Spent a wonderful three days in Sofia and despite the 3hour border crossing, I freely admit to being a glutton!!! Anne and I spent three days in food heaven!! Shane, we found the Market Hall, by accident it looked like a tram station, and inside...mmmm...country ham, gouda cheese!! cheese that looked like camembert made from yogurt!!, delicious thick peasant bread, sliced ham, bacon, sausages...mouth waters just thinking about it!! However yes we did do more than just eat!! Although....we went to a restaurant which was amazing (even though the service wasn't) The Manastirka Magemitsa (
http://www.magemitsa.com/) which served traditional recipes from Bulgarian monastaries. Beautiful old 19th century building, they closed the courtyard and added tables. Although the menu was literally around 30pages, we managed to eat 3 dishes- (not with ham we have our limits!) fish and a vegetable appetizer..one fish dish I remember came from St.George Monastery, and two desserts, an apple cake with no flour, just apples and nuts..(sorry Aurore) although there is ALOT more. A little pricey but worth it..We tried the beer and chardonnay not bad..Oh!! I almost forgot the Bread..imagine a huge fat challah bread with they serve with dry spices that you dip into, (according to Anne this is also done in Hungary).
We wandered around Sofia, and yes the Archeological museum was excellent!! however since it had just rained the cafe wasnt serving us, which was fine we sat outside amongst the roman head stones and enjoyed a rest..nice cafe. The museum had an interesting exposition on Japanese erotic art! yes..in detail..The weather was brisk compared to Istanbul and I came a bit unprepared with only one pair of pants!! which of course got drenched in the downpour...and no heating in the pension, well thanks to some innovative thinking on Anne's part, holding it over the lightbulbs, it was damp enough to wear till I bought some warm sweatpants..(which I needed anyway, but yes..(it was thoughtless of me, but i thought its only two days..and in my defense it was 20 degrees in Istanbul, little did I expect it to be around 9 in Sofia..) and less in the mountains of Vitosha..This is one trip you can't miss!!!!! Finding one's way around the trams and buses is easier then you would think considering the map is in Latin letters but all the signs in Cyrillic! There is a beautiful half hour teleferik (hmm is this english) through the mountains, and being autumn the leaves were changing color and the fresh clean smell..I will admit that all through Sofia there was a freshness in the air, especially coming from Istanbul..We missed that a lot, its especially great to drink hot chocolate or coffee..My god can they drink coffee!! and Espresso shots, like in France. Imagine my surprise when I got charged each time I asked for more milk!! Unfortunately due to fog and extreme cold, we only managed to get to the mountain about 2000 metres find a tiny little cafe post open, like the old log cabin ones you see on tv, buy something warm, and go back down again. But it was definetly worth it!! So, back to Sophia, we came across an amazing little church not mentioned in the guide book, Shane had you seen it. It was in an underpass, in the middle of the street, from the 11th century but the frescos were from the 15th century. Of course dome shaped, incidently I'd like to read up on dome shaped churches I haven't too much experience with them, any advice would be appreciated. It was called St.Petka of the Saddlemakers..very warm and cosy dark with a lot of the frescos intact..but we couldnt figure out exactly which scenes they were. Unfortunately photographs were not allowed. Yes, I saw the 5th century church by the archeological museum, St.George Rotunda, and the roman ruins in front of it. We happened to pass by on Sunday and there was a mass. We also managed to catch Sunday Mass for St.Sophia cathedral. The architecture is amazing, its exactly like a mosque, and the acoustics..wow...the choir was excellent. But the service was strange, and I've been to Greek Orthodox services before, but this was all done with their backs to the congregation. I thought that was only done in old Latin masses?? Another interesting church was the Russian Orthodoks church, it has a basement where someone sorry not sure who, passed away, and its famous for performing miracles...hmmm. We skipped the natural history museum, and the national gallery, sorry maybe another time..
However we did manage just because it was on our way to see what is labeled the "ugliest sculpture in Sofia" (truly it is) The Monument to the Bulgarian State,it was built in 1981 and started to literally fall to pieces and no one wants to foot the bill..(sculpture in background in photo)
We stayed nearer to the train station, on a street called Pop Bogomil, in a small hostel, called The Rooms, really its in a quiet area which we first thought was too far, however no, its 10 mins by tram, and 20 mins to walk to the monuments, which is fine..it was a nice little hostel, with heat the next day, it got colder, breakfast on cake(like spongecakes topped with jam, and carrot cake) and best of all fresh coffee on a little electric grill- Shane, the little perculators italian style, I bought one, my souvenir from Bulgaria!!) We definetly want to go back, especially to Plovdiv, which should be amazing. Luckily its not too long,6-8 hours by bus. Depends really on the border crossings..Anne wants to do bike across the fields and see all the monasteries, hmm I wish I could, but not enough stamina!! smiling, but seeing one or two little villages would be great. Unfortunately my next long holiday is in end of January through February.. hmm though I might need to sled through the snow perhaps ??? smiling...
The only other comment that I will make is on the advertising..it really is sex based. Look at a photograph of Sisley clothing and you see a couple erotically kissing,(not about to kiss as in most adverts-this is a huge poster on tram line) a woman in a skimpy skirt and tight shirt on top of or near a car,and no its not a mechanics magazine, but an advert for clothing..sex shops all around even in the street signs in every neighborhood..yes its in every country, but really this stood out, especially since its mostly the women who are portrayed as objects..okay okay I stop..smiling..
p.s.will post pictures but the connection is too slow now.
