Sofia, Bulgaria

I passed through Sofia and Bulgaria on our way back from Istanbul (Interail 2007), but I saw nothing outside of the central train station.

This time, 10 years later, Sofia was the start of the Balkan trip. The initial plan? Bulgaria to Montenegro via Macedona and Albana, back via Kosovo.

But it did not start off as imagined.. 

Car rental companies apparently do not allow you to cross into Macedonia. Albania/Kosovo, depending on the agency, would be an issue too. Something I did not know. So when the rental agency enquired where we would head off to, I casually explained the itinerary to them, to which they swiftly answered "He (no)".

Whoops.. this meant the whole trip would be a failure. We would have to drop the idea of driving ourselves and take public transportation instead.

At least they were fair enough to cancel the booking without any fee. But then, a friendly clerk of another rental agency who had overheard the conversation, waved me over and said he could phone up a friend who owned his own rental agency down town.

Sounded doggy, but then again I had little to no options otherwise.

Shortly after, the guy come to the airport, gave us a car and - though I could have easily been taken advantage off in the situation - it all worked out!

Just outside of Sofia I visited the Rula Monastery before crossing over to Macedonia.

Upon return I decided to have a glass of Bulgarian wine instead of the regular beer to celebrate the successful trip.