jawnbc | Sofia

Having largely recovered from jetlag (ask me in 4 hours, lolz) I set off to explore Sofia. There is a 3 day transit pass available, but only from Metro stations. It only marginally saves compared to a one day pass and the one day pass can be bought in your browser with an overseas credit card. I bought my pass, booted up Google Maps on my phone, and set off.

I was travelling towards Aleksandar Nevsky Cathedral, and Google Maps encouraged me to take bus 16 or 35 from my nearby stop. Except there wasn’t either bus listed on the stop’s signage. Many buses came by, none of them were 16 or 35. Google Maps continued to advice ETA for the invisible buses. I eventually found a hard-to-read transit map of Sofia, and turned my life over to Sofia Transit (as I understood Sofia Transit), which we will call bus 5.

Bus 5 sort of got me close the cathedral and I managed on foot from there. My next destination was Vitosha Boulevard, one of those archetypal pedestrian-only European strolls. Google Maps’ “direct” navigation took me “there”, including walking almost a kilometre on Vitosha itself—the less interesting side of it, alas.

Navigating back was equally interesting. I found a bus stop for the 1 and 5 buses. Got on the 1 and turned away from my preferred destination: hop off, wander a kilometre up the road upon which my hotel is located, and eventually found a bus back.

Living my best life—all while fasting!