Another lovely day awaits us .Hot and sunny so sunglasses,hats and sunscreen are required. Lots of noise last night from trams passing our room overlooking the street plus an air conditioner which failed to work meant we were a little slower to start than planned but we were away by nine and we retraced our steps from the tour and revisited some of the stops in more depth e.g we sat in on a service at the Sveta Nedelya Church for part of the Thursday morning service which is said to ward off black magic and the evil eye!
This church is also a scene of early terrorism . History tells of a plot by communist sympathisers to assassinate the Bulgarian King in 1925 by packing the church dome with dynamite and detonating it during a funeral service of a local dignitary . The king escaped because he was late but 123 people died.
Another bizarre story is that of women who believed in the health giving properties of leaving your undies in a plastic bag for 24 hours inside the chest said to contain the relics of one Stefano Uriah for a cure.
We visited the new subway station for another look at the Roman remains of the city discovered as they excavated the main line . The outcome has been to enclose part of the ruins in glass so you can look through at the old city,they even have an ancient wooden bridge under glass . Later the will be an outdoor museum where you will be able to walk amongst the restoration . An imaginative project and a good example of my comment about a city built on layers.
In this area known as the Largo was also a 4th Century iconic church known as Sveti St George, the oldest in Sofia but encircled by modern communist built buildings at odds with the architecture of the church . The communists built a huge department store there to vital the west and locals called it Tzum or zoom because of the elevator inside,they were fascinated by the moving stairs . The other buildings housed government buildings and ministers but today rather ignored by the people.
Overlooking this whole area was a massive statue known as Sveta Sofia,not after the city but is said to denote holy wisdom . It was built on the site of Lenin's Statue torn down after the communists were overthrown.
Serdika was the original name of the city established by the Thracians later overtaken by the Byzantine, Romans and most hated,the Ottoman Empire who ruled for five hundred years . Most Bulgarians speak sadly of this time in their history as they were basically slaves in their own country and treated appallingly by the Turks. They had a couple of periods of self rule as a kingdom and are proud of this part of their history.
Religion plays a big part in the story of the city as there are also mosques,a synagogue,a Catholic cathedral and Bulgarian Orthodox churches all close together . Lovely buildings which were closed today because of storm damage.
We wandered down the yellow brick road,a feature of the inner city which leads past the art gallery and other notable buildings as we made our way to the church,Aleksandur New ski . This church was built by the Russian and Baltic people to honor their dead,killed during the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire . A magnificent place,gleaming domes of gold caught the sunlight and made it an impressive sight at the end of the Avenue.
The monument to the unknown soldier is also close by and guarded by a huge lion statue,Bulgarians love lions! They have them everywhere there is a significant building.
We saw the ornate old bath house built for the people by the king as he thought if they smelled good they would feel good so he drew hot water from the mineral springs to provide a great asset . This building is under restoration and will be amazing. There are hot mineral fountains nearby where people were constantly driving in and filling up containers while others took the waters as they believed they had medicinal properties and could cure illness of the digestive tract.
The morning passed quickly as we explored the local neighborhoods and market places and soon it was time for a break at Costa for coffee.
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