The way this kind of entry works is that the train stops at the border, gets clearance, then enters the country. Then it stops again and the border control guys get on the train and collect all the passports. Sometimes they ask you questions, something they don't. If they ask questions, you usually get asked where you are coming from, where you are going, and where you plan to stay while in the country. Sometimes they demand an address of a hotel or a friend in the country.
This crossing went pretty smoothly. They didn't really ask anything, and after sitting there for about an hour or so, they came back on the train and handed our passports back with entry stamps.
Things got a little sketchier when the train arrived at Sofia. It was late at night, around 23:00 or so when we finally pulled in, an hour or two late. My Project Fi service was working, and I had already booked a hotel and notified them I'd be arriving late in the evening.
The point where things got sketchy was disembarking at the train station. This was the final stop for the train, and everyone got off. I was one of the last people off, toward the end. I was carrying my two backpacks. One is a large 70L backpack with all my clothes, sailing gear, etc. The other is a smaller backpack with laptop and electronics.
As I exited the train station, some guys walked up to me and told me I needed to go with them. They didn't identify themselves as police or anything, so of course I was immediately on guard. I refused, at which point they said they were police. It was dark out, and we were just outside the train station. They didn't show badges or anything like that, and I couldn't really make out their clothing very well. They insisted that we go "over there" pointing to an alley so they could check my bags. Most of the other passengers had already left the station at this point, so I was getting a little nervous. I said I'd go back into the station with them, but I was not going "over there". They were getting agitated, and tensions were rising a bit, but they eventually agreed to go back into the station. When we got into the station, I could see they were wearing uniforms, and I was more comfortable with them probably being real police.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean much, as there are corrupt police everywhere. They were still irritated with me for refusing to go with them, but they didn't force the issue, and started searching my bags on a bench in the main station. I was keeping a hawk eye on the guy searching because I was pretty paranoid of having something planted on me, as that is a scam that happens. The last thing I wanted was to have them plant a bag of drugs or something then haul me off to jail or demand a bribe.
I cooperated and was polite the entire time during the search. At this point I figured it was 90%+ that they were legit cops, and was only worried about them planting something. They were still clearly irritated with me for demanding the search happen in the well-lit train station, and they went through every single nook and cranny in my laptop backpack first. They were methodical but professional, and when they came across my small stash of hidden USD, they handed it to me to hold and didn't hassle me about it.
When they finished with the small backpack, they turned to the larger one and asked me to open it. At this point I think they realized I didn't have any contraband, but just felt like giving me a hard time due to my insistence that this happen in the train station. I opened the bag and was very helpful with the search, pointing out all the pockets, etc. They decided to skip the rest of the search a few minutes in, and just told me to close up the bag and that I was free to go.
Not sure what would have happened if I had went with them "over there". Even though they ended up seeming legit, I'm glad I held my ground and demanded the search happen in the train station.
Once I got to my hotel (which I phoned during the search and loudly told that I'd be late arriving due to being searched at the station, so the cops would know someone knew where I was and what was happening), I researched things a bit. Turns out that train station is usually crawling with cops, because it's a pretty big entry point for drugs into Sofia and Bulgaria as a whole. That made me feel a lot better, and I understand why they'd profile a single male traveler with a large backpack.
Still glad I didn't go "over there", though.
Kept with eating the local specialties, here's a shopska salad:
which is also known as a Bulgarian salad. Very tasty. Most of the food was similar to what I had already seen in Romania.
Sofia had a lot of these kind of storefronts:
they are called
klek (knee) shops, because you have to kneel down or squat to interact with the owner. They exist due to rental prices of store space being super high when private businesses were first allowed. Most of them are like tiny 7-11s, but some specialize in fruit or other things.
I liked Sofia a lot. Part of that was because there was street art everywhere. All of the electrical utility boxes were covered with art:
there were tons of little markets full of books and art:
and even random blocks of concrete were used as canvas:
Everything was cheap, especially the food. The people were friendly. There were lots of little gardens everywhere. I don't know how to describe it, other than to say it was an extremely welcoming city. I didn't really want to leave. They also had this lemonade drink with ginger in it and some kind of berries that was pretty popular. I put away quite a few glasses of that stuff.