Sofia! A pretty name, which also means 'knowledge'

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You will notice that from here on, my attitude kinda changes. After Istanbul I am more concerned about taking it slow than trying to see as many sights as possible. The reason for this is fatigue - I had no idea how tiring such a regimented tour routine would be. So from here on I'm a bit more lazy, and am taking in the atmosphere of the cities rather than seeing everything there is to see.

Serdika, as the Romans called it

Sofia was a nice city, but after Istanbul I thought it was very quiet. We did a walking tour and saw some of the more notable buildings, learning a bit about the history of the city and Bulgaria as a whole.

I liked:

• Cathedral of Alexander Nevski - this is the church that all others will be judged by to me. The choir was singing, a mass was taking place, it was just beautiful. I didn't want to leave.
  
• The changing of the guard at the President's office - interesting to compare it to Athens
  
• Watching people queue up for spring water, people drink it for its medicinal properties.
  
  Porch detail
  As I have come to expect, their architecture is very highly decorated and beautiful
  We were told not to drink the water in Romania, but I think volcanic spring water is ok.
  

Ximena and I saw a couple of museums, and some people had told us about a football game that was on later, so we grabbed a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the Academic Staduim. After he took us to the wrong stadium TWICE, we got mad and went to a bar for a few 'calm down' shots. The Screaming Orgasm was particularly good.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we had to spend the remainder of our local currency (an excuse to buy wine and sweets), because the next day we were off to...

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