Sofia Bulgaria

I'm not sure what's more confusing about Bulgaria: the Cyrillic alphabet or the Bulgarians' mixed-up way of nodding their heads for no and shaking for yes. To further add to the confusion, Bulgarians often switch to our way of nodding for yes when they are talking to foreigners, so there's really no way of knowing if they mean yes or no. Thankfully, just about everyone speaks some English.

Sofia is one of the world's oldest cities, inhabited for over 6000 years. Everyone's been here. The Thracians, the Persians, the Celts, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, the Soviets and now the Blatchfords. Sofia is unique in Europe in that is not built around a river or the sea but in layers. Modern Sofia is built over the ancient Roman city of Serdica, an important Roman stop-off on the way to Constantinople. Where I'm sitting right now, is in the middle of the square of tolerance, where within a few hundred meters is a mosque, orthodox church, catholic church and a synagogue.

Yesterday afternoon we were able to visit an apartment from the 1980s, that was frozen in time and depicts life in Sofia under communist times. Very interesting place and a great audio guide.

The story about the Saint Sofia statue. In celebration of the year 2000, a local politician thought it would be a good idea to put a statue of Saint Sofia in the same place as the former Lenin statue. Once the statue was revealed, however, the criticism never stopped.

1. The city is not named after Saint Sofia

2. Saint Sofia is Christian, yet the statue has pagan symbols in the owl and wreath.

3. She is wearing a tight-fitting dress not becoming of a Saint.

The statue remains and has become a landmark of the city.

Time to check out and see the rest of the country...