Sofia adventure travel guide

  

Sofia Highlights (Edit)

This is not a place that I had visited but a place that I've lived and would like to share with the other visitors of the site.

First I would like to start with some tips for all the foreignerswho would like to visit Sofia because there are some very importantthings they should know. These things are going to prevent anyunpleasant experiences during their tour around the city center.

*Don't dress too casually because people can see from far distance, especially on a working day, that you are not a Bulgarian.

*Take as much luggage with you as you'll need for the day tour.It's perfectly safe to leave your baggage in the hotel you are staying.But if you carry a too heavy and too big rack sack you'll attractattention and it won't be comfortable for you.

*Don't give money to beggars,tramps and people without limbs, whowill follow you on the street.They usually are part of a mafia chainand if they don't rob you, they would certainly give your descriptionto a "colleague" of theirs, who would do it. You can see them on everycorner in the city center and in front of every church.

*There are also women who "predict" the future in front of SvetaNedelya church and the parking lot next to the Bulgarian National Bank.Just pass them in silence. Don't look at them because that makes themcome closer, and don't say anything because that will make them followyou.

*Watch out when you are crossing the streets, the traffic jams inthe city center make the drivers too aggressive and they could not stopeven if your traffic light is green.

*Don't speak in Russian when you want to know which direction toturn so that to reach a church or a monument. The young here neverstudied Russian at school and the elders hardly know few words. Instead you can learn some Bulgarian words and phrases or just speak inEnglish, it would be much easier to you and for them to understand you.

*Don't walk around with a map, no matter whether it is folded inyour pocket or you carry it unfolded all the time. Just look verycarefully in your map and study it at a safe place and then go to theroute by memory or rewrite that part of the map on a little sheet ofpaper and look at it only when it's compulsory.

*If you want to use the public transport the map from the hotelwon't work. You can buy another big or small map from any kiosk for 2 or3 leva- look for the sign"София" on the map.Just study the route and count how much stops you have got to traveland where you have to change the transport. It would be easier thenasking at the bus stop or in the bus, trolley or tram. The latter threemeans of public transport are usually overcrowded and it would bedifficult to find inside them someone who speaks decent English or tounfold a map in them.

Now let me tell you about a tour that I can recommend you and that you won't see in any tour guide ever written.

You've got to start your tour from Sofia University - it had a 120years anniversary this October and is one of the most massive and beautiful buildings in Sofia city center. In front of it there are the statues of the two brother Evlogy and Hristo Georgievy who had lived in19th century. They had some factory and had eaten only bread and drank water, so that to be able to gather enough money to donate forBulgarian schools and to build such a huge building - Sofia University.You can go around the building and take a look what it looks like inside, or the back yard and so on.
You can go ahead on 6 "Shipka", str. there is an Art Gallery with a bookstore on the ground floor and a cafe that is visited by many artists.

On the left side of the street ( if the Sofia University is on the right) there is the National Library "St. St. Cyril and Methodi".There is monument of the Holy brothers in the garden in front of the building. They are holy because they had written the Cyrillic alphabet and translated the Bible in a Slavic language ( at that time Bulgarian and all the other Slavic languages were almost the same) in 9thcentury. That was a time when the Bible and all the written books were compulsory written in Greek and Latin and anyone who wanted such a change was going to be killed by the Holy Inquisition of the Catholic Church but St. Cyril gave a speech in front of the Pope and the later gave permission for this translation. Thanks to this fact we now have a different alphabet and in our churches the mesas are made in Bulgarian. But this heresy for that time, so it was very brave of him.

Down on the street on the same side is another garden called Doctor's garden and around of it there are many shops and cafes.
At the end of the Doctor's garden you can turn right on "San Stefano", str. There are many cafes and fast food restaurants on that street. Also the Bulgarian National TV Building.

You can go on ahead on "Tulovo", str. and cross the "Evlogy Georgiev", boulevard and see the Parlovska reka (river), which we call the Channel ( Kanala), over one of the small bridges over it. It's a point of veiw that you can see only of you are a Sofia citizen, no tour guide would show you this.

After that you cross the boulevard again on the other side of the bridge -  you don't go back - and you turn right. Just behind the bus stop there is a small  fast food restaurant where you can eat lunch from3 to 7 leva, the food is very delicious and it finishes soon, so you've got to be there around 11,40 a.m. because the hungry workers and office staff are making a line inside after that

You can eat one of the famous banichki and boza snacks in the subway under "Orlov most" ( The Eagle's Bridge). It's one of the best in the city. I'm going to tell you about some other places like this in the other tours.

Don't miss to take pictures under the eagles on Orlov Most, this is an emblematic place!

Next to the bridge the is an artificial lake called "Ezeroto Ariana". It was drauned in the last 15 or maybe even more years but from the last winter it's an ice-skating platform in the winter and a real lake in the summer with boats, water-bycicles and some other attractions, which you can hire for 3 leva per 15 minutes for 3 or 4 people.

Around the lake there are some very nice cafes, ice-cream and candy shops and restaurants.

If the "Tzarigradsko shose" ( this is one of the main boulevards in Sofia that crosses the "Evlogy Gergiev" boulevard) is behind your back on the left side of the Ariana Lake is a part of "Borisova gradina" ( a famous park) where you can relax on a bеnch after the long walk or just go around and see another smaller lake with waterlilies. Very beautiful one!

On the right side of the Ariana Lake you can see a monument of the Soviet army that is a memory of the communist past of Bulgarian country. Around this monument there are many skaters usually teenagers who are riding all day long and making some dangerous stunts with skateboards and bicycles. They don't have much space right now because a metro station is been built right now on that place.

There are some statues of dragons, bears and so on tales characters that you can see at that part of the park but you've got to walk a little further.

That's from me by now. I hope you'll enjoy this tour and you can call me (or leave a message in my travel journal's guest book) to walk you around any time of the year.

Best wishes, Maria!