apartment from the 1980s and there is an audio guide that tells you all about the family that lived there and their way of life. It was fascinating. I highly recommend going if you ever find yourself in Sofia, Bulgaria. I also went inside of two Cathedrals, which is out of character for me. I wanted to take a selfie with Jesus in one but then I thought that was probably a sin. Here are some photos from the museum and the tour:

Next on the list: (North) Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia.

Song of the moment: Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift

Featured lyrics:

I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser,

Midnights become my afternoons.

When my depression works the graveyard shift

All of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room

Why? Because I’m in my villain era and I always have been. Also, I love Taylor Swift. Thanks!

Listen to the song, you cowards: