My trip around Balkans 3rd stop Sofia Bulgaria

Hi Dear Steemit,

My trip around Balkans lead me from Thessaloniki to Sofia, again some hours by bus and boarder between Greece and Bulgaria. It was not boring at all because I met another traveller and we spend time talking and comparing our travelling experience. In such situation I am pretty a conversationalist person. Thanks to him my travelling more interesting and seems to keep going faster.

Once in Sofia bus station I went to my accomodation close to the center. It was early afternoon I just relax a couple of hours because I was bit tired. Then I started to walk around the center following the map to one of the most important church in the city. Hagia Nedelja Church built in the 10th century and destroyed in the beginining of last century. I found the interior elegant and well preserved, an attractive architecture.

Walking from Hagia Nedlja closeby is the Todor Alexandrova street. Here the symbol of city the Saint Sofia statue. I found very interesting that around such statue and in few hundreds meters squares there are three builidings of different religions: on the north west a synagogue, on the north east a mosque. On the east a church. It was late to visit them inside.

Sofia has an archeological site closeby the statue is the complex ancient serdica.

On the way some other attractive buildings,the national gallery art, a Russian church,

I kept walking till the cathedral Alexander Nevska whose architecture I found impressive. It looks a combination between Byzantine and local architecture.

I follow the way toward the boulevard Tsarigradsko shose, finding the columns with eagles statue and closeby walking around the park.

I came back to my accomodation where I had dinner in a local restaurant with good food not expensive price (around 7 euro).

The following day in the morning I have been to the Sofia Museum where it is documented the history of the city from the Neolithic, before during and after the period under Roman Empire till modern and contemporeanean times.

Sofia is one of the most ancient cities in whole Europe approximately 7-8 millenia are behind the first settlement in the Neolithic era. The museum is divided in four large section divided in two floors. In the first sections house representations, objects and mosaics.

Also small models of a tomb dated on 4th century

Later I went back to Cathedral in order to visit it inside and then closeby the temple of St. Sophia with underground temple.
The day was hot but I kept walking untill the main boulevard in Sofia Vitosha full of bar and restaurant to have lunch in a very elegant restaurant (and not very expensive). Two floors and a dehor. I got my table in the second floor.

And that was my lunch paid around 10 euros

In the afternoon I decided to visit the Ethnografic museum in a building which was built in the 19th century during the Ottoman administration. It mostly preserves traditional local clothes

and objects

Actually an ethnographic museum preserves what concerns the identity and the character of a nation and its local inhabitants; also through some dress and objects like in the previous photos.

I would conclude this post with other photos of this museum

and some close to the Cathedral

Thanks for your attention and follows my post

Best Regards

(All the photos are my own property)