Back to Sofia

Today we made the long drive back to Sofia -- three and a half hours mostly on what passes for motorway. The roads in Bulgaria truly are appalling even the main motorway across the Balkans from Western Europe to Turkey. They are bumpy and full of potholes.
Our hotel is part of the complex that includes the presidential Palace complete with soldier guards. It is a grandiose Soviet building but the rooms are quite poky.
On the way to lunch we visited a 4c church of St George with frescoes from the 10 - 14c which is dwarfed by the hotel/Palace complex. Alongside it are some Roman remains of Serdika as Sofia was known then.
We spent most of the afternoon in the Archaeological Museum where Miglena our guide works. She wanted to show us everything but eventually we gave up and said we would come back on Monday in our free time.
Finally we visited the Alexander Nevsky Church built in 1878 to thank the Russians for liberating them (poor quality frescoes) and the St Sofia Church - successively built in 4- 6c with an enormous necropolis beneath it.Read more