Simply put – here’s all the unique things I saw in Bulgaria that were cool, but not big enough to warrant their own blog posts! IN LISTICLE FORM!!

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#1 – A Fighter Jet in the Middle of Nowhere ✈️

Now this is obscure. We stayed at my friend’s Aunt and Uncle’s house in the village of Banya, north of Plovdiv. It’s a really cute little place but there isn’t much to see – just a small war memorial, a couple of churches – with one major exception. There’s an actual SU-22 (apparently) just hanging out on the edge of a forest. You can see it on Google maps, but it doesn’t have an entry unless you tap nearby or specifically search for it.

My friend told me that he saw the plane being moved to the village about fifteen years ago, under police escort, to accompany a club meetinghouse for former pilots. There’s no real barriers or anything and nobody seems to be maintaining it. We didn’t even find a sign or plaque – just one rusting fighter jet, living out its golden years in a tiny Bulgarian village. It’s cool, yet also strangely poignant.

If you’d like to visit this lonely SU-22, you can find the location here. It’s about 30 kilometres north of Plovdiv.

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#2- The Memorial that’s Constantly Vandalised (or maybe not) 🦸

The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia is a grand memorial/reminder of the Soviet invasion (and subsequent occupation) during World War 2, when Bulgaria made the questionable decision of siding with the Axis powers. Built in 1954, it’s a really striking sculpture and looks especially beautiful as it’s getting dark.

However this memorial is best known internationally for being constantly graffitied over, most memorably in 2011 when a group of artists repainted the Soviet liberators to look like comic book characters.

My friend cynically noted that the memorial’s online reputation for being constantly vandalised is overblown. He’s actually right – I’d previously assumed that this statue was painted over all the time, but the last attempt actually happened in 2014, when two of the soldiers were painted in the colours of the Ukrainian and Polish flags to mark the anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. Since then it’s largely remained unmolested – although when I visited one of the soldier’s eyes had been coloured red.

Still, it’s a lovely statue that has plenty of cats and skateboarders hanging around it. This particular statue is apparently controversial in Bulgaria, with some right wing politicians calling for its removal, so visit it while you can!

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#3 – History Stacked on History 🏟️

Plovdiv is the second city of Bulgaria, and according to my friend, the rightful capital. Unfortunately it was liberated by the Bulgarians after Sofia, and at that point they’d already built the important government buildings so what was the point of moving it all halfway across the country?

Situated smack dab in the middle of a lot of ancient trade routes, Plovdiv has a lot of history. Tangible, physical history. So much history that it keeps getting in the way of construction work, like this Roman amphitheatre that was discovered in 1923, right under the very centre of the also historic high street. Instead of being paved over, the theatre of… ‘Philippopolis’ (really?) was excavated and is now the second-most famous Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv, after the much more impressive one a few hundred metres away.

I’m not a massive fan of classical civilisations (sorry Mary Beard) but I am a big fan of the way that the roads have been thoughtfully designed here – they cross the Philippopolis stadium without burying it in concrete. The amphitheatre is now a tourist attraction in its own right, accessible from the very centre of the city, although it does now face a coffee shop balcony instead of gladiator fights. Plovdiv was the European City of Culture in 2019, and judging from the way they preserve their ancient heritage in such cool ways it’s not hard to see why they were the winners.

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#4 – Hey, this Statue is Smaller than we Expected! 🌄

One of the things I was most looking forward to seeing in Plovdiv was the Alyosha Monument, another memorial to the Soviet soldiers who occupied the country during the war. Now that the Cold War is over, this monument is (surprise!) controversial, but for now the massive Soviet soldier still looks over the city from his perch on Bunarjik Hill.

I’d seen photos of this monument online which made it look HUGE. It was high on my list for sights to see in Bulgaria – however we only got round to it on the final day, a few hours before my flight back home. We climbed the hill in the evening, pausing for breaks to gather our breath and stroke friendly cats, reaching the summit right after sunset.

We clamber up the final steps, aaaand… it’s a bit shorter than I was expecting. In fact the statue is only 36 feet high – still respectable, but not the Colossus of Plovdiv I’d pictured in my head.

It’s still an alright statue, but I was a little disappointed. I’d expected something a little more… epic. Still, our efforts were rewarded by gorgeous views of the city below. After the sun set it looked absolutely stunning! It was a genuinely wonderful way to end my trip and it’s one of my favourite memories of my time in Bulgaria ❤️

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#5 – The Tiny Church in an Airport 💒

A little bit of advice – if you ever need a quiet place to gather your thoughts at an airport, conference centre or just any busy public space, locate the nearest prayer room or chapel. They are never busy and it’s normally a comfortable place to meditate or just sit quietly without anyone bothering you.

I was flying back from Plovdiv Airport, and had planned to spend some time there before my flight (actually it turned out I hadn’t filled out an important covid form so I had to rush and get it done on my phone) so I’d checked the facilities ahead of time. It’s a tiny place – one of the smallest airports I’ve ever flown out of – but they found room for a tiny church. A literal church. A building within a building.

This tiny chapel is, as far as I can tell, a full on place of worship for Orthodox Christians. I’d planned to spend a bit of time looking around, but at the end of my frantic form filling I had only minutes before my gate (one of two) closed. Still I ran across the terminal and poked my head in, the last thing I saw in Bulgaria before flying back to Luton. Here’s some photos – its basically just a tiny chapel, but it made me smile nonetheless.

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Places I also visited but weren’t worth their own articles

• St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral ⛪ – Humbling and awe-inspiring. It helped visiting with my Orthodox friend who politely explained much of the symbolism for me.
• Sofia Central Market Hall 🛒- Weirdly half dead. Big disappointment – normally central markets have great food but this one only has a handful of stalls left.
• Sofia City Museum 🐴 – I thought they had something else on the St Ohridski base here but I was mistaken. Really boring museum on old timey Bulgaria but at least it’s cheap and the staff are friendly. Also there’s a fancy horse carriage to look at.
• Bakchovo Monastery ☦️ – Really famous monastery in the mountains. I bought a huge jar of honey from the market here that I’m still getting through.
• Shipka Pass 🏔️ – Big mountain and the site of a famous battle between the Russians and Ottomans. Beautiful when covered in snow! Also has a lot of steps leading up to a memorial stone tower.
• Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis 🏛️ – Close to the amphitheatre, these Roman ruins of a church are preserved in a new museum in Plovdiv. Really well funded! Super modern exhibits that do a good job in bringing the place to life.
• Nebet Tepe 🐱 – Big hill in Plovdiv with ruins of an old fortress and decent views of the city. More importantly we met a cat there who was happy to be stroked.

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Miscellaneous Photos I Took 📸

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Places I wanted to visit but didn’t this time around

• Buzludzha Monument 🛸 – Trust me I was aware of this place!! I tried my best but ultimately I wasn’t going to pressure people who were driving me around for free on where to go. Apparently it’s currently under renovation anyway – you can’t go inside anymore. On the way back from Shipka Pass we actually came within a couple of miles of the monument, but I couldn’t see it in the mountains 🙁 if it’s actually being renovated then I’ll make an effort to return and see it once it’s done.
• Kazanlak 🌹- Cute little town famous for its rose industry. We were going to have a look round, but we somehow got stuck in a LONG supermarket queue – by the time we paid for our stuff, everything in the centre was shut for the day. We had a fun walk around the town centre but I’d like to return, it seemed like a cute little place.
• National Palace of Culture 🏟️ – Communist era monstrosity turned giant conference centre. I had a decent look around the outside, and the adjoining gardens, but unfortunately you can’t just go inside unless you’re attending an event.
• North Macedonia and Kosovo 🇲🇰 🇽🇰- Yes, both countries! Our original travel plan wasn’t Bulgaria at all, but instead to arrive in Skopje and stay for the full week – with a side trips to Kosovo and Lake Ohrid – but due to the evolving covid situation, visa issues and the fact that Wizzair just opened up flights between Luton and Plovdiv, we changed our plans basically at the last minute. We had flights booked and everything. I’m glad we did it frankly, Bulgaria is a wonderful country.

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That’s everything I have from my trip to Bulgaria! Despite visiting in December and worries about encroaching Covid restrictions (I just missed the requirement for pre-flight PCR tests by about five hours) I had a lovely time. Special thanks to my friend for hosting me, putting up with my questions and showing me areas of his beautiful country. Also for exposing me to the excesses of Bulgarian cuisine (so many cheese pastries…).

I’ve got a couple of plans for the next few weeks – I should have a couple of blog posts out in January. Due to the rapidly changing Covid situation I don’t have any serious travel plans for next year, but I’d like to leave the UK at least once, so stay tuned! Moscow is definitely tempting me 😅