TRIP TO SOFIA, BULGARIA

Hey, Assalamualaikum w.b.t guys!

Okay, today i would like to share about my journey from Istanbul, Turkey to Sofia, Bulgaria. Actually, i wanna write about it a long time ago, but the schedules is packed and just now when i scrolled down the pictures, i saw our pictures to Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria.

First of all, before you go for a trip to Bulgaria, it is highly recommended for you to read and learn about their history and language a little. And the most important download the offline google maps of Bulgaria and the google translate of their language. But do not worry because the Bulgarian people can understood English well too, like the Istanbul people, but it is an advantage to understand their culture. And one more suprising fact is that they shook their head for yes, and nod their head for no, which is different for the body gesture that i ever known.

Why Bulgaria?

Bulgaria is a country next to Greece and Turkey. Sofea is the capital city, which the name comes from the words philosophy or wisdom and the name of Saint Sofia. Sofia is famous for the rose perfume production and also about their history and also their magnificient buildings. 

Bulgaria currency?

The Bulgarian Lev is the name of the money used in the country, which 1 Bul Lev =  RM2.40 = 3.10 lira . You can check it online to get an accurate cause it differs depends on time. It is hard to find a money changer to change Turkish Lira to Bulgarian Lev in Istanbul, so we look for money changer in Sofia. Tips: do not change your money at the money changer in the bus/train station. The money changer in the city take less commission than those in the station.

it is highly recommended to change your money here, it is in the city if the Sofia, but it give a good price. You need to walk a little bit from the bus station.

How to go there?

From IStanbul , you can take a bus 150TL(the night bus) 130TL(the evening bus) or you can take the flight or train. We take the bus to go there. The bus is the cheapest option available.

The interesting places in Sofis?

In Sofia, it is a modern city with ancient history in it. The moment i walked into the Sofia city, i felt like i was in the English movie where i see high buildings, churches, europe-looks office, people covered in thick clothes to protect them from the cold weather, people wearing black umbrella walking in the street.

There is a mosque named Banya Bayram mosque, it was an old historical mosque in the centre of the city, where it is the prove that the Ottoman empire once ruled Bulgaria. I can still remember the kind man that always keep the mosque clean and arrange all the shoes of the worshipers.

Tips for muslims: always to be ready to perform solat everywhere cause not all places have mosque/musolla. 

Next, is the Church. There are many churches in Sofia, because 88% of the people are Christians. A visit to Sofia is incomplete if you did not visit the main attraction here, the main church. I visit the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the biggest and beautiful church in Sofia. Suprisingly, the design of the church is doomed-like shape, unlike the typical church which is usually in triangular or square shaped. The church is covered with turquoise doom with a cross. On a first glance, i thought that it was a mosque, but it is actually a church. 

Later, we went to the Sofia University, located also in the city. The architecture of the University is similar to the Harry Potter, and i could not stop imagine about all magic stuff in it.The place looks cold and silence. We expect that some students or people that will approach or smiled at us, but they just ignored our existance. Honestly, I like my University more! 

The letters is not the normal alphabets used by English U.K or US but it is completely different. They also used some alphabets that i found in my physics books! So learn their language a little.

For the transportation, they use cars and taxi. Special path is allocated for the cyclists and pedestrian. And the people respects the people who wanna cross the road. They also have the yellow trams and the blue bus, but the blue bus is connected to the electrical bars on top of it.

The ultimate ibrah that i get from my trip to Bulgaria  is  how important the history effect the current civilisation. Personally, for me , it hurts a lot when you see the mosque is only one and little and it is a frustation when you knew that the gorgeous wonderful and strong Ottoman empire was once conquered this piece of land, but as the muslims weak and distracted by the Harams and the worldly glitters, it is only remain a history. There are many things that I learnt from the trip. And as a tourist, I would appreciate more if the people be more friendly and pay attention more to the hospitality. Along the journey, i noticed that they are many things that i do not know. In fact, i do not know that Bulgaria exist before i came to Turkey, How great the Almighty Allah to create the beautiful world, which there is many unique things that i never explore yet, many things that i do not know yet, many people that i do not know, many problems that i do not understand yet, many works that i must do, but i have less time, the burdens and the responsibility keeps increasing, that i could not run away.