Sunday in Sofia

The national history museum is located in a former communist party palace and residence of the president, on the outskirts of Sofia. It contains all kinds of stuff, including traditional dresses, cinema props and icons. We were there to see a wonderful collection of prehistory items and more thracian objects including a gold treasure dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries BC.

From there to a fabulous small church in the village of Boyana, surrounded by trees, with lovely 13th c frescos, they are now too fragile to allow much viewing, so each group of people must have booked in advance, and are allowed just a 10 minute time slot.

Then a long drive up into the mountains to see the Rila monastery. Dating to the 10th century, but extensively reworked in 1833 after a fire, it is one of the highlights of Sofia, and a very popular Sunday excursion. We found it really overdone. Although the architecture is interesting the frescos seemed dull and lifeless.Read more