After recently getting married and bringing a baby into the world, Victoria and I felt we needed to spend some time together, just the two of us. After browsing the web for last minute deals, Bulgaria appeared on our radar with relatively short flights from Moscow, as well as cheap accommodation and travel within the country. Sofia isn’t like Paris or Rome, but it is a walk able city. This was exactly what we needed after a very tiresome few weeks.
We arrived the night before and headed straight to the hotel for a late night snack and bed. The next morning we woke up and started exploring the city. Sofia was our first stop in Bulgaria as we were essentially just passing through on our way to Plovdiv, but once we started to discover the historic sights we decided to slow down and take in the mesh of eastern influences including churches, mosques and Soviet buildings.
Sofia’s Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is one of the city’s highlights, standing proud in the city centre with its golden dome roofs. Inside it is musky, but there is a feeling of silence and solitude. If there is one site that all Sofia tourists visit, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral tends to be the one. It is Bulgaria's biggest Orthodox church and the city's undisputed symbol.
Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince. The cathedral was built in honour to the Russian soldiers of the Russo-Turkish War, which resulted in Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule. Though, it is unlike any orthodox church that I'm used to seeing every day in Russia. The exterior is a prime example of the Byzantine style, and the interior is decorated with Italian marble and brass chandeliers. It is the second-largest cathedral located in the Balkans, after the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade.
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