Our transfer is picking us up at 11am this morning so we have a bit of time to wander around and grab something to eat after we get packed up. We load into the car and I realize that I don’t have Dave’s cel in my hand anymore - I seem to have a knack for losing things! We aren’t leaving without the phone so head back to the apartment and tear open everything. Emi our host is cleaning the apartment and she can’t see it so we are pulling apart the car when I finally remember where I put it! Ha! I had gone to take a quick pee before we left and had placed it on top of the water heater. Jeez - I need a bell or a strap for the phone!
Our driver is nice, and not a crazy driver which is great - so we make our way smoothly towards Sofia. The border crossing goes smoothly and we arrive into Sofia at around 5pm. There was an hour time change that we didn’t realize which meant we were quite a bit later to meet our next Airbnb host - which I felt badly about, but he didn’t seem to mind too much.
Wendy, Bruce and Brian had a place a couple blocks away, and our place was right along a main tram street which had great shops and restaurants. As is often the case, the lobby and stairwell of the apartment were not so lovely - a bit dark and rundown, but the apartment was lovely and very well decorated - very trendy and urban. No AC though which meant for a bit of a hot sleep, but the temperature has cooled down quite a bit since we entered Bulgaria.
We get settled in and then head off to meet for dinner. Our host suggested a restaurant called “The Little Things” and although it was really hard to find as it was tucked into a little courtyard - it was by far the best meal I think I’ve had - ever. I cannot even begin to do justice to the setting by my photos or my descriptions, but I will do my best. It was a little house, or felt like a little house with a series of rooms with tables in them. The whole place was decorated with “little things”…little shells hung on a piece of twine on the wall, little lightbulbs that had been filled with little flowers and hung in a row, little candles and this and that. It was beautifully done and very artistic. The door and window frames were all distressed, and you felt that you might be sitting in someones living room.
We sat upstairs in a room with a large wall of books and the kids enjoyed playing dominoes and looking at the books. I’m trying to think of whether or not there is even something close to this in Vancouver, but am falling short…it kind of had the feel of what Little Nest was like off of commercial drive - but with more attention to the design.
So right away you feel comfortable and warm and like you’re in this neat kind of place where your imagination is really captured…and then comes the food. We ordered a lot of it and it did not disappoint…Brushetta with goats cheese and honey and walnuts, beautiful salads, fresh veggies, enormous burgers and beautiful pastas…we honestly pigged out! Then we had to try dessert of course and that was amazing too. They make dessert for the day, so you pick from the selection. It was petit pots of chocolate mousse with what I think were elderberries and a lovely coffee cheesecake. Yum! Bruce is bent on coming back for dinner or lunch the next day as they have another day in Sofia before they head home - we are headed to Sozopol but have time for another stop here on the way back perhaps. It was a magical evening.
After dinner its time to walk off some of that food. We will not have the opportunity to see too much of Sofia so we wander around the streets, up to the main park in front of the National Theatre and back. These old cities with the beautiful buildings are magnificent to walk at night. They all do such a great job of uplighting that I think the buildings often look nicer in the dark - the architecture is more dramatic somehow.
Its getting late so we head back to our apartment and make plans for coffee in the morning. We say our goodbyes just in case!
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