Sunday, October 9, 2022

Sofia - Day Off

 We used our day off to see a bit of the town, clean our bikes and attend to planning the rest of the trip.  By my unverified accounts, we have traveled 2159 miles and have 463 left to go.  If all goes according the plan, we have 9 days' of cycling left and head for home two weeks from today.

Sofia certainly presented a positive image.  On the way to my run to Starbucks (really) and the Greek Bakery around the corner, I walked 500 yards into the center of the city.  At an early hour, they were setting up for the Sofia Marathon.  Although it was before the start, it was fun to see the activity associated with the event.

As is now our custom in a new large city, we went on a city tour.  The tour guide was very enthusiastic about Bulgaria (although self deprecating about the laid back attitude).  He provided a great history lesson.  Again, the weather was perfect and the Sunday pace was perfect for a day off.  The tour was in English and there were participants from all over the world.  The sites were magnificent in the sunlight and with a historical perspective.  

There was something nice about being back in an EU and NATO country over the unaligned and somewhat misaligned (in my opinion) country of Serbia.  I will remind you that Serbia is the only nation in Europe that has not condemned Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.  The drivers were weirdly aggressive too (another unsolicited opinion).


Not a big marathon, but exciting to be around

The mountains in the background - Look a little steep to cycle over, I am glad we are going the other way 

This photo shows the Roman Ruins (of which there are a lot) being towered over by the Mosque.  All the major religions are in Bulgaria


Russian Orthodox Church

I thought that this was an interesting McDonald's


The Presidential Offices - We skipped the changing of the guards


The St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral - The most iconic site in Sofia and probably Bulgaria


No comments:

Post a Comment

Gallipoli

Today was a bonus day.  We decided to do a day trip to the Gallipoli Peninsula.  That is where an important WWI battle was fought in 1915.  ...