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Date of the journey:- September 2019
Distance travelled:- 136 miles
It was our intention to go to Plovdiv from Veliko Tarnovo, travelling through the Central Balkan National Park. Unfortunately, the Bulgarian public transport system did not cover this route. Leaving us with little other choices than to go via Sofia.
So off to Sofia, it was. From Veliko Tarnovo bus station, we took a local bus at 1030hrs to Sofia central bus station, a 3 hour 15 min journey costing 10 Euros each. We used an online booking portal called getbybus.com for the purchase of the tickets. Once booked the ticket reference was emailed to us, then we had to get them printed out at the bus station when we arrived. The bus did not have a toilet and seating was a little cramped but comfortable and clean. There was no air-conditioning on the bus.
The journey seemed to go very quickly. We passed through the foothills of the beautiful wooded Balkan mountains, travelling along the E772 until it joined the A2. Opening up into the Sofia valley, being surrounded by comparatively high mountains on all sides.
We left the bus terminal and took the 350m, 4-minute walk to the train station, to allow us to purchase our onward train tickets for the following day from Sofia to Plovdiv. The tickets cost 9.5 Bulgarian Lev each.
From the train station, we were able to walk the 1.5km, 20 mins to our Airbnb accommodation, Superb quiet studio. A small self-contained apartment near the centre of Sofia, within walking distance of the main sites in the city. This accommodation is on the 5th floor and there is no lift.
It is advisable to wear sensible flat shoes while walking the streets of Sofia, as the pavement can be in a very bad state of repair and there are also a lot of cobblestone streets.