Sofia

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We had a 3 hour border stop in order to get into the country. A very long boring 3 hour stop as we're not allowed to watch a movie, listen to music or even look like we are having fun. If we laugh at something, the guards might think we are laughing at them and decide not to let us in. They've also been known to take cameras and ipod type things just because they can so we had to hide everything of value. Finally allowed in - drove some more - set up camp.

After a long drive from the day before we all indulged in a few drinks last night... some more than others - so Niki was a little hungover for Sofia, but luckily it wasn't one of the fast paced visits.
There wasn't a lot of tourist attractions to see in Sofia but it was a beautiful city all the same. We started the morning from our hotel (yes another hotel - pure luxury - but not the best breakfast!) and went on a walking tour with Nona (the guide). Sofia has quite a history to it and has been through some tough times which we had explained to us on the tour.

This was the first of our ex-communist stops and you could really see the different style in the buildings. We went from what we consider relatively normal to big square box like buildings. The theme behind communism is that everyone is equal and therefore everyone has the same things. So they made all the buildings the same size and shape and no one could say his/her neighbour had more than they did, which also takes a lot of 'character' away from a place I think. Except for the really rich, they big posh houses and stayed really rich and usually ran the country!

We saw the statue of St Sofia and an old round Roman church of St George, which is the only building from the 4th century that has not been destroyed. We saw the guards in front of the presidential palace which changed over while we were there. Sofia is joining the EU and has a countdown clock - they only have 247 days to go. As we walked down the street four people walked past us and one of them was Martina Hingis, apparently she's Bulgarian. We also went into the Alexander Nevski cathedral which is suppose to be the largest cathedral in the Balkans. Was quite beautiful inside.

The tour finished at the front of the cathedral where there was a bus load of young boys preparing for a ceremony/parade. The had lots of cow bells attached to them so that when they jumped they'd make sooooo much noise. We were fascinated but only had the chance to see them warming up for the real thing. We also met 3 lovely ladies who noticed we were tourists (they must have been for the parade too) and when Claire asked them if we could take a photo of them they got so excited, dropped their walking sticks, took off their jackets, smoothed their hair, and stood with the biggest grins I've seen to have their photos taken. So sweet! Nona recommended a cheap restaurant for lunch, so we wandered over after walking through some local market stalls (Niki bought a ring) and had a huge lunch for cheap - just what the doctor ordered!

There wasn't much else for us to do, so we wandered around the shops for a few hours and had a look around the city. It was fascinating to see the contrasts in this city. We walked past some expensive shops, then some cheap shops, saw cars, then saw donkey and carts! All functional! We wandered back to the hotel for a catch up on emails, food, and an early night.

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Photos

Boys with Bells
They jump around to make the noise.

Martina Hingis
Well - her back.... I was a bit late getting my camera out!

3 smiling ladies
On their way to church

At lunch
Looking a bit rough around the edges!

Just another working day
We saw this in the main shopping mall of Sofia, it seemed to be just a part of everyday life for the locals.