Sofia 14.08.2015
Sofia is rather small city. Unfortunately a lot of historical artefacts were lost during the time. Probably that's cause Bulgaria for a long time was in dependence from one or another conqueror. During a long period it was Ottoman Empire, which influenced a lot on the national cuisine.
One of the notable reference points is Sofia University. It is located in the very central part of the city, therefore I started my walk exactly from here.
Nearby you can find monument to Russian Tsar Alexander II, who freed Bulgarians from Turkish people during Russo-Turkish War in the end of XIX century.
Bulgarians are mostly orthodox christians, however churches architecture is more closer to Byzantine style, than to Russian Orthodox style. Here is for example the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Quite beautiful from the outside.
Though long-term period as part of Turkish Ottoman Empire left its mark. You can find here mosques as well.
Even the building in fron of President Palace was built in Oriental style.
You can easily note the huge amount of taxis on the street. Price is also quite low (especially comparing to Moscow). Though prices are low not only for a taxi. Food is also not expensive. In average it takes about twice cheaper than in Moscow (not sure if still valid due to exchange rate changes in Russia. comment 2016)
Vitosha Boulevard is also pretty interesting. Huge walking boulevard. Quite beautiful.
You still can feel the connection with Soviet Union which was there a while ago (:
So, the overall impression about Bulgaria is that it’s rather interesting country. The language sounds funny. It looks like there lived in Russia a thousand years ago and then simply left the country with this ancient language. Since that time the language started to change quite slowly. Like a lot of things in there (: