We landed at the small airport in Sofia, and were met at the baggage claim by Ludmil, the owner of Casa Ferrari. Ludmil speaks excellent English, and made our 2 day stay there very enjoyable and educational. The B&B is located downtown, about ½ block off of a main street. The 3 units are located on the first floor of a 4-5 story building where the other occupants share the common backyard area. The units (at least the one we stayed in) was extremely quiet, with the one large window facing into the large yard. When you first enter CF, you find yourself in a common living area where breakfast tables are, some lounge chairs, a fireplace, some books, and a table with a netted computer for anyone’s use. There is a hallway leading to a small kitchen which it at your disposal with refrigerator space. Ludmil and his partner (who lives in Italy), have decorated CF with antique Italian furniture. As we recall, the furniture belonged to his partner’s grandfather, or great grandfather, a Ferrari but not of the automobile family. They decided to use it to open a B&B, about 5 years ago. The decorations and paintings complement that atmosphere. The room we had included a large bed (2 twins beds, sort of attached to each other, making it very comfortable); a table, a couple of comfy chairs, and a bathroom. The decorations are modest, and the room was very clean. Breakfast was served in the common area, with more than enough of the breads, jams, eggs, and one morning Ludmil served a traditional Bulgarian type of pastry which was very tasty.

CF is located about 3 blocks from the main walking street in downtown Sofia, which is filled with outdoor cafes, restaurants, music, and at one end museums, churches, synagogues, and a mosque. When we were there the most surprising site was the monstrous tunnel drill that is being used to expand the subway system; and is sitting outside at the end of the main walking street. The nearness of CF to this main area made it easy for us to get around for tours and restaurants. We took one of the 3 hour free walking tours of Sofia offered by the city, and must admit is was well worth the effort despite it taking a bit over 4 hours; but is was free and the tour docent truly did not want any tips and instead offered us chocolates.

Ludmil is highly knowledgeable about the history of Bulgaria, and has taken classes to keep up with events and politics. From him we learned all, and perhaps a bit more, about the history of Bulgaria that we would ever need to know. Ludmil also offers (for fixed costs) short excursions outside of Sofia, and our 2nd day there he took us in his car to Rila Monastery, a UNESCO world heritage site about 50 miles outside the city. He drove us there, pointed out interesting spots in the country side on the way there, waited for us outside the monastery while we toured for about 2 hours, and then we all went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant serving fresh trout out of their own small trout farm. The joy of riding to Rila monastery was seeing the beautiful mountains and seeing carts pulled by horses and donkeys as part of the normal agriculture life. Nowhere else we saw them. The fruits and vegetable are simply delicious in Bulgaria, grown organically in the pure traditional way. Overall, we had an surprisingly good time in Sofia, enjoyed our stay at Casa Ferrari, found Ludmil to be an interesting, friendly, and knowledgeable B&B manager, and would consider returning someday. We highly recommend visiting Rila Monastery.