Independence day

Thursday, September 22, 2011
Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia became the capital of Bulgaria in 1879 due to its location, and was renamed during the 15th century after the St Sofia church.

The main sights are all located to the East of the city centre . Oddly, the main road is made if yellow bricks which were donated by the Astro Hungarians. It leads to the Nevski church and the nearby flea Market which sells glassware, icons and wooden carvings as well as Nazi and Soviet relics. It felt like we were perusing a museum that you could take home - however I have idea how to determine if any if it is real so declined.

We were lucky enough to experience the city on Independence day as most of the roads were closed to traffic, which I can only imagine would normally restrict your ability to roam freely throughout the key sights.

Once you have walked through the sights, there doesn't see to be a huge amount of other things to do other than shopping and the ladies market. We eventually located the latter but this seemed dominated by fruit and veg so instead settled for people watching in one of the cafes along Protska, which is the only pedestrian street in the city.

Our hotel is pure luxury after the last few days so I was happy to go back and try to recover from my cold while Cat went off geocaching with Phill (our tour leader). They found the cache in a tea shop which is apparently one of the more inventive ways with this 'geeky' pastime - it's quite intriguing but I'm happy to take it or leave it for now...
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