London to Istanbul – Epic Rail Journey : Day 7

Today we were heading to our second new country of the trip, Bulgaria, and it was going to be a long day on the train. We arrived at Bucharest Gara de Nord in plenty of time to stock up with food for the journey, and then we waited for our train to appear on the board, and we waited, and then we waited some more, beyond the scheduled departure time. Suffice to say a certain degree of panic was beginning to set in amongst those of us on the platform. Eventually, and to audible sighs the length of the platform, the train appeared, we were able to board and, finally, depart.

It was compartment stock with 6 seats per compartment, although we only had to share with one other couple who found an alternative compartment a few hours in to the journey. Thanks to Schengen the border crossing was just a cursory glance at our passports as we trundled along. It was an incredibly hot day which was uncormfotable at times but the spectacular scenery more than compensated. Rolling countryside, river crossings and, for the last few hours impressive mountains. As well as the late departure we continued to lose time for the entire journey, finally pulling in to Sofia after dark and well over an hour down.

We took a taxi to our hotel which turned out to be right in the middle of town. It was very lively, and still very hot. It was late when we finally got to go out but thankfully two of the bars on my hit list were only a street away. Our first stop was High Five Taproom, a small space that would comfortably hold around 20. There were way more than that inside when we arrived! Definitely one of those bars where you can’t be shy about sharing space. They had 12 beers on tap, a mix of Bulgarian breweries and beers from further afield. Flights of 4x20cl are available.

HIGH FIVE Taproom, Sofia Center, ul. “Hristo Belchev” 29b, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Less than five minutes walk down the same street is Crafter Bar, a much larger space with a small seating area by the bar and a much larger area up a few steps in to the back. 10 taps offering Bulgarian and imported beers. Flights of either 5x15cl or 10x15cl are offered but as we were now very tired I just had a couple of beers from two new, to me, Bulgarian breweries.

Crafter Bar, 6, ul. “Hristo Belchev” str, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Now it was time to sleep!