Today we took advantage of the fact that entry to the Museum of Archeology was free. The museum is located in the middle of Town in a building that was originally constructed as a mosque in 1494 during the Ottoman rule. The building was converted to a museum by royal decree in the late 1800s. The museum boasts a collection of over 35,000 pieces primarily from the Balkan region.
We’ve now visited several museums in Sofia. None of them have metal detectors or any sort of security. They even provide lockers and coat rooms for your convenience. This is different from most places we’ve been. Most of the museums in Rome had much stricter procedures. Occasionally we felt like we were being strip searched.
The first floor housed artifacts dating from the 6th century BC through the 4th century AD and included items from the Thracian and Roman periods. We were amazed at the number and the quality of the pieces. The ancient artifacts in most museums are very often fragments, copies or recreations. Here we saw complete and original pieces that were in excellent condition. It was truly a treat.
(Bronze Head of Apollo from the 2-3rd Century AD)
The second floor housed the Treasury Room which contained a large number of gold and silver pieces found in 4th century BC burial sites. Other rooms had displays ranging from pre-history through the copper and bronze ages mainly from excavations in Bulgaria. These pieces were also well preserved and in excellent condition.
(Gold and Silver Drinking Horn from the 4th Century BC)
(Gold Funeral Mask from the 4th Century BC)
The museum was also hosting a very interesting art exhibit that had opened the day before. It was called, “120 Bills” by Houben Tcherkelov, a Bulgarian artist now living in New York City. There were 120 paintings hung all around the permitter of the balcony showing representations of portraits from currencies all around the world. Many of them were from Bulgaria and Eastern European nations. We had fun trying to put names to the faces.
(Portrait of Christopher Columbus from 120 Bills)
Afterwards we headed to a restaurant that is quickly becoming a favorite. We’ve mentioned it before; it’s called Corso. Today we tried some new menu items. I had a burger (it’s the first time I’ve had a burger since we left the States) and Deborah had a chicken sandwich. The burger was dressed with lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese and some sort of dressing. It was fresh and delicious. It came with a tin of the tastiest french fries imaginable. Deborah’s sandwich had grilled chicken breast with creamy feta cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives and ranch dressing. The food at this place has been consistently delicious and the price was right at about $13 for the two of us. In the past we’ve had the pastries and they were pretty good. The coffee was just ok and was expensive at $2.30 per cup.
A light snow fell all day so on our way home we stopped at the grocery store. The forecast for the next few days was not looking good and we wanted to be well stocked just in case.
Distance walked: 4.5 miles
Monday and Tuesday, February 26 and 27
Snow has been forecast on and off for weeks now and we’re happy to say that all we’ve seen were sunny days. Today they were finally right. It snowed all day and there was an accumulation of about 2-3 inches. We stayed in all day. It’s supposed to snow most of this week. An airmass from Siberia is expected to bring temperatures in the low teens (Fahrenheit). We’ll hope for the best.
We hiked over to the other side of Town to investigate a new place for lunch. It’s called The View. The restaurant is perched on the 24th floor of a modern glass and steel office building and affords panoramic views of the city. It is probably one of the tallest buildings in the city. Very few buildings have more than three floors.
The lunch menu consisted of a buffet. In Rome and in Sofia a buffet means cafeteria style service. You march your tray down the counter and indicate your choices. A helpful member of the kitchen staff heaps food onto your plate and presents it to you near the cash register. We haven’t found the iconic American all-you-can-eat buffet so far. Our waistlines are grateful.
Deborah had a chicken cordon bleu with sliced, roasted potatoes and I had baked fish (I have no idea what kind) along with some white rice. They were both delicious. We’ve been trying to remember to take pictures of our food but we’re usually so excited to taste everything that we remember only after the plates are empty. We’ll try to do better.
The view was impressive. We could see all the way from the mountains to the airport. Incidentally, we were told that the Vitosha Mountains were about 30 miles (they probably meant 30 kilometers) from Town. From our vantage point above the city we realized that they are much closer. We’re going to trek out there one of these days. Google says they’re about six miles from our apartment. There is a UNESCO World Heritage site that we’re interested to see right at the base of the chain.
(Looking toward the Vitosha Mountain Range)
That part of Town seems a little more upscale than most – but only by a slight degree. Upscale is a relative term here. We walked around a bit and found some beautiful parks and another shopping mall. We’ll have to explore that area some more on another day.
Distance walked: 7.0 miles
Thursday, February 22
As we walk from our apartment into Town most days we pass an interesting and well reviewed coffee shop called Owllee. Today we stopped in for cappuccinos (due cappuccini – we miss Italy). The coffee was excellent, the barista was very friendly and spoke excellent English. They were, perhaps, the prettiest cappuccinos we’ve seen. The barista told us that the coffee was a special blend that was produced just for the shop. It was made from 100% arabica beans roasted in Bulgaria. It has a strong, smooth flavor with very little bitterness. We left with loyalty cards for our next visit.
(How do they get that pattern?)
Our next stop was the Hotel Arena Serdika where the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheater were to be found. Inside the hotel and down a set of stairs we saw what was left of the structure. Some of the outside walls and a few seats were still visible. Inside what was left of the amphitheater the hotel displayed works of art. We also saw several tables place around the perimeter. The area was obviously used for meetings and receptions.
We were expecting to do indoor things today. The weather report called for snow followed by freezing rain. As usual they were spot on,
(A typical wintry day in Sofia)
Our featured destination of the day was the Sofia City Art Gallery. Today entry was free. The gallery is in two parts. There is a permanent collection and a rotating display featuring new works by contemporary artists.
The permanent collection contained works dating from the 1970s until the present time. The works were mostly from European artists with a few Americans sprinkled in. Many were fun and clever and we enjoyed the experience.
(“Mummies”. Can you find Dobby?)
At the front of the museum was a long line of people waiting to go upstairs to see the new featured exhibition. It was a work by a Bulgarian artist named Theodore Ushev entitled “In the Mirror, Dimly”. When we entered the room we were handed a blacklight flashlight. We used the flashlight to illuminate painted sheets of mylar that were arranged all around the room. Some were hung in a circular pattern and some were laid flat against the walls. The sheets and the walls also contained famous quotes, in a variety of languages, that could only be seen when lit by the blacklight. Some parts of the painted mylar could be seen without the flashlight but they were transformed by the blacklight. The installation was meant as a comment on hypocrisy and deceit. We loved the overall concept but the message seemed to be obscured and overshadowed by the novelty of the approach.
Distance walked: 5.9 miles
Friday, February 23
Today was the day to take care of some personal business. We took a roundabout route to the main post office in order to buy stamps. We needed to send some letters to the US. We’ve traveled all over the world and the one thing we find to be consistent is the demeanor of civil servants. Slow service and cheerless workers are a universal constant. We managed to stumble onto the correct window only after our first attempt to buy stamps was rebuffed. The entire process was a challenge as everything was written in Bulgarian. We think we bought first class airmail stamps. We’ll let you know. At least whatever we bought wasn’t too expensive. The stamps were about $1.35 each.
Distance walked: 6.5 miles
This seems like a good time to mention that we’re collecting stamps. We wanted to have a souvenir of each place we visited that was small, light, easy to carry and inexpensive. We decided on stamps. We have one from Rome that shows the Palace of Vittorio Emanulle II (“The Wedding Cake”), one from the Vatican with a portrait of Boromini and one from Sofia showing the Synagogue. We expect that we can frame them all and make a nice display if/when we ever go home (wherever that is/will be).
It turned out to be a busy day. We also booked an apartment in Plovdiv, Bulgaria for the next leg of our trip. We will be there from March 15 – April 4. After that we plan to go to Burgas and/or Varna. Both are on the Black Sea. We’ve seen some lovely condo complexes that are right on the water that be rented at reasonable rates. We could use a vacation 😉.
Well, the rain and snow were a non-event. It seems that weather forecasting is as accurate here in Bulgaria as it is everywhere else: terrible. Still, we didn’t do much today. We just stayed in the apartment and watched the Olympics.
Distance walked: 0.17 miles
Monday, February 12
We’ve decided for the next few days we’re just going to walk about different parts of the city in order to see as much as possible. There don’t seem to be defined neighborhoods like you see in most cities.
Our travels took us to a large, American style shopping mall. We could easily recognize it from the outside as it had a parking garage – something you don’t normally see in these parts. It was called, “Serdika Center” after the ancient name of the city.
The mall had three levels of shops, a food court, restaurants and a grocery store. Most of the shop signs were written in English and a few were in Italian. It was nice to see writing in something other than Cyrillic for a change. Many of the shops would be recognizable to most Americans. They included stores like Benetton, The Gap, The North Face and Nike. There were also some stores we never heard of before. Likely these were local/European only brands.
We had lunch at the food court. It was a little challenging because most of the vendors didn’t have English language menus. We opted for something that seemed authentic Bulgarian; what we actually got was going to be a surprise. To our delight we wound up with something like chicken cordon bleu and a pork cutlet with melted cheese and boiled potatoes. They were both delicious. Our choices for lunch also included KFC, Burger King and Subway . How disappointing.
After leaving the mall we walked over to a pastry shop that we discovered when walking to/from the tennis match. The shop is called, “Nedelya” but we remembered it as the place that had a big sign in English saying, “Eat Cake”.
After we were seated the waitress gave us menus in Bulgarian. We’ve come to depend on Google Translate during our travels. We’ve discovered a nifty little feature – you can just point it toward anything that’s written down and it will automatically give you the English equivalent. There’s no need to try to type in the words, which is particularly helpful because, even with the Cyrillic keyboard installed on my iPhone it can be very difficult to type hunt and peck in another language.
Seeing our predicament the waitress took pity on us and gave us menus printed in English. What a relief! We had seen the amazing looking cakes when we walked in but now we could actually tell what they were made of. I ordered a chocolate cake with profiteroles baked inside with ganache frosting and even more profiteroles on top. Deborah ordered a meringue cake. It had layers of chocolate chip meringue separated with thick cream. The cake slices were huge. Yum! We also sampled their cappuccino which was comparatively rather small. We’ll be back.
Many people have suggested we talk more about what we’ve been eating and show some pictures. We’re trying to oblige.
(Cake and Coffee)
Given our caloric intake we decided we needed to walk some more so we headed back to the center of Town to a place called The Elephant Bookstore. It’s a small shop packed with all sorts of quirky, nerdy things. We felt right at home. We saw things like mugs with scientific formulas, Game of Thrones paraphernalia, classic National Geographics from the 1940s and so much more. It was a lot of fun to browse.
As we were leaving we noticed a beautiful church called the Church of Sveti Sedmochislenitsi. It was built in 1528 as a Mosque during the Ottoman occupation but was converted to a church in 1901. Inside the church is decorated in typical Eastern Orthodox style. No photography was permitted.
(Church of Sveti Sedmochislenitsi)
Distance walked: 9.5 miles
Tuesday, February 13
Today we went to another one of the National Galleries: Square 500. This one specializes in European art. The collection is housed in a large, stately building with very high ceilings encompassing three floors. We suspected that at one time it served as a palace.
Surprisingly, the first floor contained a large collection of Dutch paintings from the Flemish school. They also had paintings from many other traditional Western European artists.
The second floor displayed mainly Bulargian art from the 18th and 19th centuries. The third floor exhibits were from the 20th century and included a large number of bronzes by Rodin. We were impressed with the size and the quality of the collection.
(One of our favorites: Portrait of Grigoriy Metropolitan of Dorstol and Cherven by Fulop Laszlo von Lombox)
For lunch we went to a popular place called Corso. It had been recommended to us and we had a 10% discount we found in one of the guidebooks. The first floor houses a lovely little cafe. The second floor has a bar and on the third floor is a fancy restaurant. We ate at the cafe.
The food was excellent. I had a bowl of saffron risotto with chicken and vegetables and Deborah had a baguette stuffed with avocado, feta cheese, pickled onions and onion rings. It was fabulous. We were too full for coffee and cake but decided to return to try them out another time.
Distance walked: 5.2 miles
Wednesday, February 14
Happy Valentines Day! They also celebrate that here; we’ve been seeing advertisements for it on TV for weeks. All the stores and restaurants are decorated for the occasion. It reminded us of home (wherever that is).
Once again I played tennis. I’m getting good at deciphering the subway signs. My footwork was a lot better and my forehand was awesome. I think I left my backhand somewhere in NYC. If you find it please send it to me – I could really use it.
We had a romantic dinner at home.
Distance walked: 2.6 miles
Thursday, February 15
A date that will live in infamy. I turned 57. I’m not too happy about it but the alternative is rather depressing.
Our goal was to walk about Town and find an interesting place for lunch. We happened on the Green Deli Cafe. We read that they had good coffee. In order to save room for dessert we shared a baguette with smoked salmon, cream cheese and onions. It was very tasty. Afterwards we ordered two cappuccinos and a chocolate cherry mousse cake. At least the coffee was very good.
We wound up covering a lot of ground but had no particular goal in mind other than to see parts of the city we hadn’t previously visited.
That night we had tickets to the National Ballet and Opera. Tonight’s program was Verdi’s Opera Un Ballo in Maschera (a Masked Ball). We had never seen this opera performed nor did we know the music. We had been looking forward to this for days. The tickets cost about $25 a piece. Similar tickets at the Met in NYC start at $250 a piece.
The theater was fairly small – about the size of a typical Broadway theater. The inside was pretty but not particularly ornate. It’s been home of the National Opera since 1953. It’s unclear as to when the building was constructed.
(We’ve never taken so many selfies before!)
Our seats were in the first balcony and they afforded us an excellent view of the stage. The seats were very comfortable with plenty of legroom. To our delight the acoustics were excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the opera.
The orchestra was rather small, which is in line with the time period. They performed well. At times the orchestra and the chorus were not together; we blame the conductor. Programs were available for purchase and were written only in Bulgarian so we are not sure whether the leads were part of the company or guests. They were, however, very good. We have a special shout out for the Sorceress. Her role was written for contralto and her deep resonating voice easily filled the hall.
Distance walked: 10.0 miles
Friday, February 16
Another day when we went walkabout. Our intended goal was to find Chapstick brand lip balm. We ran out of the tube we brought from the States and have had a terrible time finding it. They don’t seem to sell it here. We’ve tried several different brands but they are not nearly as good. For now we’ve settled on Nivea.
We’ve been holding off on seeing more museums because many of them are free the last week of the month.
Distance walked: 5.9 miles
Saturday, February 17
We went back to Corso for lunch. After we shared a sandwich we ordered two cappuccinos and a piece of cake. The cake part was made from a Panettone (Italian Christmas Cake), was layered with cream cheese and was topped with Nutella. The cake was very good but the coffee was not satisfying. It was a very small serving and it was very strong.
Afterwards we went walkabout. We found a shop that serves a brand of Bulgarian coffee named Dabov. Of course the coffee is not grown here but it is roasted here. Dabov supplies coffee to many of the better restaurants and cafes in the city. We ordered two more cappuccinos. The cafe only served vegan pastries so it was easy to exercise some self-control. The coffee was very good. We found it smooth and full flavored with little bitterness. Next time you’re here you should try it.
Heavily caffeinated, we proceeded to walk around the city at a brisk pace. Fortunately we were able to sleep that night.
Distance walked: 6.1 miles
Sunday, February 18
Another day of walking. We found a road that circumnavigated the city and decided to give it a try. The road took us through many unattractive, industrials areas. The sidewalks were not crowded so we were able to walk at a good pace. It was very enjoyable. On the way home we stopped at a shop for some roasted nuts.
Distance walked: 6.4 miles
Monday, February 19
The weather was forecast to be rainy and snowy. We decided to spend the day in the apartment doing household chores. As usual the forecast was not too accurate but it was good to have a day off.
Distance walked: 0.29 miles
Tuesday, February 20
I played tennis again. Nadejda, my hitting partner, was away so she recommended her “deputy” Stevan. Stevan told me that he has played tennis his entire life. He’s 20. He used to play on the challenger tour until he broke his ankle playing football (American translation: soccer).
He was a lot of fun to hit with. He tracked down every ball and got to some shots that I thought were impossible. Since Nadejda will be away for a few more weeks I will happily play with him again.
Gossip: I learned that Nadejda is in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Stevan thinks she has a boyfriend there.
After lunch at home we went to a Vivacom store to recharge our phones. Unlike what we did in Italy we decided to get a pre-paid plan. This means we have to put some money on our account occasionally. Vivacom has been working out MUCH better than TIM. We’ve had no issues and no annoying text messages. Also, the rates are ridiculously cheap. We put about $6.50 on each of our accounts and expect that to last for at least a month.
I just posted, “We’ve Gone Walkabout” but when the email was sent the table with the metrics was not included. There is some bug in the program that I’m going to have to investigate. At any rate, here is the information. Enjoy!
All Cities: Total Distance 576.8 miles, Average Daily Distance: 5.6 miles
Rome, Italy: Total Distance 497.5 miles, Average Daily Distance: 5.7 miles
Sofia, Bulgaria: Total Distance 79.3 miles, Average Daily Distance: 5.3 miles
If you’ve been reading our blog you know that we append how much we walked at the end of each day. We’ve been curious to know how much mileage we’ve covered these past months so we put together a fancy spreadsheet that can calculate various statistics by city and/or country. Here are just a few facts and figures…
[table id=1 /]
You’d think we’d have worn out a pair or two of sneakers by now but our first pair are still going strong (they are, however, definitely showing signs of wear and tear). At this rate we’ll cover about 2,000 miles in a year. Not bad for fat, old and lazy city dwellers.
As an aside, a while back we heard of this app called, “Achievement”. Supposedly it pays you to do healthily things. Based on the description and how much we walk we expected to each get paid $10.00 about once a month. That’s not bad for doing nothing more than we normally would. Why do they pay you – because when you sign up you tell them all kinds of personal information about yourself (it’s mandatory) and they sell that information to companies in health related industries.
Well, it’s been about three months, we’ve walked almost 600 miles and still we’re just one quarter of the way to getting our $10.00. At this rate we’ll get paid around Thanksgiving. According to their website you can earn more points by exercising in a gym or riding a bike but according to many of the reviews I’ve read that doesn’t really help much. Basically, in our opinion, it’s a crock.
In conclusion: Caveat Emptor (see, being in Italy for three months really did expand our vocabulary 😉).
The first order of business was lunch. The area around the Banya Bashi Mosque / Sofia Synagogue has a lot of ethic restaurants so we returned there in search of a highly recommended Turkish restaurant.
As usual the restaurant displayed their food buffet style. One waitress, who spoke rudimentary English, tried to explain what the items were. We wound up choosing a couple of things that looked good. We each chose a different rice to accompany our choice.
Both dishes were a cacophony of meat and vegetables in a thin gravy. Mine was lamb; Deborah’s was beef. They were simply ok. Deborah’s rice turned out to be some sort of grain, similar to couscous, that was heavily seasoned. It was very good. My rice appeared to be regular short grain white rice. It had several seasonings. One was a purple looking spice we later learned was sumac. It was the best dish we’ve eaten since we’ve been here. We’ll definitely go back for another serving before we leave.
After lunch we visited the oldest building in Sofia dating back to the fourth century: The Church of Saint George Rotunda. The building was constructed by the Romans during the time when Emperor Constantine often visited the city. The small church is round and has a dome that is covered in several layers of frescos dating from the tenth through 14th centuries. Several layers can still be seen today. The church was also a common meeting place during the Serdika Ecumenical Council, which was a follow up to the Council of Trent. No photography was permitted.
It can be hard to find the church. During the Soviet era religion was outlawed and many places of worship were repurposed or destroyed. They were, however, reluctant to destroy an ancient artifact of such historic and religious significance fearing a reaction from the populace so they hid it by surrounding it on four sides with large, administrative buildings. Inside the horseshoe shaped interior of the complex you the church and the ruins of Roman buildings dating from the third century.
(The Church of Saint George Rotunda surrounded by Government Buildings)
The next stop was Saint Sveta Petka of the Saddlers. This is a very small, ancient church that is below present day street level. The first level dates from the fourth century and the second level dates from the 11th century. Adjacent to the church you can find ruins dating from the time of Emperor Constantine.
(Saint Sveta Petra of the Saddlers Main Alter)
Afterwards we visited the Russian Church “Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski”. The church was built on the site of a Mosque after the liberation from the Ottoman Empire and is the official church of the Russian Embassy. It’s a very pretty church painted a beautiful green with several golden onion domes. The interior of this church was well preserved. It had some of the best frescos we’ve seen since we’ve been here. No photography was permitted.
(Russian Church Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski)
On our way home we found a lovely long pedestrian way lined with upscale shops and nice restaurants. We stopped and had cappuccino and dessert in one of the cafes. We’re planning to go back and explore this area in detail on another day.
Distance walked: 6.8 miles
Wednesday, February 7
Today we visited the National Art Gallery. The Gallery is housed in a large building that used to serve as the palace of the king. Only the work of Bulgarian artists is on display.
Much of the work on the first floor is avant garde. A few pieces were performance art that was captured on film. The second floor contained pieces primarily from the early to mid 20th century as well as a small, seasonal exhibit of landscapes. Many of the pieces honored Ivan Vazov, who is considered the father of Bulgarian literature. There was also a large collection of graphic art from children’s storybooks.
(“Old Man” by Ivan Mrkvicha. A gift for Ivan Vazov’s First Jubilee.)
The gift shop, in addition to the usual types of items, contained a number of Bulgarian made confections, clothing and food stuffs. We purchased some “Turkish Delight” (wonderful firm, chewy cubes of sugar and corn starch flavored with nuts and rose water), some white and brown chocolates flavored with rose water, some honey and a jar of exotic spices. We can’t quite figure out exactly what is in the spice mixture but it is smells and tastes wonderful. We’ve been putting it on everything.
Nearby there was a Starbucks. We checked out the local prices and sampled the coffee of the month. Generally coffee was about half the price found in New York City.
Next we wended our way to a store called, “Gifted Urban Culture Hub”. It’s a studio for local artists and a gallery of their work. All items are for sale. They also have lockers where you can store your luggage for the day.
On the way home we walked through the upscale shopping district once again. We found a shop selling nuts and dried fruits. These shops can be found all over the city; they are very popular.
When you walk into the shop the smell of roasting nuts was overwhelming. We never wanted to leave. We finally settled on some roasted walnuts and roasted pecans. We also purchased some dried figs. All were fabulously delicious.
Distance walked: 5.2 miles
Thursday, February 8
I played tennis! I went back to the club I had found and hit with one of their pros for an hour. I was terrible. My timing was way off. While collecting some balls at the net I made the comment that my footwork was poor and the coach replied, “Yes, you need more feet”. I couldn’t agree more.
I know from previous experience that a layoff of just two weeks really affected my game. I have’t played in over four months. I plan to go back a few times and see if I can get back up to speed. Besides, it’s still a lot of fun and great exercise.
The club is about 2.5 miles walking distance from the apartment so I decided to try the subway system. There is a metro station within a five minute walk of the apartment. Three stops later, and another five minute walk, I was at the club. The cost was about $1.00 each way; for the equivalent of $2.50 you can ride all day. The entire system is fairly new and seems clean and efficient. Currently Sofia has two subway lines. Because the city is growing so fast they are planning on building two more.
Distance walked: 3.2 miles
Friday, February 9
For just the third time Sofia hosted an annual ATP 250 level tennis tournament called the “Sofia Open”. Today was the quarterfinals and we had tickets. The schedule called for four singles matches and one doubles match. Since there were no metro stations near the venue we left at 10:00 am. The first match was scheduled for noon and we didn’t want to be late. The walking distance was a little over two miles.
Grigor Dmitrov, who is from Bulgaria and is currently ranked number three in the world, usually plays in the tournament. He is a local celebrity. He was scheduled to play but pulled out because of injury. Since it’s customary to have at least one big name player in these smaller tournaments the organizers coaxed Stan Wawrinka to play. Stan is returning to the tour after a half year layoff due to knee surgery. He is normally ranked in the top five but because of his time off he is currently ranked 15.
We arrived at the stadium around 11:30 am. There was very little activity. We weren’t even sure it was open. Inside, with only 30 minutes until the first match, nothing was in readiness. There were no food stands open, no clothing for sale, no vendors selling tennis paraphernalia – nothing except a few popcorn stands. We sat in our assigned seats and watched a few of the players warming up. At 11:45 am they left the court and at noon the first match began. We saw Giles Muller, a perennial star currently ranked 28, play Marius Copil. The 93rd ranked player won.
It was time for lunch. We figured that everything would be setup by now. We were right and we were wrong! Everything was setup – the problem was that there was not much of anything. The only food available were some pre-made sandwiches. They also had drinks, candy bars and energy bars. There were no clothing vendors and no one was selling Sofia Open branded items. They did have small booths that were selling cups of steamed corn kernels, which seemed very popular. We split a sandwich and tried the corn. It was not very satisfying.
(Waiting for Stan)
Then we saw Marcos Baghdatis, a perennial star currently ranked 123, play Jozef Kovalik. The 187th ranked player won. The second seeded doubles team then played the third seeded team. The second seeded team won in a blowout. We had to wait about an hour before the main attraction: Stan Wawrinka vs. 67th ranked Victor Troiki.
While waiting we went in search of some decent food. There was none to be found. We ate some power bars and killed time by walking around the venue a few times. Stan was going to be worth waiting for. Many people brought their own food. Obviously they knew something we didn’t.
Stan Wawrinka didn’t disappoint. Victor Troiki has been having a very good year but Stan was in a different class. He won the first set 6-1. The second set was more of a contest but Stan won in a tie-breaker.
At the end of the match we had been in the stadium for over seven hours and \ still had a long walk home so we decided to skip the last match. We’d never heard of the last two players and didn’t think we’d miss much.
Distance walked: 8.8 miles
Saturday, February 10
The forecast was for freezing rain and snow all weekend so we decided to hit the grocery store early in anticipation of spending the weekend indoors. The deli counter has some wonderful prepared foods that we’ve been enjoying. This time we bought roast chicken parts, a warm potato concoction made with cheese, sour yogurt and pork and some sausages.
The rain started late in the afternoon and the snow started in the evening. So far, there have been no significant accumulations. We’re keeping our fingers crossed. We really don’t have winter weather clothing.
We’ll be eating junk food and watching the Olympics this weekend. PyeongChang is only seven hours ahead of us. We can watch in realtime.
We woke up to find that we had no hot water and our radiators were cold (we have steam for heat). We waited a few hours for the hot water to come up. It never did. We decided to take a break from the rigors of bathing and go out and get some lunch anyway. The forecast was for rain on and off that day but since we were already playing it fast and loose we figured we’d take our chances.
We went to one of our favorite street vendors and, of course, it started to rain just as we started to eat. Fortunately there was an awning to stand under.
Today was Bulgarian Pizza day. This time we acted like locals and tried it with mayonnaise and ketchup. Their mayo has a lot more vinegar in it but didn’t really add anything. The ketchup wasn’t bad but why would you do that? That is an experiment that we probably won’t repeat.
After lunch we started to walk about but the weather really was miserable so we decided to call it a day. When we got back to the apartment we talked to someone in the building and they told us that there had been an ‘accident’ and that the entire area was without heat and hot water. We gleaned that the building doesn’t have it’s own boiler and that heat and hot water are centralized services here. That’s very different from what we’re used to. Viva la difference!
Monday, February 5
We woke this morning to heat and hot water as usual. We learned that there is a single company that supplies hot water and electricity to the entire City. Apparently their pipelines are very old and in poor condition. They actually schedule outages to do major repairs. Last year the price of their services increased by 38%. Ouch!
Today was a beautiful day so we decided to make up for lost time and hit a few hotspots. Our first stop was lunch! We happened on a kosher restaurant serving Israeli delicacies. We each had a plate of humus with falafel balls. It was delicious.
Next we visited The Sofia Synagogue. It is the largest Sephardic synagogue in Europe. The largest synagogue in Europe is an Ashkenazi Synagogue in Amsterdam. Sephardic Jews come from the Iberian Peninsula (mostly Spain) and Ashkenazi Jews come primarily from Germany.
The Synagogue opened in 1909 and was designed by the well known Austrian architect Fredrich Grünanger. An elderly member of the congregation gave us a tour. He told an interesting story of how, in World War II, a bomb fell on a portion of the building. Fortunately it was a dud and did very little damage. He said, “Maybe it was a miracle”.
The interior is designed around several religiously significant numbers. The number eight was represented in the number of sides of the building, the number of lights in the chandeliers and the patterns in the mosaics on the floor. The number eight is important because that is the age in days when boys are circumcised; there are also eight days of Chanukah. Twelve, which represents the number of tribes of Israel, was also represented in many design motifs.
(Interior of Sofia Synagogue)
Our next stop was just two blocks away. It was the Banya Bashi Mosque. The mosque was built in the 16th century during the time when the Ottoman Empire ruled Bulgaria. It was designed by a famous architect of the time named Mimar Sinan. He was the chief architect and engineer for the Ottoman Empire and is considered to be the Michaelangelo of the East. His most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul.
(Banya Bashi Mosque with Minaret)
As is the custom we were required to remove our shoes before entering the building. Deborah also was required to cover her hair. Inside we found a small, round room that was less than 100 feet in diameter. It had beautiful stained glass windows and brightly colored designs painted on the walls. It was simply decorated and was not as ornate as we expected.
(Interior of Banya Bashi Dome)
Not to overlook Christianity we then headed for Saint Nedelya, an Eastern Orthodox Church. The name translates to something like “Saint Sunday” or “Holy Sunday”. Even the Bulgarians are not sure why it’s named that. (Don’t worry folks, there aren’t that many churches to visit here – we’ll start talking about something else soon).
The church has a long and interesting history. It was originally constructed in the tenth century and has been expanded and rebuilt many times since. In 1925 the church was bombed in an attempt to kill the King of Bulgaria. Over 150 people were killed but the King, who was expected, was not harmed because he was attending the funeral of one of his bodyguards at the time.
The interior of the church was very impressive. It is decorated in Byzantine style and covered in frescos. Icons were on display in every corner and the alter was highlighted in gold. It cost 5 Лв to take pictures here.
(Main Alter of Saint Nedelya Church)
On our way home we stopped for coffee and dessert and strolled through one of the many parks. It was a good day.
We left our apartment in Rome at 5:00 am in order to catch an 8:00 am flight to Sofia, Bulgaria (the locals pronounce it SO-fia). We arrived on time and without incident – we even got all our luggage this time. The cab ride from the airport was the equivalent of $10 USD. The local currency is the LEV (pronounced Levah), which means Lion. One LEV, written as Лв, is about 65 cents. Oh yeah, they use the Cyrillic alphabet.
Our new second floor apartment is very close to the city center. There is no elevator but the steps are very easy to climb. The building is probably a leftover from the Soviet era but the apartment was completely renovated in the last few years and everything is fresh and new. It’s huge too! In addition to a bathroom and a decent sized kitchen we have a bedroom, living room and full dining room. Did I forget to mention the dishwasher and the second bedroom? What a luxury! There was one minor incident upon arrival: the WIFI was not working. Someone came that evening and replaced the router. Now everything is 100%.
In the afternoon we walked around Town to try to get our bearings. The city is larger than we expected and there are parks everywhere. Most of the buildings are from the Soviet era and have very little charm. We did a little grocery shopping before heading home. A new city – we have our work cut out for us; I doubt we’ll find over 100 churches here.
We’re not going to list churches anymore!
Distance walked: 7.4 miles
Tuesday, January 30
Normally I have a cheese omelette for breakfast each day. We found that the only frying pan in the cupboard had a badly scratched teflon coating, which was unlikely to work well. Deborah improvised. She used a large soup pot. It’s a little hard to do the flip but the results were great.
The first place we had to visit was the Alexander Nevski Cathedral. Even if you’ve never been to Sofia it’s likely that you’d recognize it. As the character Cher said in the movie Clueless, “It’s way famous”. It’s just a fifteen minute walk from our apartment.
The Cathedral was built after Bulgaria was liberated from the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Construction started in 1882 and was completed in 1912. The Bulgarians were so grateful to the Russians for liberating them that they dedicated the church to a Russian Saint: Alexander Nevsky.
(Alexander Nevsky Cathedral)
The floor plan is different from your typical Roman Catholic Basilica. You enter into a vestibule that is ornately decorated with frescos. Here you will find a gift shop containing a large collection of icons. The interior of the Cathedral is round with a very high dome. There are several alters near the back that are highly decorated in the Byzantine style. The walls are heavily fresco’ed, everything is covered in gold leaf and there are many icons on display. The most important relic is a piece of one of the bones of the named saint.
(The Main Alter)
It was disappointing to see that the church was not in very good condition. All of the frescos were badly faded and many of the walls were cracked and peeling. A large area of the ceiling had been damaged by water and had never been properly repaired. The church had probably been neglected during the Soviet era and needs a lot of attention (more likely money) to bring it back. It was very sad.
There was a funny incident while we were there. When I started taking pictures a very excited priest came running over to me and said that it cost ten Лв to take pictures (about $6.50). He rushed us over to the gift shop and closely supervised to make sure I paid. He told me to be sure to keep the receipt. A little later someone else confronted me (yes, that is the word) and asked to see my receipt. He wrote something on it and tore off a piece. I wasn’t going to be able to take pictures on a second day without paying. It’s an interesting way to raise funds and one that I’ve never seen before.
Next we went over to see Saint Sofia Church, which was just a block away. This church dates from at least the sixth century and was the inspiration for giving the city its present day name in the 14th century. We weren’t able to explore this church because a wedding was about to start but we were able to tour the excavations below. We’ll have to go back another time.
The cost for seeing the excavations was six Лв per person. There was going to be an additional charge of 15 Лв if I wanted to take pictures. I was beginning to see a pattern. This time the camera would stay on my shoulder. I offered a credit card but was refused with a rather sour look. I suspected that Sofia was going to be a cash based society.
We entered a small cave-like room and were treated to a ten minute film. It talked mostly about the history of Sofia throughout the ages. We learned some interesting things. Originally the site was a necropolis. During Roman times, when the city was named Serdica, a building on this site was used for the Council of Serdica in 343 AD. This council was a follow up to the more well known Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The present day church was built sometime between the fourth and sixth centuries.
Apparently the city of Serdica was a favorite of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He spent a considerable period of time there and wanted to make it the capital of the Roman Empire. Constantinople (present day Istanbul) was eventually chosen for strategic reasons, however. In the 16th century, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the church was converted into a Mosque. It was converted back to a church after the Russo-Turkish war.
As we walked through the excavations we saw a large number of small, now empty vaults, that had been used as tombs. This was the original necropolis. At the far end of the excavations we saw some remnants of mosaic floors dating from Roman times. It turned out to be a good decision not to have paid the extra money to take photographs.
We decided to take the long route home and see what else was in the neighborhood. We found a business district with small shops selling local foods. The shops have no interior to speak of – they sell directly out of a window. This is where we discovered banitsa. These are long thin pastries made out of phyllo dough stuffed with all kinds of things. We had one with spinach and cheese, one with cheese and leek and one stuffed with pumpkin covered in sugar. Not only where they delicious but they were cheap. Total cost: about $1.80. Pizza is also popular. It is mostly neapolitan style but it is crammed full of vegetables and meats. They serve it on a stiff piece of cardboard, which makes it easy to eat. Yum! The locals add all sorts of things like ketchup and mayonnaise on top; I’m not sure that we’ll try that.
Distance walked: 5.2 miles
Thursday, February 1
Well, it’s official. I guess we’ve been doing this for three months now. Who knows where this will lead.
Today we took the ‘Free Sofia Tour’. An organization called Association 365 gives these walking tours each day in several different languages. We opted for English. Our guide, a young man named Stanislav (an actor by trade), was a joy. He had a thorough knowledge of the history of Bulgaria and knew the city well. For two and a half hours we saw and talked about the major sights in the downtown area. It was very informative and was a great introduction to the city. We didn’t enter any of the buildings that we saw but now we have a larger list of places to go back and visit. We’ll write about each as we visit. He also mentioned similar tours focused on culture and the communist period. We plan to do these as well. They have a nominal cost.
Lunch was at a small restaurant serving typical Bulgarian food frequented by locals. There were no menus (not that we could read them anyway). It was cafeteria style. We just pointed to what we wanted. Deborah had a huge cabbage and carrot salad and what we think was an apple muffin. I had the same salad and a ball of some kind of meat. It was all delicious and cost about $3.00.
We’ve discovered two interesting things about meals at small, local restaurants. People do not drink with their meals. Also, seasonings are not used in the foods. If you order a meatball you get a ball of meat (sometimes there are onions) but it has no garlic, no pepper, no oregano or anything else. Only a few grocery stores stock any seasonings other than salt.
After walking around some more we decided to try some local coffee. We went into a place called, “Costa Coffee”. It turns out to be a UK based chain. It looked exactly like a Starbucks and had a similar menu. Next time we’ll be sure to find something really local.
Distance walked: 7 miles
Saturday, February 3
We learned that Sofia was hosting an ATP Tennis tournament this month. Since the arena is on the other side of Town we decided that walking would give us a good chance to see that part of Town.
Our way took us through a park named Borisova Gradina. When speaking of their parks they often refer to them as ‘gardens’, which is a literal translation of Gradina. The park is huge. It has a number of tennis courts, playgrounds for children, statues and monuments, sports stadiums and lovely wooded paths.
(Mound of Brotherhood commemorating those who fought against Fascism)
(Wooded Path)
When we finally got to the arena the ticket offices were closed. We ended up booking online when we got home. We got tickets to see the quarterfinals, which should include four singles matches and two doubles matches. Grigor Dmitrov, a Bulgarian tennis player currently ranked number three in the world who won the tournament last year, was expected to play. He recently pulled out due to a shoulder injury. Stan Wawrinka, a Swiss tennis player ranked in the top five, is slated to play in his stead.
After that we went in search of tennis clubs. There are several in that part of Town. I wanted to see if I could find someplace to play. We found a very nice club with red clay courts that can be rented for 13 Лв an hour (about $8.00). That compares nicely with what I was paying in NYC (about $120).
By now it was about 2:00 pm and we were starving. It was Saturday so it was hard to find a local restaurant that was open. We settled for a chain restaurant called, “Quattro Stagioni”. Deborah had pumpkin soup and cabbage salad. Neither had any seasoning. I had a pepperoni pizza. It was all very good.
