Well, we arrived in Sofia after being spoilt by the sites and location of Veliko Turnovo, Varna, Nessebar and Plodiv. Beaches, ruins, monasteries, natural wonders, great food. Sofia had a lot to live up to. I am pleased to say it did deliver. The sites were fabulous. We stayed a little outside of town, near a very large metro and caught the clean and efficient metro train into town. Very cheap and easy to do. I must say, Bulgarians are very friendly and it has fast become a favourite country so far. We got of at the university stop and according to the GPS it was a 6 minute walk to the next metro stop. But within that space lay most of the wonderful sites, buildings and places of interest. Statues were the order of the day and there were plenty of huge...and I mean huge ones. The Alexander Nevesky Cathedral was a favourite stop and was magnificent. Walked all around it marvelling at its size and grandeur....and the gold. Entered. Every conceivable space was covered with amazing paintings and frescos...though it was quite dark inside. Fortunately there were not a lot of tour buses..yet..so wasn't too busy. We could have looked at this place for ages and I must confess I did take photos of almost every conceivable angle...thank god for digital cameras. Continued our walk and found my second favourite building...the Russian Church. We stopped for morning tea here in the park, looking at the colour of the buildings,very vibrant. We continued past the National Theatre Building...gorgeous and located in a popular park. We arrived at the parliament and in behind were awed by the St George (Sveti Georgi) Rotunda Church which is the oldest architectural monument in Sofia. It is dated back to the 4th century. A christening was happening, so we could only admire the history from the doorway as we did not want to intrude on the family moment. Whilst on our walk we came across a very old, tiny church and well preserved Roman ruins. It appears that when the underground metro was being built, these ruins were discovered and thankfully protected. Underground between the parliament building and the metro station were other ruins and an old roman street, which were protected with large domes so you could look done from street level. You could also go in an have a closer look. Very cool. Headed to the Palace of Culture, more fountains. Unlike Romania where the flint and did not smell nice, all the Bulgarian ones had a clear smell of chlorine. Overall, Sofia was great. Clean, white buildings, quiet and friendly people.
Having completed a full day we will head out to surrounding areas for a look as well.
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