A Day in Sofia, Bulgaria: More Photographs

Note: This is a continuation of the trip report of the day I spent in Sofia, which is the capital city of Bulgaria.

Even if you are not a history buff — and I can only take so much history before I have had enough — a visit to the National Institute of Archaeology is a must.

The museum is housed in the oldest preserved building in Sofia — dating back to the end of the 15th century.

The entrance fee is 10.00 Bulgarian Lev — or approximately $6.75. There are discounts for students and groups; and guided tours are available. I did not take a guided tour.

The artifacts and relics — both inside and outside of the building — were interesting to me; but again, there is only so much history I can take…

…but it does amaze me that I can view an object created by humans from centuries ago and get a small glimpse of what life was like back then.

I decided to continue to wander about the city and simply photograph some of the typical day in the life of Sofia.

I walked south down the main street from the city center.

I reached a pedestrian bridge which has no name but is known as The Bridge of the Lovers because it supposedly was commonly used place for meetings of young people in love.

The bridge — which connects the National Palace of Culture to the Hilton Sofia hotel property — has an open air gallery with photographic exhibitions. Sometimes festivals take place on this bridge.

I decided to head back the approximately four kilometers from the Hilton Sofia to the central train station to catch my overnight ride back to Bucharest, as I had a flight the next day.

The inside of the train station did not look nearly as eerie and dark as it did early that morning.

The green train actually brought a whimsical quality to what I otherwise consider a cold and utilitarian interior of the train station.

However, the decorative architectural work on the walls was rather interesting to me.

Well, here is the schedule board with the timetables — and if could read the darn thing, it probably showed that my train was scheduled to depart on time.

For all I know, the information may as well have read that the train from Sydney to Anchorage was on time as well.

Despite the broken clock, I knew it was about time to depart Sofia.

There are plenty of historic buildings and parks around Sofia which you can enjoy — but I arrived with absolutely no plan in mind; nor had I had any idea what was in Sofia. That is actually not a bad way to spend the day in an unfamiliar location; as it heightens the experience with adventure and curiosity — almost as if I “discovered” the places which I highlighted in both parts of this trip report.

However, there are a number of other areas around Sofia which I would have been interested in exploring — and I did not have the time to venture outside of the city; but I understand that the natural topography of Bulgaria is breathtaking.

If you are interested in shopping around Sofia, you are reading the wrong weblog. Unless you go to Sofia in the near future, I recommend that you ask Kendra Collins of the Points and Pixie Dust weblog or Jennifer Moody of The Jetsetter’s Homestead weblog to go to Sofia and shop their hearts out. They would enjoy it far more than me and give you fantastic and detailed reports — just read some of their past shopping exploits as proof — as I personally consider shopping akin to pure torture.

A day trip walking around Sofia truly does suffice; but if you are more interested in exploring the culture and history of Sofia and Bulgaria in general, I would recommend staying overnight and spending at least part of the next day in Sofia — and add more time if you plan on exploring other parts of Bulgaria…

…and to Michael of the Michael W Travels weblog: I hope that this trip report of primarily photographs has been helpful to you while you are in Bulgaria and Sofia this week.