Strolling in Sofia

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The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: the city's most photographed building


 It was built between 1904 and 1912....


and can hold up to 7,000 worshippers.


Souvenir shopping with the city's namesake, the St. Sofia church in the background.


The Russian Church of St. Nicholas


Formerly the Royal Palace, now the Ethnographic Museum


The perilous changing of the guards.


The 4th century St. George church in the courtyard of the slightly newer Sheraton Hotel.


St. Ndelya Church: the exterior

St Ndelya Church: the interior


A particularly saucy personification of the city of Sofia.


The Sofia Synagogue


This weekend, after a short flight on Bulgarian Air, home of the narrowest seat pitch imaginable ©, I had a chance to visit Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital city. It is not a place that immediately comes to mind when looking for travel destinations, but since I was already there for work, the weather was mild and I had the afternoon all to myself, I grabbed a map, printed a short walking tour and set off to see what I could find. What I found was a city that upon first sight, can be best described as gray, but upon further exploration shows a harmonic combination of architectural styles, lots of open spaces and a warm and seemingly tolerant people. As I walked around, I saw Orthodox churches brimming with people spilling out from Sunday services, right down the road from an active mosque (which I was permitted to enter, a rarity for a non-Muslim), and two blocks further down, a massive synagogue. I strolled through a tourist flea market, selling all forms of folk art, along with communist and WWII paraphernalia and a farmer’s market, where old woman in head scarves perused fresh vegetables. I watched a comically disorganized changing of the guard at the Presidential headquarters. (The only attendees for the occasion were three Bulgarian tourists, a stray dog and I. None of knew at what point the goose stepping guards planned to stop advancing towards us, so we kept nervously backing up lest we all get kicked in the shins. Just when we thought they were moving on, they would turn around and again, we would find ourselves dodging men in funny red coats.) I visited Sofia’s oldest church, St. George which is now completely engulfed by the Sheraton Hotel and the small, but impressive Archaeological Museum with relics dating all the way back to prehistoric man. I saw all kinds of things, but mainly, I just enjoyed the act of taking a solitary stroll through a new and fascinating landscape.

Comments

  1. RamblingRolandApril 4, 2008 at 6:17 AM

    Some very cool shots in this blog. The Nevsky Cathedral looks pretty awesome. What type of architecture would it be? Doesn't look gothic, nor orthodox, but has definite middle easten flair. Love the picture of the goose stepping guards Dorothy :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. bertiApril 5, 2008 at 11:52 AM

    The brochures describe the architecture as neo-Byzantine. I personally would describe it as Russian-y. Happy to hear you liked the photos. I had fun taking them.

    ReplyDelete

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