When visiting a new city, I’m always on the lookout for things I haven’t seen anywhere else or that catch my attention because they are unexpected. Sofia provided lots of opportunities!
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The sky is a stunning blue although the temperatures have dropped a little. We go directly to the imposing church of St Nedelya, just across from the statue of Sofia and the little church of St Petka, with the School of Theology in the background. As we approach it, we see a lot of activity under white tents. It turns out to be a book fair. We notice there are very few book stores but lots of book markets.
St Nedelya, or Holy Sunday, is a mediaeval Eastern Orthodox Church that has been destroyed and reconstructed many times throughout the ages. It was razed in an assault in 1925 that claimed over 150 victims. The tzar, Boris III, who should have been the main victim, escaped because he turned up late, a typical Bulgarian trait so I am told later by a Bulgarian. It was restored between 1927 and its inauguration in 1933. What a chequered existence!
If you look straight ahead as you come out the church, you will see Vitosha mountain in the distance. Vitosha Boulevard is Sofia’s most expensive shopping street. The population is dressed very differently and there are lots of French and other foreign stores but they are hardly big names: Adidas, Promod, Le Coq Sportif, etc.
What we like are all the sidewalk cafés with the mountain as a backdrop, though they are twice the price of the others we’ve been to, but still much cheaper than Paris. We pay 4 lev for 2 espressos at Vitosha Street Café. We take a look at the local paper and I see a report on yesterday’s festivities but unfortunately I can’t read it.
We then head in the direction of Eagles’ Bridge, wandering through a much more upmarket area than our own neighbourhood. Ultra-modern buildings juxtapose renovated 19th century mansions.
Yet another church, Sveti Sedmochislenitsi, and another market appear as we get closer to the university where we intend to find a sunny bench in a nearby park to have lunch (it’s an intermittent fast day for us) because the weather has become surprisingly chilly.
We’ve been back to the Ladies’ market to buy the day’s vegetables – 4 tomatoes, 1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 capsicum, 1 cucumber and a couple of handfuls of green beans, all for an amazing 2 lev. White and black grapes are 1.20 lev a kilo. That’s about 60 euro cents.
Jean Michel stops to admire the external wiring on some of the houses.
Not nearly as good as the ivy-covered cables I saw last night on our way to dinner though!
We sit next to the Soviet Army monument and are surprised to see several army vehicles on one side and canons on the other. I learn afterwards that the monument is used as a place of artistic expression e.g. in 2011, it was painted overnight by unknown artists who dressed the soldiers as American comic heros such as Superman, Joker, Santa Claus and Wonder Woman with the caption (in Bulgarian) Abreast of the Times.
After lunch we go to Eagles’ Bridge (Orlov Most), spanning another tiny sliver of water – the Perlovska River. The bridge was built in 1891 by the same Czech architect as Lions’ Bridge. The four bronze eagles symbolise the citizens of Sofia returning from exile and being welcomed by their families. The bridge itself stands at an important crossroads in Sofia.
Our route then takes us past Nevski Cathedral which is completely cordoned off by police. Good thing we visited it yesterday. We have no idea what’s going on of course. Then we see a cavalcade of motorbikes approaching from the other direction. They don’t even take the street that’s been blocked off. Ah, if only we could communicate.
We reach the National Art Gallery, which also contains the Ethnographic museum that I’m very keen to visit. The lady at the ticket office asks if we’re seniors and gives us cheap tickets (3 lev each). This is the first time I’ve been given a reduction for being a senior. Not sure how I feel …
I’m disappointed to discover the Ethnographic Museum is closed for renovation but some of the rooms, particularly the ballroom, are well worth the visit.
I also enjoy some of the more traditional 19th and 20th century Bulgarian artists, especially Vladimir Rilski, Vassil Stoilov and Zlatyu Boyadzhiev with their wonderful depiction of Hungarian rural life.
We walk back to our home exchange apartment and don’t seem to notice the poverty as much. I guess we’re getting used to it! Sofia seems to be one of those places that grows on you.
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We wake up very late and I am relieved that my toe is no longer swollen and painful. I can now move it which is reassuring. The Nurofen, the three ice-cold foot baths and not going out for dinner and walking on it again yesterday seem to have worked. Alexander Nevski Cathedral and Saint Sofia are on the programme today.
The first thing we do is to go back to the Baths to find the warm mineral water springs where the locals apparently form long queues. There are no queues today but quite a lot of people are filling up water bottles of all shapes and sizes. We test the temperature and it does indeed seem to be 37°C. Maybe I should get some for my toe!
Just next to the springs is a honey market. Yes, just honey – about 25 to 30 stalls. It turns out that honey is very popular in Bulgaria and this is honey week.
This time, we walk behind the former Tsar’s palace, now the National Art Gallery, towards Alexander Nevski’s Cathedral. The park behind the gallery has a lot of outdoor sculptures, some very modern.
The Viennese-style houses lining the street are in much better repair than the ones in our neighbourhood.
As we near the Cathedral, which is just next to the church of Saint Sofia, we see that something is going on and we can’t access the church. There are rows of soldiers in different uniforms and people are crowding towards a podium. Soon, someone starts speaking over the PA system and an official-looking man starts walking past the soldiers. I am later informed by an American tourist who’s part of a group that it’s the feast day of Saint Sofia and the man is the Mayor but it turns out this is incorrect because the current mayor is a woman: Yordanka Fundakova.
We head off down the road behind Saint Sofia to Alexander Nevski Cathedral. Built between 1882 and 1912 in the neo-Byzantine style typical of 19th century Russian churches, it is quite spectacular with its green and gold domes. Seventy-six metres long and 53 metres wide, it is said to up between 5,000 and 7,000 people.
It takes a while for our eyes to adjust to the light inside. We can finally see the beautiful murals. The ones closest to the cupola are being renovated and the colours are quite striking. Photographs of the inside are not allowed unfortunately so I can’t show you. There are three altars and people are standing in line with a candle in their hands to touch the icons.
After leaving the cathedral, we walk towards the Opera house on the corner of Rakovski and Vrabcha Streets, a perfect example of Stalinian architecture with its enormous columns and friezes built in 1950.
We find a restaurant called AHTPE (well, in Cyrillic anyway) close by, with a terrace next to a construction lot. Fortunately the pneumatic drill stops while we’re eating. A much better choice than yesterday with fresh grilled trout and salad with an 18 cl bottle of wine each for 30 leva. As an added bonus, while we’re eating, the chorus in the Opera House next door is practising.
By the time we have finished, the festivities at Saint Sofia are over and we’re able to visit. The simple red brick church is the oldest Eastern Orthodox church in the capital and dates back to the 5th and 6th centuries. During Ottoman rule, it was turned into a mosque but after the minaret was toppled in 1818 during an earthquake and the Imam’s two sons were killed in a second earthquake 40 years later, it was abandoned and restored as a church after liberation.
The crypt below is far more interesting and a real labyrinth, explained by the fact that the current church is the fifth to be built over the ancient necropolis of the Roman town of Serdica. There are several murals and mosaics. We go through the whole crypt twice because Jean Michel says we’ve missed some mosaics but we still can’t find them.
When we come out, we walk through yet another market, this time a local flea market.
We go home via the Theatre and what should I see near the fountains by another of Susan’s Daleks which is, in fact, a tiered planter with little white flowers up the sides!
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The first thing I do when I wake up is to slip on the tiled threshold of the bathroom and seriously bruise and sprain my big toe as I grip the edge of the tiles with it in a fortunately successful attempt not to fall over completely. How stupid can you get! We set out nevertheless on tour n°2 of the 2008 Insiders’ Guide to Sofia published by the Tourist Office and provided by our lovely home exchange hosts whom we met briefly in Paris.
It’s unexpectedly overcast and cool. The poverty is even more obvious on the main street. We are the only tourists around. I stop to take a photo of a bakery and the young man coming out offers to pose but I’m not quick enough. The owner quickly disappears inside.
We come to the famous Lion Bridge, with its four lions symbolising Bulgaria, and are surprised at the meagre stream below, Vladarska Reka.
After taking a sharp turn left, we wander through the back streets to Zhenski Pazar, the Ladies’ Market, Sofia’s biggest and cheapest market, where the women used to sell any extra fruit and vegetables of their own production during the Communist era. Today, it is a normal market selling mainly local produce, all at the same price. We buy some grapes at 1.20 leva a kilo (about 60 Euro cents).
The church of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius comes unexpectedly into view. It was built at the turn of the 20th century in honour of the two Greek brothers and monks who created the glagolithic alphabet later reworked by Saint Clement of Ohrid to form the Cyrillic alphabet with its 30 letters used in Bulgarian that I really need to learn ASAP.
We take Ekzarch Josif Street, past the synagogue we saw yesterday, then onto Maria Luisa Boulevard with its restored market or Halite, not nearly as interesting as the one we’ve just been to. We pass the mosque and central baths from yesterday.
I look up and see a large winged statue. across from TZUM which contains a department store and the Sheraton Hotel. The 24-metre high bronze and copper sculpture erected in 2001, weighs four tons. Sofia holds the symbols of fame and wisdom in her hands and wears the crown of Tjuhe, the goddess of fate.
“Are there any old buildings left in Sofia”, I ask. “We’re just coming to one”, replies Jean Michel. We use the underpass to go to the other side and come to the tiny church of Sveta Petka built in the 14th century. It’s hardly visible from the street because under Turkish rule, churches were only allowed if they didn’t rise higher than ground level.
Just round the other side of the Sheraton, we come upon the St George Rotunda, set among the excavations of ancient Roman ruins. It was built in the 4th century and consecrated a century later. Three layers of 10th century frescoes are still visible but like churches everywhere in Bulgaria, photographs are not allowed inside. However, you can see some on the church’s official website.
We have a cappuccino in a tiny little café opposite, aptly called the Rotunda, that has no fewer than four Orthodox priests. There seem to be very few bars and cafes that are not Italian or American and I’m delighted to discover this one. We learn from the Routard that the owner is French-speaking … My toe is beginning to get very painful so it’s a welcome break.
Just through a passageway on the opposite end of the square under the Presidential Palace, we come upon the changing of the guards, which takes place every hour. It is exactly midday so we’re very happy with our accidental timing.
A peaceful demonstration of some kind is taking place at the same time. We can’t, of course, find out what it’s all about. That brought us to the end of Tour n°2. Stay tuned for n° 3.
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When we were first offered a home exchange in Bulgaria, we said, “Why not?” But as the time got closer and I had time to take a closer look at what was awaiting us, I began to have doubts particularly after visiting Slovakia and Hungary during the summer. My first impressions of Sofia confirmed my reticence. The poverty and standard of living are devastating. The newly restored religious buildings seem to accentuate them even further. These photos were taken during our first walk around the neighbourhood where we are staying in a comfortable recently decorated flat.
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