Hello Bulgaria

 Another public radio colleague, Graham Griffith, is also doing a Fulbright -- he is in Sofia Bulgaria. We were hoping to finagle a swap, where his embassy would pay for me come and give a talk in Sofia and my embassy in Skopje would pay for him to come here. But that proposal did not gain much traction, so Stephen and I decided to rent a car and drive there. 

If you look at a map of the Balkans, the countries are so small you'd think it would be a hop, skip and a jump to visit neighboring countries. But this is not the case. There is no I-95 to take you from Maine to MA to RI to CT to NY in five or six hours.  A 150 mile drive takes almost four hours if you don't stop, hit traffic, or construction.  Much of it is on two lane country roads, sometimes with tractors puttering along.

The Balkans are mountains after all, so most of the driving is up and over mountains on winding roads with shockingly -- no guardrails. There is a major highway under construction, but not in time for our excursion. If anything, the road work  slowed us down.

But the scenery along the way was spectacular

Along the way we  noticed that wood burning stoves were the primary source of heat. Even apartment buildings had  stacks of firewood outside.

We finally arrived in Sofia and it initially looked eerily similar to Skopje - lots of underwhelming apartment buildings right out of central casting for Soviet era design. But as we got closer to the city it was quite a different scene. Our red and black hotel "Art House" was a recently ...actually make  that, currently) renovated building with very hip design. They were still screwing in the screws to set up tables in the lobby when we arrived,and a soon- to- be- kitchen for a restaurant was still in its early stages. I don't think we were their first guests, but I suspect we were close.

The hotel was located right in the center, walking distance (if you are with Stephen EVERYTHING  is walking distance) of most of the major historical attractions. We took a quick stroll through the neighborhood and it is clear that Sofia was a much wealthier and more cosmopolitan  city than Skopje. Thankfully, no earthquake had destroyed much of the city,  as happened in Skopje, but even without that misfortune, Sofia was a pretty fancy place in its day. And thankfully, much of the late Ottoman charm has been refurbished and preserved 

And it even has a YELLOW BRICK ROAD!

Sorry it does not lead to OZ, but rather to the presidential palace....maybe as a metaphor for campaign finance...line your pockets on your way to office  or get rich because you are president. Trump would love this and these tough looking guards.

It was pretty cool how they would leave the unearthed archeological digs exposed next to more modern buildings.

The number one tourist attraction on most lists is the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church. 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. Nevsky is a Russian Prince who was eventually made a Saint in the 1500's.

The church did not dissapoint.

And the gardens around the church were full of lovely buildings and some modern revolutionary art.

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