Sunday 1 May 2011

Sofia - whats going on?

I finally received notification from NIBSA Secretary yesterday that my nomination has been sent through to EBSA ahead of this years European Championships in June. Thanks Brian. Once confirmed, I quickly had a peek at www.skyscanner.net to check out flights and prices. Once completed, it was down to a bit of 'research' on Sofia, and Bulgaria ahead of the trip.
Church of St Nedelya & Goddess Protector
This gets quite a mention in most of the sites I have looked at, Sveta Nedelya (not pictured) is apparently a typical example of neo-Byzantine architecture. There has been a church on site since medieval times, although the present building dates from the mid-19th century. In 1925, the church was largely destroyed when Communist rebels exploded a bomb during a funeral service, attended by Tsar Boris III and his cabinet ministers, killing 123 people. Nice.

The square, Ploshtad Sveta Nedelya, used to be named after Lenin and a statue of the Communist leader once stood here. It has since been replaced by a 24m (79ft) bronze statue of the goddess protector of the city, Sofia (above), holding the symbols of wisdom and fame, a much better view than Lenin I think.

First impressions of Sofia are very good. Will have to get my Daughter Joanne and her friend Morgan to do a little bit more research for me, its going to be an awesome trip, so long as I remember to bring my Snooker Cue, it is a tournament after all!