Sofia sits under a mountain, and that is the first thing to understand about it. Vitosha rises right behind the southern suburbs, a broad, dome-shaped massif topping out at Cherni Vrah, around 2,290 metres, and on a clear morning the snow is visible from the boulevards. People ski there in winter and hike in summer, and the city's residents treat it like a back garden. The capital of Bulgaria is a plain, solid place of about one and a quarter million, with Soviet-era blocks, Ottoman remnants and an unexpected number of small parks.
The layers of history show in the centre. The city's name comes from the church of Saint Sophia, which gave the city its modern name, and the older Roman Serdica is visible in excavations under the metro. The little brick Rotunda of Saint George, from the fourth century, hides inside a courtyard behind government buildings. The golden domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, completed in the early twentieth century to honour the Russian soldiers who died in the war that freed Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1877 and 1878, dominate the skyline. In the suburb of Boyana, a small medieval church holds frescoes that predate the Italian Renaissance and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Riding in and out of Sofia needs patience. The ring road and main arteries are heavy at rush hour, and drivers have their own ideas about lanes. Once you clear the city, the A3 and the older roads south reach the Rila mountains by way of Dupnitsa and Blagoevgrad, a journey of a couple of hours that leads to Rila Monastery in its forested valley. Surfaces are acceptable, though potholes appear after winter, and mountain weather can change quickly. Bulgaria sells vignettes for motorways, so buy one for the bike before using them.
The city has fuel at every turn, plus workshops and shops. For food, try shopska salad with white cheese, banitsa pastries for breakfast, and rakia, the fruit brandy that appears as the generous opener at many meals. Late spring and early autumn are lovely times to ride.