Meander in Sofia, Bulgaria

Istanbul to Sofia, Bulgaria

Istanbul is a city of amazing history and a week probably wasn’t long enough to explore this city fully. However, there is always next time and yes we will be back. We left our hotel early as the drive to Sofia was planned to take around six hours. You never know what’s going to pop up and hit you smack bang in the face and it has happened. So as always be prepared.

We had another border crossing (Turkey/Bulgaria) and with the pandemic still in focus, we needed to ensure we covered all possibilities. Visa, Covid testing, registration papers, passports to name a few. When we hit the Bulgarian border we found we had covered all scenarios and passed through with ease. EXCEPT tolls.

A word of warning while driving in Bulgaria is to ensure you buy an e-toll motorway pass during your stay. We did as soon as we stopped at the first service station., and bought a weekly pass for nine euros. However, still got fined twice. The day we left we got stopped on the road and even when we produced our toll pass they still fined us 35 euros.

An hour later when we arrived at the border and they hit us again for another 35 euros. You just can’t argue with them because if you don’t pay then you don’t leave the country. Bulgaria is known to be a little corrupt so this could explain this experience but they brought out their computers and insisted on pointing at things on the screen. We were not too upset as we always put it down as a gift to the country visited.

The good news is that there are duty-free shops at the border and I was able to buy a couple of bottles of Tullamore Dew at a great price.

The day we drove into Sofia it was grey and wet. We were a little surprised to see quite a lot of modern buildings that is until we reached the older parts of the city. We choose to stay in an apartment this time and found one only a ten fifteen-minute walk from the center of the city.

The cost for the week was 250 Euros, not bad eh! We did it through AirBNB. The apartment was fully renovated and very comfortable and with a car park space.

Sofia. A Little Bit of History.

I don’t want to go too far back as I don’t want you to fall asleep, including me as I have to read up on it but I do love the history stuff. So cutting a long story short the first inhabitants settled here in the fifth-sixth centuries BC, that’s some two thousand seven hundred years ago, mind-boggling eh!

And did you know what the greatest attraction was? the hot water springs and they’re still active today. Now let’s cut through all the neolithic stuff and move forward. The Romans made a big impact on the city during the first to fifth centuries BC which I have mentioned below.

Roman Ruins

The first day we walked to the city and there, right in the center, to our surprise, was a beautifully preserved archeological site. The ancient Roman city of Ulpia Serdica was built on this site now Sofia. It was discovered in 2004 during excavations to extend the metropole. Excavations on the site commenced in 2004 thou 2006. This site dates back to the second and third centuries AD that’s just about nineteen hundred years ago.

The site includes the amphitheater of Serdica (amazing that it rests below a hotel) and was built around the third or fourth centuries AD. It is said that this amphitheater was the biggest in the eastern part of the roman empire and lay outside the city walls. It hosted fights between gladiators and wild animals (remember Russell Crow) which were advertised at the entrance to the city. We spent quite a few hours roaming this site as did our ancestors more than eighteen hundred years ago.

The Romans were there for some time albeit with the name changing to the Byzantine also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium. It wasn’t until 1453 that the Romans were kicked out by the Ottoman people (Turks) who renamed the city Sofia. Moving on quickly.

During the Russo-Turkish war, 1877-78, many Bulgarian residents of Sofia armed themselves and sided with the Russians, and Sofia was relieved of Otterman rule. Most of the mosques were destroyed with most of the Muslim population left the city.

The Kingdom of Bulgaria became a constitutional Monarchy on the fifth of October 1908 when the Bulgarian state was raised from a Principality to a Tsardom (Royal). The Bulgarian royal family then ruled Bulgaria through to the second world war when it first sided with the Nazis. They switched sides to the allied forces in 1944 and In 1946 the Monarchy was abolished and the last Tzar was sent into exile.

The Monarchy was replaced by the communists and the county was renamed the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. The start of the Communist era.

Some of the Buildings

The communists were active way back as far as 1925 when a group of them blew up the Cathedral Church “Sveta Nedelya” in the hope of killing King Boris the third. They were unsuccessful in killing the king but killed a lot of innocent people instead.

I loved the old Communist party headquarters built in the 1950s, very Neo-Classical Architecture, a very grand building.

The Rotunda Church of St George (4th century AD)

The Rotunda Church of St George is the oldest church in the city built in the fourth century AD. Another grand Neo-Classical Building with two great lions on either side of the entrance is the courthouse at the beginning of Vitosha Boulevard.

The statue of Deity All-Holy Sofia is interesting in that it replaced a statue of Lenin of the former USSR. She stands atop a column overlooking Independence Square in the center of the city. She holds the symbols of “Power, Fame, and Wisdom” (the owl) from which the city derives its name (“Sofia” is taken from the old Greece word “Wisdom”).

The Royal Palace (now an Art Museum) was built around 1890 and was mainly an administration center. The Tsar had apartments in the city Palace where he resided while in the city. The royal family mainly resided at their summer palace called Arana. Unfortunately, we didn’t visit as it is outside the city but you can see it here on Wikipedia.

Royal Palace noe the National Art Gallery

Sofia Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Southeastern Europe and was built around 1903. Despite its size, the services are only attended by fifty to sixty worshipers as most of the local Jewish population of Bulgaria migrated to Isreal when the nation was established after the second world war. Great job for the Rabbi.

After the fall of the USSR 1989-1991, the Bulgarian communist party collapsed. The first multi-party democratic elections were held in 1991 and a prime minister was elected. The Republic of Bulgaria was born and a President was nominated as head of state, but only with ceremonial powers. He lives in the Boyona Residence in Sofia.

Vitosha Boulevard

Well if you are hungry or want to shop for high-end labels then this is the place to come. We walked all the way down the boulevard to the southern park at the bottom with a great view of the Vitosha mountains. We did have a meal in one of the many restaurants and not surprisingly the staff do all speak English, and very well. No, we didn’t buy any high-end labels, but it is a pleasant place to stroll.

Looking towards the Cathedral Church “Sveta Nedelya

The Trams of Sofia.

Maybe it’s the small boy in me but I just loved the many different types of trams in Sofia. Most of the older city streets still have cobblestones and with the older trams chugging along the old streets, it could have been fifty or so years ago. Maybe the different cloured trams denoted the route it was heading?

The Womens Market

Another must-see is a walk through the Women’s market just a five-minute walk from our apartment. This market was established in 1762. It grew rapidly and became the influential and prestigious trade center in the city and still is to this day. The old city architecture combined with modern pavilions and shops that sell fresh fruit, groceries, and veggies create a unique atmosphere and a sense of authenticity and history. There are also lots of restaurants and takeaways where Fabian and I sampled a local Kebab at 2 euros each, yum.

Favorite Restaurant – Hadjidraganov’s Houses Restaurant

The apartment we rented for the week was on the northern side of the city and only a short walk to the center. A visit to an authentic Bulgarian restaurant was always on our to-do list and would you believe it one of the city’s best was right around the corner from our apartment. So on our last night, we booked a table and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here is the web link if you get the chance to visit. Hadjidraganov’s Houses Restaurant