We did not expect it to take four hours to travel to Tryavna from Sofia, but that’s what Sunday drives are all about – spending time with friends, stopping off at curious locations along the route and eventually arriving at a new destination.

We took the northern route on the way there, and the southern on the way back, the return itinerary going through Shipka Pass and the Valley of the Roses.

Truth is, all that we knew about the city beforehand was that it existed, and that it was home to the lauded literary figures – and father and son – Petko and Pencho Slaveikov. And that there was a Belgian-Bulgarian microbrewery in town. It was that latter that drove us to make the trip.

So when we arrived, that it was such a charming place – the old town, mind you; we did not make it elsewhere – was a delightful surprise. A long, meandering street of restored historic buildings, all done out in the Bulgarian Revival style, quiet on a sultry Sunday afternoon, with store fronts offering handcrafted wares, signs indicating house-museums, a few restaurants and small cafes, a river and stone bridge, and trees here and there, though the grapevines on arbours and covering the sides of the buildings often offered more shade.

While the goal had not been shopping, we were tempted by the shop that sold good-quality traditional Bulgarian costume; and in another store, with an eclectic mix of wooden furniture, hand-knit clothing, and clocks, I bought a darling moppet hat for eight leva. It was made by one of the ladies running the shop, and is wool and warm, ideal for winter (or, as it later turned, hat-themed birthday parties).

There were also some stores selling jewellery, leather goods, copper wares, local sweets and such. The whole lacked cheap commercialism, and, as such, was much preferable to Veliko Turnovo.

After lunch at Starata Loza, a traditional restaurant in a vine-covered building, we headed to the Daskalova Kushta, a house on which construction started in 1804 and was finished in 1808. Master woodworkers crafted the building, giving it ornately carved ceilings and details. It is now an ethnographic museum.

In addition, freedom fighters Vassil Levski and Angel Kunchev helped the local Tsanyu Zahariev form a revolutionary committee in the house. When we visited, the first Tryavna woodworking biennial had just opened in the grassy yard, allowing us to see that modern masters had no less skill than their predecessors.

Tryavna, which is about 22km east of Gabrovo, also houses the second public school to be founded in Bulgaria, where Petko Slaveikov taught and is now a museum, a clock tower from 1814, and a slate-roofed Church of Sveti Arhangel Mihail (Saint Archangel Michael), whose origins date to the reign of Tsar Kaloyan (1196-1207). It was reconstructed in 1819 after bandits burned it down in 1798. It has a notable wood-carved iconostasis.

We did make it to the Belgian brewery, directly across from Sveti Arhangel Mihail. But more about that another time, save to note that it was worth the drive for the beer alone.

The nicest thing was, at the end, strolling, being in the clean mountain air, nestled in Stara Planina, and observing life outside the big city, where things are slower, colours are sharper and a four-hour drive accompanied by Simon & Garfunkel can only be considered a plus.