When in March 2003 we published the first edition of our free quarterly guide 'Sofia Inside & out' we were overwhelmed with the positive feedback we received from our readers, some friends, others complete strangers. Among the many comments was the suggestion to publish a book. With this the seed was planted. Though it still took a while to germinate and grow. We found that what people enjoyed about our publications was the sensitive insight we gave them on life in Bulgaria, Sofia in particular. This is what we have tried to do with this our first book, 'The insider's guide to Sofia & beyond'. It is not a comprehensive guidebook but it is a guidebook written from our perspective, that of foreigners who have been living in Bulgaria for over ten years. We have covered the topics that we think are interesting to a level we feel is adequate for an initial acquaintance with the country and its culture. When it comes to trips out of town or other recommendations we write from our own personal experience, and so some topics and destinations have not been covered, simply because we cannot write about them first hand. We were surprised to see how much information we had gathered, some previously published in our free guides, other completely new. We hope that this book will not only introduce you to the charms of Bulgaria and its capital Sofia but that it will also be a great souvenir of the time you have spent here.