A Walk to Remember in Sofia

A small van took me and seven other travellers from the Sofia International Airport to our hotel. They were all from England – five ladies and two guys. I was the only one from North America.

During the ride, after introductions were made, we asked each other about our afternoon plans. That day was designated as the official arrival day for everybody, so there were no scheduled activities, except for an orientation meeting with our Tour Director in the evening and an optional meet-and-greet group dinner right after. Most of them just wanted to have lunch, a shower, and a nap.

I told them I was thinking of going to the Old Town and joining a free walking tour that would start at 2:00 p.m. Since we were leaving for Belgrade the following day and we’d only get a chance to tour Sofia at the very end of this trip, I figured I could spend the afternoon getting to know the city, then get my much-needed sleep right after the orientation meeting (among us, I traveled the longest, having flown all the way from Canada). That would work better for me to ensure I didn’t get jetlagged. I also planned on skipping the welcome dinner as there would be plenty of time to join the group for the duration of our tour.

One of the guys (an Aussie working in London) asked if he could join me. He didn’t need a nap either and would much rather explore. He read about the walking tour and was glad he found someone else who wanted to do it. We agreed to meet at the lobby at 1:15 p.m. after we had checked-in and left our luggage in our rooms.

We shared a taxi because we were pressed for time and weren’t sure about the traffic situation. We needed to be in front of the Palace of Justice by 1:50 p.m. to meet our guide.

Our cab driver dropped us off a block away from the tour meeting place on Vitosha Boulevard. It turned out we had a full twenty minutes before the official start of the tour, so we walked around for a bit. The boulevard is a pedestrian zone full of shops, cafés, and restaurants. I perused the souvenir shops, while my travel mate tried to find a currency exchange place to get some Bulgarian Lev.

(Update: As of January 1, 2026, Bulgaria has adapted the euro as its official currency to replace the lev.)

While window-shopping, I found out that Bulgaria is known for its roses. The Rose Valley, south of the Balkan Mountains, cultivates roses and produces close to half of the world’s rose oil. And true enough, each and every souvenir store displayed an array of rose merchandise, from beauty products such as, rose oil, rose perfume, and rose-infused cosmetics, to food items such as, rose chocolates, rose petal jams, rose tea, and even health products such as, rose vitamin capsules and rose nectar.          

I learned from one of the shopkeepers that rose oil extracted from the petals of the Bulgarian rose, Damascena, one of the rarest flowers in the world, is said to be both an effective beauty and therapeutic product widely used by the Thracians since it was first introduced by soldiers of Alexander the Great returning from Persia.

Though rose scent is not my favourite (I prefer gourmand scent profiles over the floral ones), it reminded me of my late mom’s signature scent in her 30s and 40s – the Tea Rose perfume launched in 1977 by Perfumer’s Workshop. Since then, she had been obsessed with everything rose-scented or rose-tinted. She would have loved all these Bulgarian rose products!

My travel mate and I reconvened outside the corner store and walked together to the Palace of Justice.

The Palace of Justice is Bulgaria’s Court House that houses all of the country’s judicial organizations and several courts. Flanked on both sides of the entrance by stately lion sculptures and featuring five imposing gates and twelve Greek-style classical columns, it was clear why this is one of the downtown landmarks chosen as a meeting place or starting point for a city adventure.

A small crowd had already assembled and by the time the tour guides arrived, we numbered around 60. The two guides smartly split us into two groups.

Our guide was friendly, sprightly, and spunky, and we immediately liked her. She told us she was born in Sofia and that she was a university student and a freelance actress. She has performed with the theatre company in Stara Zagora and recently returned to Sofia to rediscover its beauty. Aside from passionately performing her duties as a tour guide, she was also into cinema, traveling, and dancing. She said that at each stop, she was going to give us a pop quiz with impromptu history questions and those who could give the right answers would get special olive-flavoured candies (I got five!).

I knew right away that this was going to be a lively tour. Despite the sweltering heat of the afternoon, her vivacious energy made me forget that I had not eaten anything since my airplane snack and that I had forgotten to take along my water bottle. My travel mate brought out a hotdog sandwich and shared a third with me (he wanted to give me half, but I insisted a third was enough). I made a mental note that I needed to grab a bottle of water at the next available store if I were to survive this two-hour trek under 35 degrees of heat and humidity.

We walked to the Sveta Nedelya Eastern Orthodox Church (Saint Nedelya Church, also known as Holy Sunday Church). Lying directly above the ancient crossroads of Serdika (Sofia’s ancient name), it is considered the centre of the city. It is the direct successor of several smaller churches from medieval times.

This church is tied to an interesting piece of Bulgaria’s history and politics, and a testament to the advantages of the Bulgarian trait of tardiness. In 1925, the church was destroyed by a bomb blast which was actually an assassination attempt by the Communists on Tsar Boris III. On that fateful day, the tsar was scheduled to attend the state funeral of General Konstantin Georgiev.

The church was full and the entire military leadership of Bulgaria was gathered there. The Communist terrorists had placed a bomb in the roof of the cathedral and at its explosion, more than 200 people were killed. Amazingly, no prominent figures were among the dead, and by sheer luck, the tsar escaped this terrorist assault simply because, you guessed it right, he was fashionably very late. This bombing was later used by the government as the final excuse to clear away all opposition and declare Martial Law.

We did not go inside because it was not included in the walking tour, but our guide told us that should we decide to visit again at another time, we could find inside, the relics of a 13th-century Serbian king, a stunning mural painted in the 1970s, and a wooden screen of carved icons from 1865. For the time being, I was content with admiring its Byzantine architecture and magnificent façade.

 (Update: I returned to Sofia in 2023 and was finally able to see the interior of this church.)

We crossed the street to look at the façade of Viva Hotel and Casino, where the Coat of Arms of Sofia was prominently embedded above its main entrance. As we stood on the sidewalk, our guide explained the meaning behind the iconic symbol.

Designed in 1900 on the occasion of the World Exhibition held in Paris, Sofia’s Coat of Arms is in the shape of a shield separated into four square fields. On the upper right is a humanized image of the ancient town of Serdika copied from an antique coin. On the upper left is the image of the Church of St. Sophia which gave the name to the city. The lower left depicts Vitosha, the mountain at the foot of which Sofia is located, and the lower right features a golden baldachin and a statue of Apollo Medicus representing the healing springs around the city. In the middle is another smaller shield with the image of a lion, the traditional symbol of Bulgaria. A fortress with three towers resembling a crown tops the larger shield, and at the bottom is the city motto that when translated into English says, “Ever growing, never aging.” I think this is a good way of summing up the long history of this country.

At the other end of the Sveta Nedelya Square, right on the crossroads of Todor Alexandrov Boulevard and Knyaginya Maria Luiza Boulevard, stood the Statue of Sveta Sofia. Erected in 2000 on the spot formerly occupied by a statue of Vladimir Lenin. Though it bears the name “St. Sofia,” it has nothing to do with the saint. Rather, she is a combination of figures, the most common of whom are Sofia and Athena, both of Hellenistic origins and symbolize “holy wisdom.”

The 24-meter-high bronze statue mounted on a 48-meter high pedestal was designed by local sculptor George Chapkanov. With her arms outstretched, she holds a laurel wreath on her right hand, which symbolizes peace and fame, while on her left, an owl, which symbolizes wisdom. Her head is adorned with a crown, which symbolizes power.

However, many consider the statue too pagan and too erotic to be referred to as a “saint.”

Well, I think it’s beautiful and, in my eyes, it perfectly depicts female empowerment. This statue also served as my waypoint, the landmark I’d use during the days of exploring the city on my own, so I didn’t get lost. Once I’d locate St. Sofia, I’d get my bearings.

From there, our guide pointed at the bell towers of St. Joseph Cathedral, a Catholic Church, but we did not go there. She just mentioned that Sofia is a city of many religions. Most Bulgarians are Eastern Orthodox Christians (about 77% in 2019), but there are also small communities of Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews, and that all around the city are many places of worship.

In fact, Sofia is known for its “Square of Religious Tolerance” because within metres of each other, forming a square in the very centre of the city, are four religious centres from four different faiths. So far, we had seen the Eastern Orthodox church and the Catholic church. She promised to show us the mosque and the synagogue.

(Update: In 2023, I visited St. Joseph Cathedral with the intention of attending Mass, but I arrived too late. Nevertheless, I was still glad for the opportunity to visit.)

We took a shortcut through the Serdika Metro Station and headed to the Church of St. Petka of the Saddlers, which is located by the station’s entrance. This Orthodox church, dedicated to St. Petka, an 11th-century Bulgarian saint and patron of saddlers in medieval times, is a single-naved building constructed at a former place of a Roman temple. The church features a semi-cylindrical vault, a hemispherical apse, and one-meter-thick walls made of brick and stone. It is partially dug into the ground and during excavations after the Second World War, they discovered a crypt underneath.

And because we were wondering why the church was built so low. Our guide explained that in those days when the Ottoman Empire was in power, the building of churches was tolerated only if their height did not exceed that of a soldier on a horseback. The master saddlers of the regions donated money to make this building possible, and it was at this church where they performed their religious rituals. The low door also encourages worshippers to either stoop or go down their knees as they enter, signifying humility.

Theory has it that Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski, who was killed by the Turks in 1873, was re-buried here. The rumour is not confirmed, but apparently, many people believe that it is true. 

Across from the church lie ancient Roman ruins. This partially covered excavation site is situated just above the Serdika Metro Station and displays the remains of the ancient Roman city, Serdika that once occupied this area. They were unearthed from 2010 to 2012 during the construction of the metro.

From our vantage point, our guide pointed at the ruins of streets (there were eight), an early Christian Basilica, six large buildings, and baths and houses dating from the 4th to the 6th centuries. How remarkable is that! She said that this complex is actually larger and that as we continue our tour, we would see more. She also added that Sofia is different from other ancient cities in this way – because people at different times in history kept building their cities on top of the other, the ruins of ancient civilizations could be found underground. Other ancient cities have forts and walls surrounding them but are generally still above ground.

And true enough, as we walked underneath Largo Square, we saw more. The entire complex of ruins covers 9,000 square meters and are displayed to the public with some under a protective glazed roof. At the other end of the metro station, we could see closely some early examples of ancient water and sewage system, as well as ornately tiled floors. This has got to be the coolest metro station in the world, we all agreed.

Above ground are also old, but still more modern structures surrounding Largo Square. There are three Socialist-built buildings onsite whose architecture is regarded as a prime example of Socialist Classicism in Southeast Europe. Built between 1952 and 1958 after the Allied bombing of Sofia in World War II, these buildings were meant to be the new centre of the Bulgarian government, with the Grand Party House in the middle as the home of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

In 1989, the buildings were stripped off the vestiges of its Communist past and most of the Communist iconography were removed in the name of progress and the new democratic ideology. The Red Star situated atop the party house was replaced by the Bulgarian flag. Nowadays, they house most of Bulgaria’s government offices – the National Assembly, the State Council, the Ministry of Education, and the President’s Office, as well as some non-administrative establishments such as, the National Archeological Museum, the Sofia Hotel Balkan the TSUM Department Store.

Our guide said the TSUM Department Store used to be a novelty because it was the first building that featured an escalator. In those days, it was the biggest trade centre in the Balkans and the first mall in Bulgaria. The first six floors offered goods for sale, while the other three functioned as administrative offices.

During the Communist regime, this was a "beyond-our-reach-haven" for most people, for though you could find everything there, from food to fashionable clothes, to the newest makes of cars, nobody could afford to buy anything. It was more of an exhibition, a place to look at things one could never have.

After the fall of Communism, the department store evolved into mall-style shopping place, where the floors were divided into smaller shops. But over the years, as more modern malls have popped up, merchants have moved their businesses there.

This building, meanwhile. has been gradually taken over by business offices, floor-by-floor, over the years, and nowadays, only two floors are occupied by shops and restaurants, and sadly, people only go there to use the free washrooms. It is also said that the building managers use it for money laundering activities, that is why they keep the rental prices up, do not pay much attention to its maintenance, and refuse to sell it to the municipality that intends to build a museum inside. It is sad that all that remains of its former glory is the nostalgia of its bygone splendour.

The yellow pavement around which the Largo is centered is called Nezavisimost (Independence Square) and used to be a green lawn, our guide said. It had flag poles lined up carrying the emblems of NATO member nations. But since the discovery of the Serdika ruins, the government replaced the green square with a glass dome in the 1990s so that the underground ruins would be visible to sightseers on street level. During this transition, the project met a lot of controversy.

Moving along, we passed by the Banya Bashi Mosque. It was designed by the famous Ottoman architect, Miman Sinan and was completed in 1566 at the height of the Ottoman Occupation. The name means, “many baths” because it was built over natural thermal spas. In fact, if one looks closely, one could see steam rising from the vents of in the grounds near the mosque’s walls. Its most distinguishing features are its large dome and tall minaret. At present, this is the only functioning mosque in Sofia, as it now only has a small Muslim community, a remnant of five centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria.

Further down was the Sofia Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Southeastern Europe and the third largest in Europe. Within Bulgaria, it is one of the two still-functioning synagogues, with the other one located in Plovdiv.

The synagogue features a Moorish Revival architectural style with influences from the Vienna Secession design. We did not go inside but our guide said that its interior is richly decorated with marble columns, decorative wood carvings, and multi-coloured Venetian mosaics. It also houses the largest chandelier in the Balkans, and rumour has it that it was made from gold from ancient Palestine. Nowadays, aside from being a religious centre, it is also the site of the Jewish Museum of History that tells the story of the Jewish communities, the Holocaust, and the Salvation of the Jews in Bulgaria.

If there is anything that Bulgaria is proud of, it is the fact that they saved approximately 48,000 of Jews from death by preventing their deportation to Poland. When death of the Jews under the Nazis became imminent, the then-tsar, Boris III and his Prime Minister, had to deal with the incessant protests against this deportation from Bulgarian public figures that included bishops of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, members of the Parliament, and leaders of professional organizations. The leaders were at a precarious position at that time because Bulgaria’s alliance with Germany required obedience and conformity with their plans, even though they were sympathetic to the Jews.

And this was when the seemingly negative Bulgarian trait of putting things off was put to their best advantage. They basically played the game of “stalling for time” with the Germans. They devised ways to delay or postpone the deportation of the Jews by twisting the labour laws around and coming up with projects that they identified as requiring “forced labour,” i.e., the Jewish workers.

Thousands of Jews in Bulgaria did not get sent to the “labour camps” in Poland because the Bulgarian government “needed them to fulfill their labour obligations and complete important projects.”  They eventually succeeded because the deportation got postponed indefinitely and was never carried out. I had tears in my eyes as our guide elaborated on all the struggles that took place in Sofia during the war.

When the war was over, majority of the Jews went back to Israel and very few chose to remain in Bulgaria.

We circled back to the mosque and walked past the spacious park beside it. Right across is a huge fountain and the Central Mineral Baths, now the Sofia Regional Historical Museum. The bright yellow and white building designed after the Viennese Secession style but incorporated with Bulgarian, Byzantine, and Eastern Orthodox elements, was built in the early 20th century near the old Turkish baths (then already destroyed) to serve as the city’s public bath.

Baths have been popular in Bulgaria since at least the 16th century by virtue of the presence of natural thermal spas in the region. It was destroyed in the Second World War, restored several years later, and continued to function as a bath until 1986. Then it was closed due to its poor condition and was reconstructed and resurrected as a museum. We did not go inside, but outside the building, Roman ruins dug from the area are displayed prominently – column pedestals, temple pediments, and such. It seems that every time one digs in Sofia, one could find an ancient fragment from its Roman past.

Next to the museum are the Thermal Mineral Springs where several spouts spurt an endless flow of warm, sulphuric, and therapeutic water. And it’s for free! Locals and tourists alike flock here to drink water from the fountains or fill their water bottles and containers while exchanging stories, and as our guide called it, local gossip.

This water is Bulgaria’s national treasure and best-kept secret. The country has more than 500 hot springs and it boasts of the best spas in the world. It is this precious water that attracted the ancient Thracians to settle in Sofia before the Romans took over. Our guide proudly said that Bulgaria has the best mineral water in the world and that this water can cure anything but a broken heart.

I tried it, of course, and it was indeed very warm. I was told this was about 33 degrees. And the taste is really strong. One can easily tell it is full of mineral goodness. Once again, I regretted not taking my water bottle. But I drank as much as I could. We still had a long way to go, and I had to stay hydrated.

Our next stop was the Presidency Building. We were hoping to see the Changing of the Guard Ceremony which happens every hour, five minutes before the full hour. This building is also part of the Largo Complex, and this housed the official chambers of the President of Bulgaria.

We made it there a few minutes earlier, so I had time to snap photographs of the Presidential Guards on duty. With their colourful 19th-century uniform – cream-colored top decorated with bright red trimmings, eagle feather headdress with the Alexander Star, tight black pants, and high boots – they stood in attention on both sides of the main entrance. During the ceremony, their goose-steps and high kicks as they marched in unison while holding the rifles up was a sight to behold.

Our guide said that this was the daily ceremony and involves only four guards. There is a more elaborate one replete with the full pomp and full ceremony, where one can see more guards and includes band music, shouting, and weapon-brandishing. However, this happens only on the first Wednesday of the month at noon.

We bid goodbye to the guards (even though they couldn’t acknowledge us) and proceeded to the Rotunda of St. George located at the courtyard between the Presidency Building and the Sheraton Hotel at a level a few meters below the modern streets of Sofia.

The Rotunda of St. George is an early Christian red brick church that is considered the oldest building in Sofia and is surrounded by more ancient Roman ruins, as it is part of a larger archaeological complex from the late 3rd to the early 4th century. The church’s central part is a round rotunda room with a circular plan on a square base and has semi-circular niches in the corners. It is believed to be erected on the site of a former pagan temple at the time when Sofia was the residence of the Emperors Galerius and Constantine the Great.

This church was also said to be the centre of the most important ecumenical council of that time. Since the 4th century, it has been used for baptism ceremonies, but during the Ottoman period, it was painted over and turned into a mosque. It was later abandoned by the Muslims, and the Bulgarians claimed it and turned it back into a Christian church. Nowadays, it functions as a museum.

When the church was restored in the 20th century, five layers of partially preserved frescoes on the wall were uncovered. The oldest was from the Roman-Byzantine period of the 4th century that features flora motifs. The second layer was from the 10th century that features Bulgarian medieval angels, while the third was from the 11th and 12th centuries that include a frieze with prophets and religious scenes depicting the Ascension and the Assumption. The fourth layer is from the 14th century with a portrait of a bishop, and the fifth, from the Ottoman reign with Islamic ornamental motifs. Wow! I could just imagine the astonishment of the restorers as they peeled off the walls, layer by layer.

The church was said to have kept the relics of St. John of Rila, patron saint of Bulgaria, but they were taken by the Hungarians in 1183 when they destroyed and looted the city. According to legend, the holy relics were used to cure the illness of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus.

(Update: We did not go inside in 2019, but I finally got to see its interior in 2023.)

Across the street is the National Archeological Museum. When one of us remarked that the building looked like a mosque, our guide said that it was indeed an old mosque from the Ottoman period, the oldest and largest during that time. Prior to the present occupant, it was the National Library that used this building. The present museum was inaugurated in 1905 and since then, archaeological exhibits previously kept separately in various museums in the city were moved here.

Inside are various collections – prehistorical artifacts that include items found in caves all over Bulgaria; ancient Thracian, Greek, and Roman exhibitions; a medieval gallery of books, woodwork, drawings, and metal objects; and some temporary collections. As we walked outside the museum building, we came across more Roman ruins unearthed in this century.

We walked towards the City Gardens, which I found to be a very lively place strewn with colourful flower shrubs. It was full of people, mostly families with children playing in the grounds or splashing water in the huge fountain. There was a section where old men played chess in rows of benches and concrete tables, which made me think of my son, an avid chess player. He would have sat down here and challenged one of these guys to a game.

We saw ice cream and hotdog carts enticing strollers to have a snack, kiosks with souvenir items and artwork on display, young lovers walking hand-in-hand, groups enjoying picnics under the shade of the trees, and sunbathers basking in the sun. Of course, there were outdoor cafés and restaurants with patios full of tourists as well. It is Sofia’s version of New York’s Central Park, but on a smaller scale.

The garden is surrounded by the National Art Gallery, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the Ministry of Defense Building, the Bulgarian National Bank, and the Sofia City Art Gallery. I imagine that on some days, they’d have musicians and performers around here as well. If I were a Sofia resident, this would be my favourite hangout.

We walked around the garden towards the façade of the National Gallery. I was not surprised when our guide said that it was the former Royal Palace but was turned into a museum when monarchy was dissolved. It is an elegant and beautiful building. It now houses Bulgarian contemporary and revival art and the largest collection of medieval paintings, including more than 4,000 icons.

She also said that there is a separate art gallery for foreign art located a few blocks away. The National Gallery for Foreign Art is considered one of its kind in the Balkans for it possesses a unique collection of Christian art from the Indian province of Goa, as well as art from distant lands and exotic tribes. They sometimes conduct joint exhibitions with the National Gallery.

Our guide pointed out that we were standing on Sofia’s “yellow brick road,” which I thought matched the colour of the National Gallery building. And though this does not lead us to the Wizard of Oz, it has an interesting story. Contrary to the tale that the bricks were a gift from Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef on the occasion of Tsar Ferdinand’s wedding, and to encourage Bulgaria to pave their streets at the same time, she said that the real story was this:

After Bulgaria’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire, the city was a mess. Prince Dondukov, head of the provisional Russian government at that time, quickly implemented changes in an effort to make Sofia look like a worthy capital of a newly established country.

Streets were paved and trams were brought in. The municipal government got on board and their ambitious mayor that time insisted that Sofia’s main streets should look unique. The syenite and granite brought in from quarries in Vitosha were not good enough. He wanted bright yellow ceramic pavement instead. But since Bulgaria did not have the capacity to produce the ceramic cobblestones, they had to be imported from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And because they were not cheap, the municipality had to sign a 50-year loan for 35 million golden levs from the German bank.

They were beautiful indeed, and soon enough, Sofia’s streets shone and looked every bit like the European capital it should be. But what they did not anticipate was that the bricks turned slippery when wet and thus, during the rainy season, skidding vehicles and fallen pedestrians were not uncommon. Worse, they later discovered that the ceramic cobblestones were in fact, just made of limestone marl mined near Budapest and were easily damaged.

True enough, the “yellow brick road” was heavily damaged during the war, then reconstructed, then got damaged again by the explosives used to destroy Georgi Dmitrov’s mausoleum after the war. Our guide said that this was definitely a bad investment and that the Bulgarian people are probably still paying for this loan. But no one really knows. It’s one of those things that were kept “hush-hush.”

And speaking of loans and banks, she had another interesting story, this time, on the Bulgarian National Bank. As we walked past the building again, she pointed at a small, elegant steel balcony poking out from the right-hand side of the building’s main entrance. It looked completely out-of-place considering that the entire building was plain-looking, built in the typical Communist-style.

Apparently, the bank president had requested this to be constructed because the plan was that should the bank ever fail, he was to commit suicide by throwing himself from this nice balcony. I guess he wanted an elegant exit.

Our next stop was the Russian Orthodox Church. Also known as the Church of St. Nicholas, the Miracle-Worker, this church was constructed on the site of a former mosque that was destroyed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and was established as the official church of the Russian Embassy located next door, and to service the Russian community. As per tradition for diplomatic churches, it was named after the patron saint of the emperor that ruled Russia that time.

In contrast with the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox churches, this church was built in the style of Russian Revival architecture and was designed by a Russian architect that took elements from the Muscovite Russian churches of the 17th century. Construction was supervised by the architect who designed the nearby Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which we were going to see in a short while. We did not go inside, but our guide mentioned that it houses a crypt, where the remains of Saint Archbishop Seraphim, an Orthodox saint, is interred. We took a group photo by the entrance before we left.

(Update: I was able to go inside in 2023 but found out they were strict about taking photographs. We were forbidden to take our cameras and phones inside.)

Behind the church is the Central Military Club, considered one of the masterpieces that showcase Bulgarian early 20th-century architecture. The multi-purpose building serves the Bulgarian Army and has a coffeehouse, an art gallery, a concert hall, and several exhibition halls. My son would be thrilled to know that this was the venue of the 2010 World Chess Championship, where Viswanathan Anand of India defeated Vaselin Topalov of Bulgaria. I am not a chess enthusiast, but I hear these names from my husband and son’s chess conversations.

Next, we stopped at the St. Sophia Basilica, another Eastern Orthodox Church. Dating back to the 4th century, this is the oldest church in Sofia. But the site itself was even older. It previously held various edifices of worship when it was the necropolis of the Roman town of Serdika, a Roman theatre, and then several Christian churches. In fact, many ancient tombs from the Thracian and Roman periods were unearthed both under and near the church. Some of them even featuring frescoes. They are now on display in an underground museum. I would have loved to see this.

The St. Sophia Basilica is also famous for hosting the Early Christian Council of Serdika, probably held in 343 A.D., and attended by 316 bishops. During the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 A.D.), it gained the status of a metropolitan church, and in the 14th century, it gave its name to the city which had been known by its Slavic-Bulgarian name of Sredets.

The present church, with its cross-shape featuring three altars, is one of the most valuable pieces of early Christian architecture in Southeastern Europe. Because St. Sophia represents “Holy Wisdom,” icons within the church depict Sophia as Christ Emmanuel, a young figure of Christ seated on a rainbow. It also displays icons of historical saints, including St. George and St. Vladimir, and features early Christian ornamental flora and fauna-themed frescoes on its floors.

At the time of our visit, the church ground was a hive of activity. A wedding was about to start, and we stayed there for a bit to look at the bride, resplendent in her white gown, and her wedding party in their elegant garb. The church’s patriarch was also outside to greet the guests.

Behind the church is the Monument to the Unknown Soldier which commemorates the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers who died in wars in defense of their homeland. It features an eternal flame and a lion statue beside it sitting there like a sentinel. I spent some quiet time there to pay my respects to the fallen heroes.

Not all Bulgarians like this, however. The first reason is that the word, “unknown” implies the names of the individual soldiers could be forgotten. The second is that, though the lion is Bulgaria’s symbol, the statue is depicted sitting, and this pose is considered a metaphor of surrender. I guess, it all boils down to interpretation and as with many situations, one cannot please everybody.

Our last stop was the St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the highlight of the walking tour. This is the biggest Eastern Orthodox Church, not only in Bulgaria, but in the entire Balkan Peninsula and serves as the cathedral church and the Seat of the Patriarch of Bulgaria. It was built in the Neo-Byzantine style and features countless arches, gilded domes, ornate doors, stone carvings, murals, and mosaics. It towers 148 feet at its highest point and its imposing bell tower holds twelve bells whose peals can be heard within a ten-mile radius.

The church was named after a 13th-century prince, later declared a saint by the Orthodox Church. He was the personal patron-saint of the Emperor Alexander II of Russia, who ruled the country during the liberation war of Bulgaria, so he was chosen as the patron of the cathedral as a gesture of respect and gratefulness.

We did not go inside. There is an entrance fee both to see the church and the museum that displays Christian art. Our guide said that inside, we could appreciate the rare and expensive materials used to furnish the church – Italian marble, Brazilian onyx, Indian alabaster, and crystals from Munich.

My travel mate and I decided to pass. He said he has been to Eastern Europe and Russia, and he has seen too many Orthodox churches already. I’ve been to some, and though visiting this church was quite enticing, I was beginning to feel really exhausted, from a combination of hunger, thirst, extreme heat, two hours of walking, and the absolute absence of a decent rest from my departure from Canada up to this point. Calculating the time difference, I told him that I had literally been up for more than 24 hours without sleep and had been running around everywhere from a total of four airports to the streets of this city.

(Update: I visited again in 2023, and this time, paid to go inside. I had to pay extra to take photos as well. I would say the fee is all worth it, although I should mention that the church staff were very strict. I had my tickets checked three times by three different staff members roaming around the church and making sure photographers have paid their fees.)

We thanked and said goodbye to our guide. I asked my travel mate to take my picture with her as my souvenir for this tour. I also left her a generous tip. This marathon history lesson of Sofia, and Bulgaria in general, was very informative and very helpful for a Balkan-newbie like me.

In a span of only two hours walking on Bulgarian soil, I felt that I had already bonded with the land and its people. What she and her group does is amazing, and I made sure I told her that. I wish every city would offer the same kind and the same level of service for tourists that they provide.

Before we parted ways, however, I asked her if she could recommend a good place to get banitsa, a traditional Bulgarian pie that I had been wanting to try. She said that it is usually eaten at breakfast, but I might find some bakeries that still have them at this time of the day. She gave us directions to the area where we would most likely find bakeries, and we went on our way.