Today was going to be a slow day as I saw most of the main sights yesterday on my arrival and the city had a bit of a creepy feel to it so the safest place was to be in the hotel.

First I went to the bus station to get my ticket to Istanbul in three days time as its a big week long holiday in Turkey and I'm worried about not getting the bus

Now I went back to the city centre. First I visited the Jewish Synagogue which had been closed yesterday as I got there late. You have to buzz the gate for security to let you in.

Entrance was 2 Lev ($$1.25) and was quite nice inside. It I was hexagonal shape, had pews, and an upper terrace. It was nice to visit as I didn't get to go in Budapest and most of the other Synagogues along the way don't allow visitors.

The sign outside said this was the largest Sephardic Synagogue in Europe. In the centre there was still a heavy police present with riot police and armoured trucks. There was a small demonstration outside the archaeological museum and the heavy police presence seemed quite intimidating

To get away so they didn't fuss about my camera was a large Ministry building with nice architecture. The inner courtyard actually housed some ruins and a small church.

I was able to go inside. There were monks performing a service and some locals singing prayers. The Ministry building was maybe a Presidential building as there was a set of uniformed guards outside and another pair inside that could be seen thru the glass

I wanted to be at the Mosque for 1pm Friday prayers and I still had some time. I noticed another museum that wasn't mentioned online or on my map so I went in to ask.

It was on the 2nd floor of a building and cost 5 Lev ($3.75).. It had a lot of early Christian art, gold word, giant bibles and covers.

Surprisingly they weren't bothered about me taking pictures with such old and religious artefacts.

Then I was able to goto the Mosque for Friday prayers. It was confusing being able to tell who is who as there were many clean shaven white European Balkan muslims here along with dark skinned people who could be from the balkans or arabs, turks, and Africans. A big group of beggars was waiiting at the doors for peole to leave at the end of prayers

After I went back to the Turkish restaurant for lunch. I had chicken breast stuffed with spinach, with rice, and ordered a salad with drink. Yesterday I paid 5 Lev but today it was 11 Lev ($7.50). I think the drink and salad were what cost money when I looked at the bill

Back by the mosque there are excavations and a small church below ground which my map said you can go in for some very old art. I found my way in but the church section was roped off and hard to see with no lighting

Now I wanted to go back to the big St Alexander Church as the map said another church was beside that was used as a mosque by the Turks and has underground caverns

I found the red brick building and the church was quite old inside. There were stairs down to the caverns.

You had to pay 6 Lev ($4) entry. At first I walked around, there were just bricks and some tombs, and I thought was that it for 6 Lev.

As I was leaving the lady asked me if I saw the part under the church so she showed me another route I didnt see

This had more tombs and was quite large stretching around the tombs. It also went further down to another level, and had some roman mosaics, and tombs painted inside. This complex was actually quite large and actually well worth the 6 Lev entry

Under the big St Alex cathedral is supposed to be a crypt. I went down and there was an art museum. I didnt want to pay to go in as I just went to another religous art museum today and it seemed the same

There were still lots of police trucks around the church for the Presidential palace beside. I now wanted to go across to the Ethnological museum

This is inside the old Royal Palace. One side is the Natonal Gallery for 6 Lev entry. The other side is the Ethnological museum for 3 Lev entry ($2).

I wasnt interested in the art gallery and the ethnological was more interesting with lots of old costumes and traditional stuff

Finally I went to Slavikov Square near the Opera House. It was nice with a tram line running down the pedestrian street and booksellers.

There was a fruit market as you follow the tram line down as well as a park. In the park was a big orthodox church again not on my map

Inside it was more like the Serb churches with very detalied art in rich colours. This was the best condition church I had seen in Sofica as the others were very old and faded.

Then I made sure to be back in my hotel before sundown and all the creatures from the Michael Jackson Thriller video come out. I've also seen lots of possible mafia types in designer clothing and high end luxury cars driving around. An odd combination along with the people picking thru the trash and sitting on streets with their hands opened palm outwards.