From Sofia to Skopje

We left the apartment around 9am, had breakfast at the hostel as it was included, then set the GPS to find Lalo Jewellery – an Israeli artist who specialises in Resin, who puts them all together in Bulgaria and has several shops in Sofia. Beth, my sister in law works for a company that imports them into NZ so I was interested  in seeing the range in Sofia.

We ended up in a the Mall of Sofia, found Lalo, and ended up  buying quite a few of these as presents for people back hone as they were different and reasonably priced.  After shopping for a while, we headed back to the car and started our drive to Skopje, Macedonia.

On our way to Skopje, we found a sign on the road pointing us to a monastery called Zemen, so we sidetracked and popped in there to have a look.  It was a beautiful day, sun was shining, and it was very warm. the entrance to Zemen Monastery...

Just inside were little knitted dolls hanging on the trees.  I'm not sure of their significance and would love to know.

Instead of typing everything out about the Monastery, I went for the easy way and photographed the sign...

Very peaceful around the monk's quarters...

The church was quite simple and he grounds were lovely..

Inside was very old - no photographers were allowed to be taken, but I took some sneakily with the flash off to have a memory of what I was seeing.

The floor was beautiful despite being broken, but it was also very smooth from years of wear..

Above the door at the entrance...

After spending about an hour at the monastery poking around, we headed back to the car and got on our way again.  We noticed this huge church with gold domes from the road, so detoured to find it. Along the detour we found an abandoned building...

Flat farmlands..

Little country roads...

And finally the church - which looked new, and still not quite finished.  No one was around, and there were no signs, so we didn't go in.  The gold domes certainly got our attention from the road though - glinting in the sun.

Our next stop was Kyustendil - a town in the far west of Bulgaria, and the capital of the Kyuestendil Provnice. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of Servia and the Republic of Macedonia 90 km southwest of Sofia, and 130 km northeast of Skopje. The total population counts 44,532 people, with a Bulgarian majority and Roma minority. During the Iron Age, a Thracian settlement was located within the town, later known as Roman Pautalia in the 1st century AD. In the Middle Ages, the town switched hands between the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and Serbia, prior to Ottoman annexation in 1395. The town was liberated in 1878 from the Ottoman empire. It is named after Konsgtantin Dragas, a 14th-century regional lord.

Kyustendil is a national balneological resort at an altitude of 600 metres. There are more than 40 mineral springs in the town. The waters have a high content of sulfite compounds. These are used for the treatment of the locomotory system, gynecological and other kinds of diseases. The resort region includes several baths, balneological complexes and others.

Kyustendil is located at the foot of the Osogovo mountain and a well-known centre of blaneology and fruit growing. The fortress was built by the Romans. Thermae, basilicas, floor mosaics have been uncovered, and it is home of the oldest working thermal spas today.

We parked next to the Pirkova Tower, a medieval defense tower built in the 14th Century.  It looked veyr much like the one we visted in Trencin, in Eastern Europe, and I also saw a similar one in Zagreb. This one is four stories high and is a cultural monument of national significance.

This is a mosque next to the thermal baths complex...

Part of excavations of the roman spa...

The baths are still going, but have been modernised here.  It was way to hot to swim today so we didn't go in, but they looked a little slimy, and still very old fashioned.  All hte gardens/parks were totally overgrown and there were a few people about but not many.

Anne enjoying the sun as we walked around...

The back of the baths...

From Kyustendil it was only 20 minutes to the border of Macedonia and I still had some Bulgarian money to use up., so we stopped at a small shop just inside Macedonia who took Bulgarian money, and we used it up buying icecreams, beer, chocolate, and anything else we could.  We only had six euro worth, but it bought HEAPS.  The beer is cheaper than water in Macedonia!!

From here these are shots I took out of the window as we drove to Skopje.  It was a beautiful drive. Macedonia is lovely...  We stopped a couple of times to get the photos of the Red Poppies growing wild everywhere.

Nearing Skopja now, and the first time I've seen an overloaded motorbike myself. I've only seen other people's photographs of this kind of thing so I snapped this from the car as we were driving.

We got to our apartment at about 8pm, still light and sunny and beautiful. The apartment was on the top floor and was superb. Not bad for 40 euros a night for the three of us.

We then sat out on the deck, poured ourselves a beer and rested a bit...  This is the view from the balcony.

Beer was superb... and cheaper than water!!

After the beer was gone - we headed into Skopje to explore while the light was still good!

Sofia, Bulgaria

After wandering around the Rila Monastery, we jumped back in the car we drove to Sofia, the capital and biggest city of Bulgaria. The GPS lost us several times as obviously new motorways have been built since the maps were put in by Garmin, but we ignored it and managed to find our way.

Our apartment was lovely – two big bedrooms on the top floor!  We didn't waste any time, just downed our luggage then set off to explore Sofia at night – walking around and seeing some of the amazing buildings, ancient churches, and we had a bit of fun doing night photography as well.  We had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant trying out local food. My health was improving but Anne was now getting sick with the same bug, which I found out later I had caught in Finland as Jaana also had come down with it after we left.

After leaving the apartment we headed down the road to the main avenue - which was not far from the apartment and admired the light of the setting sun on the building which is the National Assembly office building, which has been proclaimed a monument of culture for its historic significance. 

It was designed in Neo-Renaissance style by a Serbian-Bulgarian architect who received his education in  Vienna and Switzerland and whose other works include the Parliament of Serbia building. It was constructed between 1884 and 1886 by Friederich Wilhelm Gustav Liebe, a young builder from Saxony who was only 22 years old when construction began. The site on which the building is now situated used to be a Turkish cemetery.  The building is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 20 leva banknote, issued in 1999 and 2007.

Looking back the other way into the setting sun, downtown Sofia is really beautiful. 

At the top image at the far right edge you can see a doorway. We ducked through that and came to this ancient church in the middle of a square surrounded in buildings. Originally built for public purposes by Romans in the 4th century, it was converted to a baptistery after the recognition of Christianity as a religion in the Roman Empire and eventually became a church. During the Ottoman rule the Rotunda St George was transformed into a mosque. The Christian paintings on the walls were obliterated with white plaster and in their place were painted floral motifs. After the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 the Rotunda was deserted until the death of Prince Alexander Battenberg, when it was transformed into a mausoleum. Its restoration began in 1915. These days the temple is operational and performs daily worships in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. We were there and a service was going on at the time. The service was chanted/sung by a male and the voice was resonant and beautiful. I wanted to take a photo, but felt I couldn't. We didn't stay long and went back out to explore.

We walked around the church and found the ancient ruins of Serdica, the city that preceded Sofia.

We went out another door and came out closer to the National Assembly office building again.  I can't find anything on the red building next to it, but I'm hoping someone may know and contact me to tell me!

The sun was getting lower but still casting beautiful light. 

We then stumbled across the St Nikolaj the Miracle Maker Church.  A Russian church that was built in 1914 on the site of the Saray Mosque which was destroyed in 1882 after the liberation of Bulgaria by Russia from the Ottoman Empire. It was built as the official church of the Russian Embassy which was located next door, and of the Russian community in Sofia, and was named, as was the tradition for diplomatic churches, for the patron saint of the Emperor who ruled Russia at the time, Nicholas II of Russia. It was designed in the Russian Revival Stye with decoration inspired by the Muscovite Russian churches of the 17th century. The church was supervised by the architect A Smirnov, who was building the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral nearby. The five domes are coated with gold and the bells were donated by Emperor Nicholas II.

Construction began in 1907 and the church was consecrated in 1914. The church remained open after the Russian Revolution and during the Communist period in Bulgaria (1944–1989), though priests and church-goers were carefully watched by the State Security police.

The exterior was recently restored by the Russian Government. The interior murals unfortunately are darkened by smoke from candles and from time, and are in need of restoration.

The crypt housing the remains of Saint Archbishop Seraphim is located beneath the Russian Church's main floor. Dozens of people still visit the grave of the archbishop, who died in 1950, praying and leaving notes asking for wishes to be granted.

Walking further down the road we came to the Alexandra Nevsky Cathedral.  This Cathedral is a Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral built in Neo-Byznatine style and serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world. It is also one of Sofia's symbols and primary tourist attractions. It occupies an area of 3,170 square metres (34,100 sq ft) and can hold 10,000 people inside and is the second-largest cathedral located on the Balkan Peninsula.

The cathedral's gold-plated dome is 45 m high (148 ft), with the bell tower reaching 53 metres (174 ft). The temple has 12 bells with total weight of 23 tons, the heaviest weighing 12 tons and the lightest 10 kilograms (22 lb).  The interior is decorated with Italian marble in various colours, Brazilian onyx, alabaster and other luxurious materials. The central dome has the Lord's Prayer inscribed around it, with thin gold letters.

The construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral started in 1882  but most of it was built between 1904 and 1912.  Saint Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince and the cathedral was created in honour to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule.

After a lovely meal in the restaurant we headed back to our apartment, stopping in various places to have fun with our cameras...