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Bulgaria - Sofia
I always have thought that weather in Bulgaria is way hotter than in Munich where we live - but sadly on last September weekend found that it's not true - at least not in capital City - Sofia. When we arrive on Friday evening it was even colder than in Germany - about 12 degrees. We landed on Terminal 1, but subway is going from Terminal 2 - there is a free bus connecting them - but it's going only every half hour!
Sightseeing:
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St Nedelya ChurchChurch build around 10th century, rebuilt many times - last in 1933. Serbian KindStefan Milutin is buried inside.
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Church of St. George:Hidden inside of government buildings church built in 4th century. Famous for12-14th centry frescoes inside.
Presidential headquarters - part of building outside of Rotunda.
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Remains of Roman City Serdika(link)
Sveta Petka(link)
Banya Bashi MosqueBuilt in 1576 over natural thermal spas.
(link) Third largest synagogue in Europe, one of two existing in Bulgaria.
Synagogue(link)
Central Sofia Market Hall(link)
Church of St Paraskeva(link)
Alexander Nevsky CathedralSecond largest Orthodox cathedral in Balkans. Completed in 1912.
(link) Built in 6th century. Probably the most important building in city, as thanks to it Bulgarian capital city is named Sofia.
Saint Sofia Church (Hagia Sophia)(link) Built in 1914 after liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman Empire for Russian Embassy.
Russian Church(link) It's biggest building in Balkans built in 1981.
National Palace of Culture with park(link)
Dragalevtsi Monastery of the Holy Mother of God of Vitosha(link)
Vitosha mountain(link)
Vitosha stone rivers(link)
Vitosha mountainUseful informations:
Public Transport:
Shortly - it's not so good. It looks that they are investing in fleet - we have seen modern Polish trams Swing, and Troleybuses Solaris, with some German Mans, but tracks are in very bad condition. Ticket for one ride costs 1.6BGN (about 0,8 EUR), but time schedule is bad - on tram stops there is info when will be next (in day its about every 10 minutes, but in evening after 18:00 it was every 30/40 minutes). But on bus stops we have seen only info like - bus between 13-15 is going every 65 minutes! So if You are in hurry - then it makes more sense to use a Taxi - it's yellow and costs 0,8 BGN / km so it's preety cheap - but ask for the price before ride - we were told that taxi mafia exists in Sofia.
Food
First of all - its cheap, but also its really good quality. Normal lunch/dinner costs about half that we need to pay in Germany. Places that You have to visit during stay in Sofia are: Hadjidraganov's Cellars- If You want to eat there dinner - You have to have reservation! They serve food based on Bulgarian national Kitchen - which for me looks pretty similar to stuff I know from post Yugoslavian countries. We ate dinner there and it was really tasty, and also it looked awesome: