[Music] hi everyone and welcome to part number two of my extremely short Bulgaria series and
hold on to your hats because today despite my face not showing it as usual I'm in a relatively good
mood today I don't know why in the last video in Vitosha I did say that I'll be going to Buzludzha
for this video I missed the train apparently that happens in real life and not just in the
movies but don't worry that will be rescheduled I've filmed a lot over the last few days and I
want to show you all of that while giving you a bit of commentary around my thoughts on Sofia
and some of the things you can see and do here in a rather unnarcissistic YouTuber way so you
won't see me again until the end of the video how refreshing right anyway let's get going
[Music]
so we're starting off on this rather Sunny Wednesday afternoon at the National Palace of
culture which is relatively Central let's put some Drone trucks over the top so you can see it a bit
better there we go and I spend a lot of time here because it's relatively Central and if I'm honest
Starbucks is over the road and on the subject of being honest I'm going to be straightforward from
the outset I don't particularly have an immense interest in Bulgaria or Bulgarian history I'm
purely here because as a digital Nomad in Europe at the moment in the current climate I need
somewhere that is Affordable for a relatively long period And I am an EU citizen I'm a Polish
citizen as well as British um so it means I can stay here for an extended period if necessary
right back to reality let's go down Vitosha Boulevard so here we go I know I'm being a
little bit basic [ __ ] coming to the center of town but sometimes it's okay to be a basic
[ __ ] we've got people playing the violins there lovely and this street as you can see it's just
a typical center of a city shopping street you've got clothing shops alcohol and tobacco restaurants
cafes you name it and up the end there you can see an example of the wonderful architecture
in Bulgaria I do like the architecture in Bulgaria particularly religious buildings it's known as the
triangle or Square of religious tolerance because there are many religious buildings here from
different religions so there's a synagogue there's a mosque there's churches Cathedrals you name it
one of the pieces of History I do like in Sofia is St George's Rotunda this dates back wait for
it to the 4th Century where can you come in the world and find something dating back to the 4th
Century Still Standing Sofia that's where you know it's kind of um in the middle of some other
buildings so it's very much been left where it was you know I went inside you can't film in there
unfortunately and it is what you would expect of 4th Century it is rather worn that's that's
the word I would use I do have a question about you know renovation because you know if you're a
regular viewer you know that I've been in Serbia a lot and a lot of the the churches and buildings
like that in Serbia are have been renovated or in the process of being renovated and I have the
question I'm kind of in two minds you know is it is it a good thing to renovate these buildings or
is it better to leave them how they were I'm not sure you know I think they both have their merits
I'm at the end of Vitosha Boulevard now I believe this Grand building with the columns is a court
and over there we have a tram which we'll go into next
brilliant in Sofia as with Belgrade with Vienna there are multiple trams in terms of age there
are more modern ones there are older ones and for me someone coming from London where yes there are
trams in South London it's modern though there aren't those historical trams anymore that they
used to be so coming to somewhere which is so reliant on trams in terms of its public
transport in the city is truly fascinating for me and I didn't realize before I started
coming to these countries that there was such a Fascination and appreciation for trams there were
all these pages over Instagram I follow many of you that I have spoken to are addicted to trams
it's a bit weird I know but you know weird is good
now this is a site you will probably see upon Googling Sofia it's the Alexander nevsky Cathedral
alexander nevsky is a common name when it comes to Cathedrals I've been to one in Tallinn Estonia and
I think it was in Odessa in Ukraine and I've got to admit and this might be slightly controversial
I was slightly underwhelmed and disappointed actually when I went to this Cathedral and I went
inside as well you can't film as per usual it just seems very dirty and unloved you know the exterior
just looks like it could do with a good scrub you know as per many buildings in Sofia there's
a university just over the road from the cathedral equally it's not in the best state of cleanliness
um I might be you know being really picky and complaining because you know it doesn't
necessarily need to be perfect does it but I feel like there could be a little
bit more effort you know it's the center of a European city with iconic historic landmarks
drink very briefly as with everything in this video of course in Sofia there is a plethora
of dishes you can try local dishes you know for example Banitsa that you know the classic pastry
and cheese based item similar to many dishes around the Balkans in Serbia in turkey or with
similar roots and of course Rakia the classic Brandy like drink you can have which is common
across this region but the thing I would say is that have the Bloody Street Pizza when you're here
I have been astounded by the quality of the Street Pizza here yes it's a little bit touristy yes it's
probably overpriced but it's worth it honestly you know the thing I would say as I've said before is
that there does tend to be this expectation when you travel that you must try at the local Cuisine
otherwise you've missed out and your experience is a waste of time you know but that's just not
the case if you want to have a Street Pizza have a Street Pizza and that's exactly what I'll be
doing this afternoon right it's me again sorry I thought I'd shake things up on the subject of food
and drink I went to a Christmas market yesterday yes I'm a Christmas hun can you believe it I have
a weird fascination with Christmas markets and I believe it only opened a couple of days ago
I've got to be honest it wasn't the most thrilling Christmas Market I've ever been to but you know
it's okay you get mulled wine you can have a lot of other German related dishes as you'd expect
sausages chocolate everything you want you know so it's good for a nice you know a little evening out
or even in the daytime as per me oh look there's a Vespa I'm heading back to Vitosha Boulevard
actually just off Vitosha Boulevard because there's something amazing which is really the bulk
of this video that I want to talk to you about and show you something I did a couple of days ago
isn't it beautiful that's one of the little small ones I need to do some research about the age of
all these trams I'll do that later and but where we're going now is down there right I just walked
past it what a dumbass that shop over there the one that says gifted or whatever free Sofia tour
on the window is where you have to go to to get your little lanyard thing to go to the red flat
which is around that corner write us up here it's number 12. here um obviously we're not going in
today but let's sit down and tell you about it so the red flat is an opportunity to experience
and learn more about the latter stages of the Communist era in Bulgaria in the 80s and if you
have been to European countries before and you're interested in that sort of thing you might have
been to similar places in other countries that were part of the former Eastern Bloc for example
Poland there's one in Warsaw Slovakia I think there's one in Bratislava and also in what was
East Berlin and they're all kind of similar they detail what life was like back then for people
living there and in this case you pay I think it's about eight Euros I put the price down below
um online and then you get the lanyard as I said and then go to the building head upstairs walk in
you get an audio tour which has 46 parts that might seem a little bit daunting but oh my God
if you're the sort of person who you know doesn't particularly like museums but this is not really
a museum it's kind of a real experience you know because while doing the audio tour walking around
the flat you can touch you can look at you can read you can look at photos you can really
interact with everything around you you know which I think is really cool because in a in a regular
Museum you know I don't want to you know walk into a Dusty old building and pretend to be interested
in boring things in glass cabinets now it's just not for me I want to interact with things and
feel like I was there um in the the front room you have various books and particularly travel
books I was quite curious about because one of the things on the audio tour was the fact that around
seven percent of bulgarians were able to travel within the Eastern block at that time and very few
managed to go into Western Europe for example and when they did they had the secret police following
them apparently to ensure they went back and there were books in there in Hungarian in German there
was a Toblerone in the cupboard I loved toblerones there were little photo albums detailing Elena and
Bojan's life they were the people that owned the flat there were also things like phones of course
you know the the old dial phones which you know I grew up with maybe gen Z tiktokers didn't radios
record players all sorts of things phone books you know so much stuff which for me as someone
who is 40 years old has memories of and that's the thing about this place that I feel like you
know for someone that is younger maybe a teenager or in the early 20s perhaps they're at University
studying universe history rather of the region it would be quite fascinating because those things
maybe they didn't grow up with but I think for someone of my age that did grow up with a lot of
these items in this flat it wasn't so fascinating in that regard it was it was more nostalgic to to
get back to you know what I grew up with and I think whether you grew up in a communist country
you you or not you still had those items um albeit you know living in a communist country was
drastically different you know in terms of ability to travel in terms of literature that
you were able to read and so on there's so much in this audio tour which you can learn about and I
found it quite fascinating to be honest the kid's bedroom was really cool there's so much stuff in
there it reminded me of a TV show when I was a kid Finders Keepers where people go into this house
and just rage the room I think it was and they find all these different things they were jigsaws
audio cassettes from back in the day remember them you know back in the 80s having Bananarama on an
audio cassette or a tape as we would call it um clothing pictures of school details about school
back then and how it all worked and I loved the kitchen the kitchen was spectacular you had like
Nescafe products in the cupboard you had washing machine you had um TVs you know all sorts of
stuff in that kitchen which were just so iconic and relevant to that area because they you know
they were from then and actually what I felt like walking around this flat was it's kind of like any
Airbnb I've stayed in like a Babushka flat you know in countries like Belarus in countries like
Serbia you know everything Brown as it was back then and it did very much kind of remind me of
my like my Nan's house you know or even my house growing up in the 80s everything was brown brown
sofas Brown walls brown wood everywhere and the classic TV which you know of course there was no
remote control for you had to press a button is it a little bit voyeuristic to have of somewhere
which you know depicts the time from only 35 40 years ago you know it's not like the things I
was touching and interacting with were artifacts from a thousand years ago how do how do locals
feel that lived in the 80s during those times do they feel a bit odd that you know foreigners are
coming to have a look at it and say oh look it's a phone I'm probably over analyzing and locals
probably don't feel like that at all but it's just something I came away with but overall 10 out
of 10. top tier right before we go why not have some of the aforementioned Street Pizza is behind
those trams grab and go Pizza Station I mean obviously I don't really want it I'm just doing
it for YouTube that's it cheesy pizza drowned in mustard and mayonnaise it's ginormous look at it
oh
I'm so good I mean I hate filming myself eating it's the weirdest thing to do on the planet
I mean let's face it it's not like Italian pizza or even Serbian Pizza
which is amazing but it's Street Pizza to fill you up on a day out
in Sofia oh look at that that looks nice doesn't it right back one final time to end this video
and to answer the rather clickbaity question in the title I only did that to get abused from
bulgarians is Sofia the most boring city in Europe I've got to admit I have said that it is boring
but you have to remember as well that I'm not here for travel purposes I'm here to live for a couple
of months you know as I said at the beginning because it's affordable and that's the thing
about being one of those annoying narcissistic digital Nomad full-time traveler people
um that is the case sometimes you do have to come to places which are affordable in order to make
some money to continue traveling and that's why I'm here I'm sure Sophia has plenty to offer you
as a traveler tourist person and of course in this video I've only touched on a very minute amount so
let me know down in the comments if you've been to Sofia what else can you see here that will
make me not think it's boring um so next time we will be doing a couple of expose videos on that
note actually things I've learned about being a digital Nomad from the last six years and also
the truth about Travel Youtube before we go to business I promise I'm not going to miss the
train this time lovely thanks for watching and I'll see you next time catch you later [Music]