Post 50. Sofia, Bulgaria. Part 2.

On our second day in Sofia, we awoke to some light rain and overcast skies. The weather forecast for the day was not good. Luckily we had an inside activity planned and had a booking for The Red Flat at midday. This is a very different type of museum, it is an actual communist era flat, frozen in time in 1983. 

Before then however, we needed to eat. 718 Breakfast and Brunch came highly recommended and it was very good indeed. I decided on a healthy option of a smoothie bowl, with raspberries, cranberries, bananas, granola, peanut butter, coconut shavings and orange segments. 

Tricia opted for a smoked salmon bagel. We shared a cardamon bun afterwards. The coffee was great. 

We then headed to The Red Flat, just around the corner. It immerses you in the everyday life of a fictitious Bulgarian family during the 1980s communist era. 

Rather than a traditional museum, it’s an interactive apartment experience that recreates the domestic world of the fictional Petrovi family—complete with authentic furnishings, household items, and cultural artifacts from the period.

There are four fully furnished rooms you can  explore, each offering a glimpse into life under socialism. As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s, everything seemed kinda familiar.

In the dining room there was a rotary phone, a 1983 phone directory, copies of the satirical newspaper Sturshel (The Hornet) and  children storybooks. 

In the living room, there was a 1980s suite of furniture, a 'good cupboard' (like the Christmas  press in the Derry Girls), a big gramaphone radio and a small Bulgarian made colour tv, showing programmes from the time.

In the kitchen are what were high-end electrical appliances from the eighties, ration cards and food-related memorabilia. 

In the child's bedroom, there were toys, schoolbooks, a Balkan Bicycle (in red of course), posters from the 1980s and a wardrobe of full of 1980s clothes which you can try on. 

There was also a record player, continually playing hits from the eighties. Local Bulgarian musicians would record cover versions of songs by popular western groups and pass them off as their owh. No one knew any better as western records were unavailable except on the black market. 

This experience is very well done and brings you right back to what everyday life would have been like at the height of Bulgaria’s socialist past. This was a very clever, original, and interactive way to present the day-to-day living conditions of the communist era. 

Around the corner from The Red Flat, we walked past Moma, a restaurant that was widely recommended. We looked at the menu available via QR code and went in and booked a table for dinner. Having been caught out the night before with a full house in the restaurantwe wanted, we weren't going to let that happen again. 

Back on Vitosha Boulevard, Tricia hit the shops while I found myself a no-smoking section in one of the bar/restaurants and ordered a craft beer looking on to the street. 

When she returned, we were a little bit peckish, and as there was a food menu on the table, we found ourselves flicking through it.  I chose a chicken and rice dish and Tricia ordered three Bulgarian dips. There was a seasoning / flavouring that we could taste on everything that we didn’t recognise and we asked the young server. Unfortunately she wasn't any help. 

Later on, at dinner in Moma, there was the same flavour on both our starters. This time, the server knew exactly what we were referring to and told us it was Sharena Sol, a coloured salt and spice mix used extensively in Bulgarian cuisine. Some mixes contain another herb known as Samardala.

There are different mixes available, but it usually contains savory, paprika, wild garlic, fenugreek, thyme and salt. We put it on the shopping list for the next day!

Above are the starters from Moma, I ate mushrooms and potatoes in filo pastry, while Tricia had lamb and cheese in filo pastry with Bulgarian yoghurt. The main courses were so good I forgot to take a picture - Bulgarian vegetable stew for me and fried chicken in tomato for Tricia.