#WalkWithMe - Sofia, Bulgaria

I lived in Sofia for around 13 years, which is a little less than half of my life, but the only time that I took some photos there was when I was a student, we had a summer practical training in drawing and we had to draw 7 pictures of emblematic buildings of Sofia. The idea, of course, was that we had to watch and draw them, but we all were smart, photographed them and had a cool way to transfer the contours on the paper and to continue from there.. It was summer and too hot to spend the day outside drawing.

I also remember how surprised I was when a friend of mine mentioned long time ago while we were chatting “yeah, and the downtown of Sofia is so beautiful”.. That made me think.. Sofia.. beautiful? The best thing for me in Sofia was the closeness and the view of Vitosha mountain (and many other places with great nature too) and I didn't consider Sofia as a beautiful city at all. I liked it most when I was looking at it from a higher and distant point in the mountains near it. It’s typical to not pay much attention to the city you live in, I think. Its downtown was a place that I would try to avoid at any cost during the day - traffic jams, people, noise - not my favorite things for sure. Later I used to take walks around the city at night when I could easily find a parking place and there weren’t so much people and I started to pay more attention of it. Ok, I agree - there are some beautiful places.

I often say in my posts “It’s much more beautiful than it looks from the photos”. But for this one I am not going to lie - it’s not very different, maybe even better without the side effects, that I mentioned- people, noise, traffic jams and polluted air. If you don’t like them, I wouldn’t recommend you to visit Sofia. But if you are a city type of person and enjoy visiting places with plenty of historical spots and religious buildings, then I think Sofia would have a lot to offer you.

A while ago I had to visit it, and I was already leaving the city, when I thought that I could use the opportunity that I’m there and to capture some photos. I admit that I did it only because of Steemit, otherwise - no chance. My plan was to cover a much bigger area, but my shoes were too uncomfortable, so maybe next time. That was my second time of taking pictures around Sofia and in this post I'll share with you some of them.

I decided to use the subway that could spare me the unpleasant driving through the whole city.
The subway can be compared to a time machine. As you exit the station, the first thing you see is a small medieval church.

...and then - plenty of Roman ruins. Yes, our Sofia used to be a fancy Roman city - Serdika, some 2000 years ago.

The ruins are part of the restored Ancient Roman Complex of Serdica, where you can walk on the well preserved pavement of a 2000 years old main Roman road and see the foundations of ancient buildings and a religious building.

The complex covers an area of eight streets of the ancient city, a Christian Basilica, six large buildings with mosaic floors, courtyards, baths, public toilets and their associated water supply and sewage systems. Most of its part is in a underpass, where I didn’t go that time.

There is also part of an amphitheater almost as big as the Coliseum in Rome nearby, discovered while a hotel was being built. They still built it and a restored part of the amphitheater is in its basement now :D!

These yellow bricks are kind of a symbol of the city and the glass domes cover part of the Roman ruins in the underpass.

For sure this part of Sofia don't lack of divercity. Medieval Church, then Roman ruins and then a mosque.

... of course with more ruins..

..Together with another landmark of the Sofia - The Central Mineral Baths. The city is known for its mineral springs in the area, and this building functioned as a public bath until 1986, now it accommodates The Sofia Regional Historical Museum.

One more public bath, this one is still functioning. But you can enter it only if you are a dove, though.

Another beautiful place with a long history is the Rotunda St George. It is actually the oldest preserved building in the city. It was built by the Romans in the 4th century, when Sofia was the residence of the emperors Galerius and Constantine the Great. It is located in the courtyard between the Sheraton hotel and the Presidency.

Next stop - St Nedelya square and St Nedelya's Cathedral. I truly like this spot, that's why I chose the cathedral for one of my seven paintings. It has a rich historical background too. It's assumed that the temple was built in 10th century, but through the ages it was reconstructed many times for various purposes - expansion, renovation, restoration after natural disaster, abuse of property,etc. The last time was in 1933. Its interior is really beautiful too.

Thank you for checking out my blog!