We arrived in Sofia after a three hour flight from Dublin on Saturday night, and grabbed a taxi for 10 leva (5 euro) into the city to the Sofia Guesthouse, situated in a great location near countless bars and restaurants. After dropping our stuff off, we had dinner at Divaka, an amazingly cheap and quality restaurant. We were definitely the only english speakers there to experience a great meal for only €30, which included 4 courses, wine, and rakiya, a traditional (and strong) appertif traditionally served with salad (we later learned it was historically served with salad to kill the germs hiding in the lettuce).
The next morning we woke up to an amazing sunshine that normally escapes us in both Ireland and during our eastern europe trips, but we were blessed with sunshine and took a couple hours before Rila monestary to buy some gum at this little store. As you can see, there are many stores you literally have to crouch to make your purchases, don't think it would fly in the US due to handicap inaccessbility...
Note that when traveling to Bulgaria, it might be a good idea to write down the cyrillic name of the restaurants and bars you want to check out, or at least have a guide book with both the roman and cyrillic names in them, as all the names are in cyrillic in Sofia (naturally). Our guidebook had only the roman names, but we lucklily had the address numbers of the places and a pair of good navigators. 
There is also a riff between the gov't and the rubbage collectors, so we ran into a few of these.
After checking out the piles of garbage we saw the two cool sights of Sofia (there may be a couple more, but you are stretching to say so...the best thing about Sofia are its people and its food), Alexander Nesky church, and the Russian Orthadox church.
Note that when traveling to Bulgaria, it might be a good idea to write down the cyrillic name of the restaurants and bars you want to check out, or at least have a guide book with both the roman and cyrillic names in them, as all the names are in cyrillic in Sofia (naturally). Our guidebook had only the roman names, but we lucklily had the address numbers of the places and a pair of good navigators. On a factual note, Sofia is the highest elevated capital in all of europe as it is sitting in a large mountain valley, its even higher than Bern!
There is also a riff between the gov't and the rubbage collectors, so we ran into a few of these.After checking out the piles of garbage we saw the two cool sights of Sofia (there may be a couple more, but you are stretching to say so...the best thing about Sofia are its people and its food), Alexander Nesky church, and the Russian Orthadox church. After our trip to Rila, we went to the Butcher's Cafe, a little spot that looks like a shotty meat counter from the outside, very simplistic, but once you get past the simplified meat counter, you go to the back and find one of the most charming little restaurants around. The owner is very friendly and just lists off the menu for you (thankfully his english was good enough to make it work). We had a nice charcuterie board, followed by a spanish egg and potato dish and then a peruvian meat and rice dish. This was all washed down with a nice Bulgarian wine (which is amazing by the way and very affordable of course). Desert completed a great meal, which we walked off by checking out the cathedral at night;
then going to a great bar called apartment, in which you enter an old loft, make your way to the fridge in the kitchen and help yourself to some beer, homemade wine or rakiya and a selection of finger food of your liking. It was probably one of the most laid back bars I have ever been too, very very cool.
The next morning it was off to Plovdiv. Sofia is definitely worth a visit, but only if you combine Plovdiv or a day trip to the countryside as you run out of sights relatively quickly. However, the food was terrific and the price was even better. Cheapest drinks since Prague circa 2001 (30 cent pints with Jordan and Dann cannot be beat).
then going to a great bar called apartment, in which you enter an old loft, make your way to the fridge in the kitchen and help yourself to some beer, homemade wine or rakiya and a selection of finger food of your liking. It was probably one of the most laid back bars I have ever been too, very very cool.
Yesterday we got up early and grabbed the DART train out to Bray, a suburb of Dublin about 10-15 miles down the coast from Dublin. Bray reached the height of its prosperity in the mid-1800's when the train line was built from Dublin and victorian hotels were built aside its boardwalk. Unfortunately the boardwalk hasn't changed much and today the coastal part of the town is a bit run-down. However, if you look to the east you see only the nice pebble beach and cliffs surrounding the town. 
The old-town off the beach is much nicer, with a quait, lively main street with coffee shops, pubs, and even a bowling alley that we scoped out for a future night out.
A recent night out in Dublin
Best Meal
Lou: TIE: Badia de Coltibuono (Radda in Chianti, Italy) and Vieux aux Brussels, Ixelles Neighborhood, Brussels - not sure if it was the handful of belgian beers during the day, but the escargot followed by the amazing rabbit in a perfect bistro setting will be remembered forever. The steak florentine was delightful, you could drink its juices like a glass of cold milk. 
Top Day
Top Drive
Lou - Longtail ride from Phuket to Kao Yao Noi: We didn't think places like this existed. The old-school longtail, combined with hundreds of hongs, fisherman earning a day's wage, and nomads living in the cliffside make it a beautiful yet surreal ride. 
Top Old Town 
Top Square
Top Vista
Lou - Erin, Hvar, Croatia - This picture embodies this entire holiday in Croatia; complete relaxation on the boat while moored up in a 16th centry harbour. We didn't want this week to end! Its also my fav vista b/c of my cute wife!
Top Street 
Top X-mas Market
Lou - Regensburg, Germany
