SofiaEcho RSS feed Venue review

Magic worlds

Alex Bivol — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:59:00 +0200

Tucked away in one of the dingy dead-ends just off Slaveikov Square in Sofia, Magic Worlds is overshadowed both by the shiny glass displays on Graf Ignatiev Boulevard and the Luciano pub right next door.

Bound to be difficult

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0200

An incomplete guide to English-language book-shopping in Sofia

Tea

Gabriel Hershman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0300

A leisurely drink in a refined atmosphere improves your mood for the rest of the day

Inventions: past, present and future

Penka Karidova — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +0300

The museum that tracks time

Rappongi beach

Petar Kostadinov — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:01:00 +0300

Get tropical in Varna

Lodki

Nick Iliev — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:00:00 +0300

Lodki offers that sense of seclusion in a forest in the middle of a big city, which combined with a throng of laid back and merry people makes the trip there really worthwhile.

Bilkova pub

Nick Iliev — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:00:00 +0300

The pharmacy that cures all ailments

McCarthy’s Pub | Good music, casual people, no football and great lager

Nick Iliev — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0200

Finally, there appears to be an Irish pub in Sofia actually run by Irish people, if that makes any difference.

Holy 40 Martyrs Church/църквата "Свети четиридесет мъченици"

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +0300

The Holy 40 Martyrs Church in Veliko Turnovo is not, as I had imagined, sitting on the crest of a wooded hill, reachable by a dirt path requiring a pilgrimage-like toil, but at the foot of Tsarevets, in a valley - the one that makes the house-decked hills of the city all the more famous. Built out of some holey stone that I cannot identify, the church is surprisingly early Middle Ages (almost Cistercian) in style. Surprisingly, perhaps, because I had expected something more "Eastern Orthodox" looking.

Slavyanska Dusha Guesthouse

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +0300

Imagine waking up after a night spent snug and warm, in an historic-style house in the centre of old Veliko Turnovo, and first thing on looking out the window, seeing Tsarevets looming over a green valley. This was my experience at a recent stay at Slavyanska Dusha, a guesthouse in the Samovodska Charshiya area of Bulgaria's medieval capital.

Tour of the Boliarka Brewery

Holly Edwards — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +0300

If there's one thing the Bulgarians do really well, it's beer. Just as well, really, because it's everywhere and very good it is, too. Despite the price rises since Bulgaria's accession to the EU, beer still remains reassuringly, almost embarrassingly cheap, but this is no reflection on the quality of the product, which is to say that Bulgarian beer is some of the nicest I've ever tasted. I've done extensive research into this, so that is no mere sweeping statement.

Paintball BG

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +0300

Paintball always sounded like one of those hyper-macho activities, a sort of sport of shoot-and-kill that paraded as a leisure activity or game. It's not that bad, as we recently discovered. In planning, friends unknowingly arranged our outing with the oldest paintballing company in Bulgaria - Paintball BG, founded in 1994, the same year that the activity entered the country. Way out on the edges

Jumbo

Eva Stoeva — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0300

If I were a child, I would definitely want to spend most of my time at Jumbo. It really is the "jumbo jet" of mega-stores for kids in Sofia, part of a Greek chain that has branches in Greece and Cyprus. A palace full of wonderful things, with an air of novelty about it, it slightly resembles Ikea in that it has plenty of goods for the home, and it's cheap. But Ikea is more focussed on grownups, while Jumbo will

Neofit Rilski Museum

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0300

In addition to being a street in almost every city in the country, Neofit Rilski was a person. Born Nikola Poppetrov Benin in 1793 in Bansko, he is known as one of the first figures of educational reform in Bulgaria, publishing in 1835 Bolgarska Gramatika (Bulgarian Grammar) and tablitsa vzaimoouchitelni (meaning something like "tables for co-operative instruction", a method in which students help teach each other).

Villa Santa Cruz

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0300

The friendliness of the staff at Villa Santa Cruz could make one wonder if the hotel was really in Bulgaria. Yes, it is Bulgaria, and at only 1h30 south of Sofia, Blagoevgrad is like another culture - one where politeness, helpfulness and human dignity are a part of normal daily life. In the city for a weekend recently, I selected the hotel based on nothing other than its name, and the fact that it had a website, and

Architectural-Museum Reserve Tsarevets /Царевец/

Holly Edwards — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0300

Just as a trip to Athens would be incomplete without visiting the Acropolis, so the hike up to Tsarevets is an integral part of the Veliko Turnovo experience. The medieval fortress that watches over the city may not be as beautiful as its Greek counterpart, but it is steeped in history and well worth a look. Fortified as a Byzantine stronghold since the fourth century CE, it was taken in the 12th century and became the centre of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom

Totally romantic on the `golf coast'

Clive Leviev-Sawyer — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:00:00 +0300

Hemlines change, hairstyles change and so, too, fashions in cocktails and summer tipples are mutable. On the way to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast as the dials on the autumn oven were turned from sultry to baking, we were told that the drink of choice this summer was mente and Sprite. That may be so, among a certain set, and certainly on a number of beaches I saw holidaymakers skipping over hot sand,

A Bansko church history

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:00:00 +0300

When construction on Bansko's Sveta Troitsa Church was completed in 1835, it was the largest Orthodox house of worship on the Balkan peninsula. Today, its length of 44 metres, width of 22 metres and height of 9.5 metres do not quite earn it the same title - Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia takes first place, and Saint Sava Temple in Belgrade takes third... I do not know the second-largest church on the

An afternoon in Tryavna, a drive through the mountains

Magdalena Rahn — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:00:00 +0300

We did not expect it to take four hours to travel to Tryavna from Sofia, but that's what Sunday drives are all about - spending time with friends, stopping off at curious locations along the route and eventually arriving at a new destination. We took the northern route on the way there, and the southern on the way back, the return itinerary going through Shipka Pass and the Valley of the Roses.

Home away from home

Becky Stacey — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:08:00 +0300

In February this year, after all the hype of Christmas and New Year, we decided to spend a long weekend in the snow in Borovets. For me, a holiday doesn't have to be in a grand hotel (well, maybe sometimes), right on the doorstep of the slopes or right in the centre of town. I prefer a more homely, cosy place to stay, somewhere you can relax and take time out from reality but yet close enough to enjoy the slopes,