We traveled to Bulgaria for the first time and split our 8 days between the capital city of Sofia and Plovdiv. We were completely carried away by the history and charm of both cities, Plovdiv in particular. If it were not due to the scorching temperature every day, we would have walked a lot more and visited both cities in more depth. Nevertheless, I’d say Bulgaria is totally worth seeing and is a wonderful travel destination for family and kids. See below some of my favorite photo spots and travel stories.

Sofia: Day 1-3

1. Archaeological exhibition Ancient Serdica

We walked past this site several times during our city walk. I’ve never seen a ruin site in the middle of modern city structures, but after seeing both Sofia and Plovdiv for a week, this was pretty normal. This is a small area displaying the ruins of Roman Serdica in the city center of Sofia. You can’t miss it.

2. St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

You probably can’t say you’ve visited Sofia without seeing St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The design of this cathedral is so unique.

I planned to photograph it during sunset before the trip. But there was a big construction site right outside during our visit, so I only got a few quick snapshots during the day.

3. Palace of Justice

The starting point of the free English speaking walking tour. No reservation was required.

4. Sveta Nedelya Church

Another landmark of Sofia. We didn’t have the chance to walk into this church. It’s in one of the prominent city center locations, and is hard to miss.

Photograph wise, it was challenging. Everything was in harsh light while my kids only wanted to hide in shade. Find out how I photograph our kids during travel even light is not friendly.

5. Monument of Stefan Stambolov

A small and nice park where kids can do something other than looking at ruins and learning history.

6. Museum of Illusion, Sofia

Plovdiv: Day 4-7

7. Plovdiv Old Town

Older than Rome and Athens, Plovdiv is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe, and one of European, and even world’s, oldest civilization centers.

A UNESCO site, Plovdiv’s Old Town has a charm to a different level. If I come back to Bulgaria one day, the top place I’d like to see and photograph is undoubtedly the Old Town Plovdiv.

Located on 3 of the 7 hills in Plovdiv, Nebet Tepe, Dzhambaz Tepe and Taksim Tepe, the Old Town is an architectural and historical reserve dated back to 4000BC. You’d feel like walking back in history while passing many houses, churches of historical and cultural heritage.

8. Ancient Stadium of Philipopolis

Built in the 2nd century during the Roman imperial period, the ancient Roman stadium of Philippopolis is among the largest and best preserved buildings from the time of the Roman Empire in the Balkan peninsula.

Since this was only a few minutes away from our airbnb, we walked past it almost everyday.

9. Ancient Theatre of Philippopolis

Built in the 1st century AD, the Roman theatre of Philippopolis is one of the world's best-preserved ancient Roman theatres, and needless to say, is one of Plovdiv’s most prominent landmarks.

10. Kapana

We booked an airbnb in the heart of Kapana and couldn’t be happier. It is a charming district full of restaurants, bars, bakeries, shops with cobblestoned streets and artistic vibe. It was quite busy on the weekend and the crowd died down during the weekdays.

We tried a number of restaurants. My favorite was Hemingway Restaurant.

11. Fountain at Monument to Gyuro Mihailov

Did I mention the temperature of our travel days in Bulgaria? High 90s in Fahrenheit (35C above). The fountain might not be of any particular significance compared to the history, ruins, statues and architecture pieces in Plovdiv. But it was a perfect place to fight off heat. Our kids spent an hour just running in the water.

12. ulitsa "Knyaz Alexander I"

A hustle and bustle pedestrian street, where you’ll see the “Together” sign, statue of Milyo, Ancient Stadium of Philipopolis, Djumaya Mosque, Roman Forum of Philippopolis, shops, restaurants and much more. This is a main street in the city center. If you take the free English speaking walking tour (we didn’t do it for the same reason in Sofia), you’ll start near the fountain on this street as well.

13. Stairs of Kamenitza and Together Sign

The Together sign is rainbow colored symbol showcasing Plovdiv as the Cultural Capital of Europe, something I’m sure the locals are proud of. It’s on the ulitsa "Knyaz Alexander I" mentioned above. Right next to it tucked in the corner, there was the Statue of Milyo.

Photo tip

We walked past it everyday and I still couldn’t take a photo with clean background. Apparently it was a popular photo spot that everyone wanted to capture.

For the photo below, I had to use photoshop to clean up the background. I very rarely used photoshop to edit my photos, and have been using my favorite photo software Adobe Lightroom for almost 15 years (see my Lifescape presets). For 99.9% occasions of my travel photos, Lightroom was sufficient. I’ve shared very detailed Lightroom tutorials in my Document Happiness photography course.

The last two images below were not Old Town, but the Plovdiv skyline you could see from the Old Town.

14. Park & Spa Hotel Markovo

In our last day in Plovdiv, our airbnb host suggested Park & Spa Hotel Markovo for us to entertain our kids. The weather was extremely hot. We constantly got whining from our kids and were not able to walk as much as we wanted every day. Beyond ice cream, this definitely seemed a healthier option, so we immediately jumped on it. Obviously, we weren’t able to explore the outdoor play area due to the heat, but the indoor pools were fantastic, and perfect for us to prepare for the upcoming trip to the Albanian Riviera.

This is a good summary of our highlights and suggestions for one-week trip in Bulgaria.

Almost all the photos above were taken with Canon R5 + Canon RF24-70mm f2.8. I left 2 lenses, one drone and a tripod with my husband who’s currently in Germany before going solo with my kids for the upcoming Europe adventure.

logistic tip

It’s also worth to note that Bulgarian food was delicious. We fell in love with the traditional Bulgarian food, particularly the traditional salad.

I typically searched the google map on my phone, and typed “restaurant” and picked whatever that was nearby and had at least 4.5 ratings. Perhaps we were lucky, so far this approach worked well for us, and every restaurant we picked was good. Of course, ice cream was a must on daily basis and remained as the top incentive for the kids to go out.

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