Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria and the biggest city of the country. It lays on a huge valley at the feet of the Vitosha Mountain (quite impressive view from the airplane window), and the city centre shows a modern aspect. Lots of posh places to be seen at, good restaurants, lots of renewed buildings, and centuries of history within their walls.

I particularly liked the variety of ruins from different times: Thracian, Roman, Ottoman years, Communism, and also the amount of churches from different religions which have outlived the different type of governments and people.

Specially amazing was the Свети Александър Невски or the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, one of the biggest orthodox churches in the world.

The Balkans are a well-known seismic area, and hot springs are relative common. In fact, Sofia has got several public fountains directly connected to the underground streams, where people go to collect hot water to drink at their places after some cooling. The reason behind this, apart from the cost and the quality of this water, is the quality of the piping not being in very good shape.

The WTF! moment of  the day in Sofia was when we met the UN Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, while watching a temporary exhibition of painted bears representing each country in the world… It was easy to recognize him, even though there were only around 30 people surrounding him…

And of course, as a good alcoyano, I found St.George…

Some more pictures from Sofia (and other parts from Bulgaria) in this slideshow.