Sofia, a city of contrasts, was not what I expected when I landed in Bulgaria. And I say that as someone who grew up in Eastern Europe and genuinely thought she had a read on these places.
I figured I'd just slide in. Another post-communist capital, another tram system that sort of works, another coffee culture I'd understand by day two. But Sofia caught me by surprise.

Surprise #1: Bulgaria Joined the Eurozone

The first surprise wasn't architectural or historical. It was financial, and weirdly, it turned into one of the highlights of the trip. As of January 1, 2026, Bulgaria joined the Eurozone. Which means no exchange rates, no second wallet, no doing mental arithmetic every time you order a coffee and a pastry. For most travelers, this is a logistical relief. For me, it became something else entirely because I collect euro coins, and I had just arrived in a country that had introduced them for the very first time.

The sign in metro ”Keep calm and enjoy EURO” — *The sign in metro "Keep calm and enjoy EURO"*

Every time I paid for something, I checked my change like I was unwrapping something. Fresh coins, sharp edges, not yet worn down by years of circulation. Unplanned, but genuinely one of the better treasure hunts I've had on a trip. And that was before I'd even made it to the city center.

Surprise #2: The Mountain That Blocks the Wind

I arrived in winter expecting Sofia to behave the way winter cities in this part of Europe tend to behave: grey, sharp, cold enough to make you question your choices. Instead, it felt almost sheltered. Cold, yes, but the kind of cold you can actually move through without feeling personally attacked. The reason, I learned later, is geography. Sofia sits in a valley, surrounded by Vitosha Mountain and sections of the Balkan Mountains, which together act as a natural buffer and keep the worst of the wind from making it into the streets.

*Mountain Vitosha in Sofia on a clear day*

And then there's the view. On a clear day, you look up and Vitosha is just there, enormous, close enough to feel slightly surreal, with its highest peak, Cherni Vrah at 2,290 meters, wearing a layer of snow like it's showing off. You're standing in a capital city, full of traffic and noise and people rushing somewhere, and simultaneously you're looking at a mountain that looks like a painting. That contrast is priceless.

Surprise #3: Thousand Years in Ten Minutes

Here is where things get genuinely strange, and by strange I mean magnificent. The city center of Sofia looks, from a distance, like a fairly normal European square. Then you step into it and your eyes simply do not know where to go. Churches, mosques, synagogues, Roman ruins, Soviet-era architecture, all of it compressed into one walkable area and being next to the other thing.

The best description I have is this: Sofia is a historical lasagna that nobody ever tried to clean up. Layer after layer was added over centuries, and rather than clearing the previous one, the city just kept building on top of it. The result is not chaos, exactly. It's more like a very long, very complicated conversation between different eras that never ended.You're not reading history here. You're standing in the middle of it, and it's all happening at once. And it's overwhelming.

Surprise #4: Walking Through The Time

I started my route from the building that is hard to miss. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral doesn't wait for you to find it. It simply appears, golden and enormous, occupying the skyline like it was always going to be there. Built in the early 20th century, it was constructed as a tribute to the soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878, the war that ended Ottoman rule and led to Bulgaria's liberation. So what you are actually looking at is a thank you letter, written in stone and gold, visible from half the city. A short walk away stands Sveta Nedelya Orthodox Church, which looks, on the surface, entirely ordinary. However its history is more complex. On April 16, 1925, explosives hidden in the roof were detonated during a state funeral attended by Bulgaria's entire political and military leadership. The dome collapsed. More than 150 people were killed. The primary target, King Boris III, survived because he arrived late. Since this accident, being late in the Balkans is considered prety normal and a regular practice.

Turn around from Sveta Nedelya and you are facing the Banya Bashi Mosque, built in the 16th century during Ottoman rule and still in active use today. It is, notably, the only functioning mosque left in Sofia.

*4th century church surrounded by Soviet buildings*

Walk a little further and you pass the Sofia Synagogue, one of the largest in Europe and still in use. Nearby, the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, the main Catholic church, rebuilt after World War II, stands without fanfare. At a certain point, you stop trying to categorize everything. You just walk, and you let it be what it is.

*Street art in the city center of Sofia*

And then, right in the middle of all that, the Soviet monuments show up. They were never built to blend in. Communist-era architecture had one job: make the individual feel small and the state feel eternal. These are massive, deliberate designed to loom over everything around them and remind you where power supposedly lived.The problem is that they are now sandwiched between a cathedral, a mosque, and a synagogue that have collectively been standing for centuries.

Surprise #5: Watch Your Steps

While you are busy processing the skyline, something else worth knowing: you are standing on a Roman city. Beneath Sofia lie the remains of Serdica, an important Roman settlement dating to roughly the 2nd through 4th centuries AD, positioned on trade routes connecting Europe with Constantinople and beyond. Sections of it are visible and walkable today, right there in the city center, integrated into the modern infrastructure rather than cordoned off as a museum piece. History is not just around you here. It is literally under your feet, and that particular realization does something to how you walk for the rest of the day.

Surprise #6: The Spring That Heals a Broken Heart 💔

Most cities follow a recognizable logic: find a river, build a city around it. Sofia did not follow that logic. Instead, the city grew around thermal water, and the traces of that are still everywhere.

*Mineral water at 37 degrees Celsius in the heart of Sofia*

The old Central Mineral Bath, a beautiful early 20th-century building right in the center, used to be where people gathered not just to wash but to socialize. Today it houses the Regional History Museum. However, the water itself never left.

Just outside the building, hot mineral water flows at around 37 degrees Celsius, and locals actually use it. They come with large bottles, fill them, and carry them home the way someone might pick up groceries. It's just part of the routine. Each thermal spring, locals will tell you, has its particular specialty. One is good for kidneys, another for lungs, another for joint pain. And then there's one, mentioned with the kind of slight smile that suggests someone has either tested it personally or is very good at keeping a straight face, that heals a broken heart. If you happen to find yourself in the relevant category, a detour might be worth considering. The water is free, the walk is easy, and at minimum you'll leave with a good story. 😉

Surprise #7: The Alphabet

At some point during the visit, you notice something. You cannot read the city. Street signs, metro stations, menus: everything is in Cyrillic, and while it may look familiar if you've spent time in Russia or Ukraine, it feels slightly different here, because it actually started here.In the 9th century, Saints Cyril and Methodius created the first Slavic script. Their students later developed the Cyrillic alphabet within the First Bulgarian Empire, from which it spread across Eastern Europe and eventually became the writing system used by hundreds of millions of people.

So if you've been vaguely thinking about traveling to Eastern Europe and haven't booked anything yet, consider this your nudge. Flights are cheap, the euro is now accepted, and somewhere in the city center a spring is waiting that allegedly mends broken hearts. Worst case, you enjoy good quality and cheap food, strong liquor and leave with good stories to tell and photos ashamed to show. 📸 😅

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