София
Sofia
Capital of Bulgaria, highest capital city in Europe, sits at the foot of Mount Vitosha settled by the Thracians more than 500 years before Common era or as I like to say, before our savior Jesus Christ. In that amount of time the Turkish invasions and communist soviet era rule have
been the most recent inhabitants of this part of Bulgaria. Yet the Bulgarians stay the same, continuing to be the the walking contradiction. Ancient monastary's and churches everywhere, while a third mall is being built with an IMAX already in a theatre. You see horse buggies still taking berbers or shepards, wood for stoves to thier homes and mercedes benz g-wagons clamor by on a yellow brick road, now pale golden, a century old gift from Viennese royalty as a wedding present to the last monarchy of Sofia. A few of the most beautiful buildings in Sofia are the Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral
The former royal palace, now the National Art Museum.There are many neo-classical buildings within the city center. Most of these were built after the Ottoman rule, in other words as soon as they kicked out the Turkish monarchy and leaders, the Bulgarians were free to build as they pleased. They did so for about 30 years until the soviet era. The buildings that were built post 1930's reek of communistic facades, nothing inventive all just plain concrete drab and boring. The most of these type of buildings are housing and a few larger buildings
housing national or governement offices. Although the National Assembly of Bulgaria is held in a great Viennese type building surronding the oldest church in the country, St. George. It dates back to the 4th century and has roman ruins exposed you can walk around on pretending you are emperor Justinian.Sofia is a modern city with a great appeal to nature lovers as it has so many beautiful green parks and a forest surronds much of the city and seperates it from some of the different neighborhoods. My friend, Zach has lived in Bulgaria for over 3 years working for a company that aides foreign investors interested into expanding into the Bulgarian marketplace. We stayed with hime our whole time in Bulgaria and Sofia.
He skis whenever he can, as Mt Vitosha and it's ski lifts are about 10 minutes from his front door. (nice) He was our tour guide along with his lovely lady and a friend who attended school in the states and now is back in Sofia.The most suprising thing for me about Bulgaria was the food. OH! THE FOOD IS AMAZING! Imagine tons of different dishes all tasting like heaven and I think more than half of it is good for you. The drinks were scary first but delicious. We drank yogurt-milk, looks like watery milk, add a little salt and peppar and voila! the perfect company to what's coming next. RYKIA. Be warned, this is brandy made from grapes, figs, any other type of popular bulgarian fruit i'm geussing, and it is the smoothest liqour you could ever have. Delightfully inebriating. I honestly would go back for the brandy alone.
However, there is more to Bulgaria than Sofia, rykia and churches. There are monastaries and wine. Ha. After a few days in Sofia we took a car ride on the only road leading out of town (south towards greece) and visited the Rila Monastary on our way to Melnik near the greek border.
The Rila Monastary is tucked back into the Rila Mountains and is the home of Monks who began thier hermitage inspired by St. John of Rila who ascended into the mountains seeking spiritual release from the modern life of the 8th century. Thanks to its secluded nature it has been safe from the many Ottoman and other invasions in the last 1000 years.
The paintings on the inside of the monastery were done in the 1800's and are so vibrant and completely different than western religious paintings. The icons behing the two people ^ are depictions of saints and angels, jesus, mary, apostles, all for prayers and blessings while in the church.
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