Sofia's pavements now buzz with the promise of the free market and cheap holidays to Bulgaria are all the rage as a result. Despite being largely rebuilt after WWII, Sofia, Bulgaria's showpiece capital, is dotted with monumental reminders of the past.
The multi-domed Aleksandār Nevski Cathedral, a tribute to the Russian soldiers who helped win the country's independence, looms over side-street mehans, the drinking dens where locals knock back a mixed cocktail of Bulgarian vintages. Elsewhere in the city, the ancient mosques are testament to 500 years of Turkish occupation.
The mountainous, largely wooded, Bulgarian landscape once made it the perfect hideaway for legendary bandits and hermits. Today, cheap holidays to Bulgaria are more likely to reveal the forests full of hikers than ascetics.
Following a steep descent through pine trees, beneath the snowy tops of the Rila Mountains, the Rila monastery luxuriates in its remoteness. Within the fortified walls sits a lavish concoction of peppermint stripes, domes and colonnades.
In an equally imposing setting is Bulgaria's proud medieval capital, Veliko Turnovo. Four distinct hills are crowded with steeply terraced renaissance houses, over which the restored 12th-century Tsaravets Palace peers into the deep ravines of the Yantra River.
Be part of the eastern European travel revolution and join the ever-increasing number of travellers taking cheap holidays to Bulgaria.
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