retiredmartin

April 2024. Sofia. Day 1 of 4.

Plenty of graffiti in Sofia, but some of it was art;

with an excellent “Who’s that next to the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa ?” game on Saborna St.

But enough of that; let’s find a church and a pub.

After an ice cream from Sladoledŭ in the City Garden, anyway,

a £2 tub of violet (?) and chocolate enjoyed amongst the tulips.

To be honest Sofia doesn’t immediately feel like a city of 1.2 million, the centre incredibly compact, with the churches, synagogues and mosques all within a five minute walk, with the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky the central point.

All the craft beer bars were central as well, and we started at “BiraBar : Крафт бира, сайдер, Cask Ale“, which tells you all you need to know about the language issues we’d face.

But there’s a Fullers sticker,  

so at least I’ll be able to use “the Pride was drinking well” in my write-up, no ?

Er.

Well, they have had Pride, and ESB on, but today it’s back to Bulgarian cask, which would have been great,

but it tasted like the 31 degrees heat had played havoc with the local Kazan Artizan which in consquence was “drinkable with resentment” as CAMRA would have it. Duncan had wrote “It would get into the Good Beer Guide if it was in Broxburn or Blackburn“, which you need to think about.

Nice Black Sheep glass though, and Mrs RM’s cool Beer Club PINTA was more impressive.

How is it that cask is SO much warmer than keg, and WHY ?

And if you think I was taking it back, you’re wrong, though I confess I was a bit miffed to see the handpump turned round as we left.

But at least it WAS turned round.