Bulgaria

So after we have covered the calf and upper thigh of italy (you know it's shaped like a boot) we headed off to Sofia.... A very italian name for a city that has about the same amount of beauty you would expect from a lovely title.

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.

When in Rome...

Rome
City of ancient civilization! Oh how every place you step has known someone yet before. There is not a crevice, stone, molecule of air untainted in this fine city. Modern Rome is not the same size as ancient Rome but it seems not much has changed.
In Rome we stayed with Miss Lindy Long from Ohio. She is a good friend of Lisa's and gave us a place to sleep in her apartment in Trastevere the south eastern portion of Rome.
The first day we walked up Janiculum Hill, second tallest hill in Rome and viewed the layout of the city before us. Afterwards we walked down to the streets of Trastevere where the beautiful Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere stands keeping a warm shining face to the square that holds many restaurants and gelato stands.
Afterwards we walked across the Tiber river and found ourselves in Argentina, one of the many roman temples that has been made into a square because of the encroaching modern buildings and roads. Lindy volunteers at the Roman Cat Sanctuary where a home is for the abandon cats of Rome. They need help and are a non-profit working to spay and provide medical attention to the felines that rule the cobblestone streets. Walking around the streets of Rome the first thing that strikes you is the warmth of the sun, the amount of people no matter what time of day it is, and of course clergy members everywhere.

After our first day, our second was a bit more ancient.
The Roman Forum, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Circus Maximus
Early morning wake up call for sightseeing. The sun was shining and we bought our tickets into the Roman Forum, only French maps where available (they always run out of english) so Lisa and I made use of that extra language we have.
The ancient birthplace and civic center of Rome sits between the 2 biggies of central Rome, the Colosseum and Capitol Hill.
After the Forum we drifted up Palatine hill while the sun was shining and looked out over the vast expanse of the circus maximus. The museum at the top was interesting, housing many of the found sculptures, pottery and materials found at the sight. There are even bronze and iron age huts that have been found underneath the Roman senators palaces here. The hill of Palatine is thought to have housed the first tribe of Rome and gave the myth or possible real history of Romulous meaning.
As the sun continued to shine we noticed omnious couds of rain in the distance and thinking better of it, moved to start our tour of the Colosseum. Only after a late Roman lunch did we start the tour, which gave us plenty of sunshine until the very end of our hour inside the Colossol theatre of gladiators and place of entertainment. I had to use the word colossol.