[April 2022] We stayed at the Residence Boutique Hotel in Sofia, the capital city, for the last night of our one-week trip to Bulgaria.
In Sofia, we had stayed at a business hotel in front of the station because of the convenience of transportation, but we chose this hotel for the last night because we wanted to enjoy the hotel life as well.
The atmosphere of the room was similar to the hotel we stayed in Plovdiv at the beginning of our journey.
After putting down our luggage, we went out for a walk around town in search of a restaurant that my husband found on the internet, as usual.
As we walked around, we found out that there were embassies of various countries around here, so it might be a good area in the city.
The streets weren’t particularly beautiful, but the people were neatly dressed.
The destination was a restaurant named Shtastlivetsa, located in the shopping centre called San Stefano Centre.
It is a restaurant that is recommended on the internet, saying “Don’t be put off just because it’s in a shopping centre, and don’t be afraid to go because it looks posh.”
It is true that the interior had the atmosphere that it would be embarrassing if you were wearing casual clothing.
It was quiet when we arrived at around 5:00 pm, but by the time we left after 7:00 pm, it was quite crowded.
Here, we shared the zucchini dumplings + aioli sauce and the beef tongue + mushrooms for starters.
In particular, this beef tongue was a gem.
For the main, I had the duck dish with cherries, mascarpone and carrot puree.
The duck was cut into long, thin bite-sized pieces that were easy to eat and had a great taste.
My husband had pork with BBQ sauce, which was the same menu he had in Plovdiv at the beginning of our trip
He must have liked it there so much.
And he said that this one was also delicious.
We were already full after our main courses, so instead of dessert, my husband ordered rakia and I ordered limoncello.
The limoncello came with ice in it.
With the decanted bottle of wine and the brioche-style bread, the bill was 140.50 levs (about 71 euros).
It was the highest price we paid for a meal on this trip, but I think it was worth it.
On the next morning, the breakfast at the hotel was characterized by a lot of fruits.
We didn’t eat much fruit during this trip, so I was grateful.
After that, when we went to ask the hotel staff for a taxi to the airport, there was only a middle-aged female attendant who could not communicate in English, so we were at a loss for a moment, but surprisingly, it turned out that she was fluent in Italian.
Apparently she had lived in a suburbs of Rome for thirteen years.
After the hotel owner in Melnik and the director of the museum in Chiprovtsi, this was the third Italian-speaking Bulgarian woman we have met.
Thanks to her, we were able to take a taxi smoothly and successfully finished our fulfilling trip to Bulgaria.
