I can honestly say now that we could end up here for a whole month some year as this is a lively city that would be great for a longer visit. It's sort of how I felt about a number of Polish cities during last June's trip across northeastern Europe.
Yet today, we did make hotel reservations in Varna, Bulgaria on the Black Sea for three nights. We still have an extra three nights of elasticity in our plans. We reserved four nights in Bucharest, Romania months ago as we fly back to Canada from there.
The photo below was taken in the a square in front of the main train station of Sophia. I learned that the new station was built in the early 1970s. At first I thought it was ugly, but I've come to appreciate its brutalist style.
Some places just cannot escape their history. Of course Sophia is one built upon an original Roman city. Layers of conflicts and ruling entities have shaped the very environment. People can still fill up water from waters flowing to a former Turkish bath. We went to the large central Jewish Synagogue but found it wasn't open to visitors today.
After getting train tickets, we renewed our Sofia transit passes for another three days. We find riding around is a great way to see the extent and layout of the city. It's people watching without putting on so many steps.