Yesterday was a big day, ( so sorry it’s going to be a big blog)
It all started when we left Singapore with a massive 13.5 hour flight then we waited 4 hours in Frankfurt and boarded another plane to Sofia which was just over 2 hours. We were exhausted!!
We had a scary moment at the airport in which some guy tried to take our luggage trolly that mum was pushing saying he was a taxi, then it turns out he was an illegal taxi driver.
We had a couple of hours before we went out for a traditional Bulgarian meal and folk dancing.
When we got collected by our guide Martin he advised us we were going to walk for a couple of hours first around the city centre in the rain, I was like this is the last thing I really felt like doing but it the end it was a highlight of the night.
Sofia is so full of history it’s amazing!!
When we first arrived it reminded me a bit like Christchurch and how young our country really is lots of big empty damaged buildings lots of graffiti and I was like OMG why are we here but it turns out there is a story behind everything.
So here are a couple of interesting facts I learnt.
When they first started to build churches they were only allowed to be small and they had to look like houses. We went to one which is now not being used but is a crypt but they are unsure who is in there.
It was also illegal to build bell towers in churches. We went to one where they have now hidden a bell in the tree beside the church.
There is yellow bricks everywhere on the roads, these were given to Sofia by the Russian government and have been laid out of respect.
While digging there underground system they have recently discovered some Roman ruins from when Sofia was under the Roman law, it’s so amazing that they are right there and you can touch them, there are pockets full of the ruins all through the city centre that you can just walk amongst, some have been fenced off but most haven’t and you can touch old relics.
A bit of interesting fact that during World War II Bulgaria sided with the Germans and Hitler wanted the king to sent all the Jews to Germany but the king kept on making excuses for them not to go saying they are building bridges etc so when the king was killed the story goes that Hitler poised the king, but this was never proved. They have a flame that goes 24/7 for all the unknown fallen soldiers at a church.
There is a church build just for a Russian
Diplomat as when he stated he was too scared to go to one of the other churches with the locals so he built one that he could just go too, they locals are unsure why he was scared to worship with them.
At the Government building they have two soldiers which stand guard at the front door. They aren’t allowed to move an inch. Every 15 mins they come out do a march then stand face first for 30 sec towards the building in which they can scratch their nose tidy themselves up then they turn around at the same time to not move again.
Chat soon Em and Caro ❤️