Blogs from Sofia City , Bulgaria, Europe - page 19

Geo: 42.6976, 23.3222Up bright and early this morning. Ate another crappy breakfast. Then we hit the road for Bulgaria. It took three hours to get through the border. We had our picnic lunch in no-mans land while waiting for them to let us through. The drive was okay, the cook knew how to keep us happy and frequently supplied us with snacks. In the afternoon we watched a movie and in between had plenty of music to listen to. Was also a good chance to have naps.In the evening we checked into our hotel. My room-mate is Krista and our room was on the 14th floor, we had a great view of the city, but it did take about 10 minutes for hot water. Don't know what to expect from Bulgaria, don't know much about this ... read more

10th November Arrived into Sofia at 6am - vowed (yet again) that we would never do another overnight bus journey! Found a good hostel for the next 24hrs and after catching up on some sleep went out to explore the city. Sofia is an undiscovered capital on the edge of Europe with a lot to offer the adventurous tourist. We stumbled across the remains of a Roman village and 4th century church hidden within the grounds of the Presidential Buildings. Visited a number of Bulgarian Orthodox churches all with beautiful frescoes and chandeliers. Identified the old Communist Party Headquarters by the Social Realist architechture we had seen so much of in Warsaw. There were many beautiful buildings and interesting streets to explore. A friendly lady who spoke English and saw that we looked lost put us ... read more

The train from Belgrade to Sophia did appear as scheduled this time, and after the rough night before we paid the $10 upgrade to sleeper. It was well worth doing. I had an almost uninterupted nights sleep, and felt good when I arrived in Sophia. First impressions of Bulgaria. 1 - Friendly people - for the most part, a guy helped us get the sleeper carriage, a Bulgarian. 2 - Great coffee - again a real cafe society. 3 - Great Ice Cream - the best Sara has ever eaten in her life :) 4 - Magnificent churches - hope the photos show this well. 5 - Watch out for pickpockets! - more later.   On arrival in Sophia we got talking with Hyun from South Korea on his way to Istanbul with 10 hours in ... read more

I had not associated Sofia with the Romans. But I learned that the Roman city of Serdica formed the origins of Sofia. The Church of St. George, built in the 4th Century as a Roman basilica, is a vivd reminder of the Roman origins of Sofia. It's been a Roman public building, a Christian church, a mosque during the Ottoman period, and an active church into the present day. Other Roman ruins of Serdica were scattered about in the courtyard. A monument that did not last nearly as long was the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum. This was the resting place of Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949), the first Communist leader of Bulgaria. An honor guard in dress uniform was stationed at the mausoleum when we saw it. (It was demolished in 1999 and Dimitov interred elsewhere.) One thing about ... read more