Sofia, Bulgaria
София, България

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Cathedral Saint Aleksandar Nevski, Sofia София, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021


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The Virgin Panhymnitos, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

c 16th - 17th century, from Nessebur; now in Chrypt Al. Nevski

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Wizz Air 4376 on Airbus A321neo G-WKUM arriving in Sofia, Bulgaria — July 27, 2021


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St. George kills the dragon, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

Early 17th century

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The Hadjidragana Tavern, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

I found this office wandering by one day. I had never heard of this political group before, but I thought it was an interesting photo (and possible and interesting subject, so I took the pic.) I will need to research further.


	/tirana_water_fountain

Cathedral Saint Aleksandar Nevski, Sofia София, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021


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Bulgarian Socialist Party office, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

I found this office wandering by one day. I had never heard of this political group before, but I thought it was an interesting photo (and possible and interesting subject, so I took the pic.) I will need to research further.


	/tirana_water_fountain

St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

17th century, from Sozopol, Bulgaria

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Judgement, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

1829


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St. John the Theologian, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

c 1620, Poganovo Monastery, Serbia

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Christ the High Priest and King of Kings, Sofia, Bulgaria — July 28, 2021

late 16th century / early 17th century

Bulgaria 2021 Journal

Tuesday, July 27 — Sofia

My Wizz Air flight W6 4376 lands at Sofia Airport Летище София on time at 7:50pm. I exit our Airbus A321neo and walk onto the tarmac. It is still light out, the weather is warm, and the airport is nice and compact. Everyone is in a fair mood. I pass through immigration. Bulgaria is not part of Shengen so the formalities are a bit more complex than traveling in Western Europe. After customs, a nice lady at the airport calls a taxi and my driver heads to Les Fleurs Boutique Hotel, where I check into room 603, with a nice easterly view over terracotta rooftops.


Wednesday, July 28 — Sofia

One great thing obout Sofia is the center is compact and many of the sites are walkable. There’s alao a metro. Even though it was a hot day, the heat was dry so it was manageable with water in tow. After breakfast, I walked over to St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and toured the cyrpt museum first displaying a wonderful collection of icons from the 5th century onward, mostly from the 17th - 19th century. Flashless photos were allowed so I took some and realized I need to leearn a bit more about the apostles, etc. Afterward I walked to photograpy the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral with its classic dombe, and then I went inside. The beautiful floor was lined in black worn stone, white marblish stone, red stone with white striations, and yellow stone. What type of stones were these on the church floor? On the walls there was a mosiac icon art that was quite neat.


Thursday, July 29 — Sofia

Checked in at Grand Harbour Hotel
Dinner at San Paolo Naufrago
Brian has tummy ache


Friday, July 30 — Plodiv

Nice breakfast. After, I head over to Sofia Metro Serdica Сердика station and head northish for two stops to the Central Railway Station, where I exit. The station is of the classic era, and most of the writting is in Cyrillic, which could cause some to get nervous, but luckily I have some time to figures things out. The first thing I notice is my train БВ 8611 doesn't have a track assigned yet, so I have to wait. In about 10 minutes, I notice my train is assigned to that track 11и. I previoulsy did some research and learned that there were two track 11s: 11З & 11и. With a bit of tranlate helpf, I realized that З meant West, Запад, and и meant east, изток. It all makes sense as Plovdiv is east of Sofia. All set. I find the first class carriage, which is quite old, but at least the windows roll down. At 13:20, on the dot, my Bulgarian State Railways train rolls out of the station. We average about 33mph and the trip takes a bit less than three hours. It is very hot outside, about 35 Celcius, so as long as the train is moving with the windows down, there is a bit of breeze to cool things off a tad. But when we pull into a station without an overhang, it becomes a pizza oven!

Eventually we pull into Plovdiv station, and a taxi takes me to HillHouse, where a very nice attendant checks me into room #302.


Saturday, July 31 — Plodiv

Checked in at Grand Harbour Hotel
Dinner at San Paolo Naufrago
Brian has tummy ache


Sunday, August 1 — Sofia

Bus back to Sofia, chedck into room 401.


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