The weather gods have blessed us on our last three days

We couldn't have asked for better weather for our last three days here in Sofia. Temperatues reached the high teens and overnight temperatures were warmer than the they have been since Alexandroupolis. The rain even stayed away. I was able to where my shorts on Friday eventhough I was probably the one person in the city doing so.

We spent Thursday doing most of our sightseeing. Because Sofia is so small, almost all of the major attractions were very central. We really lucked out this time, because our hotel was close to the tourist attractions and shopping. We may have lost out on the souvenier shopping in Istanbul, but we had a better shopping experience for clothes here in Sofia (we changed our trip from Istanbul to Sofia because of the prevailing winds in Western Turkey).

I couldn't believe the difference in the number of tourists between Sofia and Instanbul. There were some attractions where we were the only tourists. They were literally turning on the lights for us! The churches here are very dark with very little artificial lighting. The highlight for me had to have been the National Museum of Military History because of all of the Soviet era weaponary. They had a SCUD and ballistic missle complete with launchers. Their military museum was also extensive and well done.

On Saturday, we shopped for clothes. It's amazing how a city roughly the size of Edmonton and a per capita income much less than Edmonton can have so many more clothing stores both at the high and low end.

Some of the hotels I looked at in Bulgaria had quite the wild colour combinations. It was not unique to see purple bathrooms with baby blue rooms. Some of the fashion statements the women were making were equally as bizzare.

There was one incident that was quite funny. Some of the streets only allow trams on them. Like Greece, dogs roam the streets of here freely. On a couple of occassions I saw dogs chasing cars that were not suppose to be on the tram line. It was like they were there to enforce the law. In one incident, there was actually a stand-off with a police car! The police car eventually won. Everybody had a good chuckle though.

I enjoyed my stay in Sofia. It is small and compact with a new subway. There weren't many tourists and I could still see remants all over the place of the communist era. We also had four very nice dinners, which never hurt for a favourable review.

Outside of the bad weather we had in week two, I enjoyed the trip. Cycling for the most part was plesant with quiet roads and nice shoulders (exception was Bulgaria). With no ride over 105km, Shauna's knee appreciated the break. The later sunrises and colder weather also worked in her favour, as we usually got up for riding days between 6:00 and 6:45 compared to the 4:00 to 4:30 in the tropics.

*There is now a map of our trip in my first blog.

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Videos from "The weather gods have blessed us on our last three days":

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Part of trip: Tour 2009 - The Empire Tour - SE Europe

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