Today's outing was to join a Free Sofia Tour. We've seen the free tours in other cities, but haven't ever done one. Our tour guide, Dino, was very knowledgeable and humorous at the same time. It made learning the history of Sofia a lot more enjoyable than just getting the facts. He was also easy on the eyes, which always makes it more fun. :))

The tour was supposed to be only in English, but a group of Italians showed up and insisted he do it in Italian as well. His first mistake was letting them know he could speak Italian, because he was too nice to say no. So, we ended up having to listen to it done in both languages. A bit annoying, especially when he would be saying it in English, they would be chatting amongst themselves! Someone (actually not me) shushed them, and they stopped doing that.

Anyway, we walked around to different sites in the area and he pointed out the buildings, landmarks, etc. and what they represent. From what I could tell, Sofia looks like it escaped the ugly communist style of buildings for the most part, even though they were also under communist rule for quite a few years.

During the tour, a huge group of kids dressed in traditional Bulgarian costumes came marching past headed for the National Theater park area, where they were doing performances. Dino said he had no idea what was going on or why. Rich got a picture of one age group going past.

An interesting fact about Sofia is that when you're standing in this one particular spot, you can see a lot of different religious buildings--including a mosque, synagogue, and cathedral.

Dino pointed out a bell in a tree, which was constructed and rung to signify the end of WWII, see the photo. He also told us that the lion is a symbol used in their country, and that we would see them all over the place...which explains some of our pictures. :))

We passed by a statue of a very realistic FIERCE looking warrior, one that I wouldn't have wanted as an enemy! I later found out he was the first Emperor of the Bulgarian Empire, from 997-1014. See my photo.

Once the tour was finished, we walked to the central market of Sofia. I was hoping for something like what we'd seen in Florence or Palermo, but it wasn't anything like either of those places. There were only two places selling fresh fruits and vegetables with a very limited supply of them. It was comprised mostly of vendors selling cheese or meat, trinkets--and this was all indoors. I bought some olives from a grumpy woman--guess she doesn't like English speakers--and stuff to make a salad with, and we headed for home.

Rich wasn't feeling well, may have caught a cold, so we just laid low the rest of the day.