Walking Tour of Sofia’s Old City Center in Bulgaria

On February 9, 2024February 9, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Bulgaria4 Comments

One of the things that we did during our visit to Sofia in Bulgaria was to take a walking tour of the old city center, which included a traditional breakfast. We truly enjoy walking through the old city centers of historic towns and often do a self-guided tour, but in this particular case we chose to use a local guide to ensure that we learned as much of the history as we could. The history of Sofia stretches back thousands of years and like many Eastern European cities it has been transformed and conquered many times throughout the centuries. From the Trojans, Romans, Ottoman Empire, and Communist regime, it has seen a wide variety of cultural and architectural influences.

Inside of the Serdica Ancient Cultural and Communicative Complex

There are many fascinating sites all throughout the old city center, starting with the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. In addition to the cathedral, the walking tour will also take you to the Saint Sofia Basilica, Banya Bashi Mosque, Church of St Petka of the Saddlers, and Saint Nedelya Church. You will also enjoy seeing many historical and cultural buildings such as the Ivan Vazov National Theater, Regional History Museum of Sofia, Sofia City Court, and the National Palace of Culture. As with any city center, you will also see many statues and monuments including several interesting ones such as the Tsar Samvel Monument, Monument to Tsar Liberator, and the Monument to Stefan Stambolov.

Inside of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

One of the most interesting sites along the tour is the archeological excavations at the Serdica Ancient Cultural and Communicative Complex. It will provide some insight into the period when the Romans controlled the city and used it as a stronghold in the region. Walking through the various zones, both inside and outside, at the complex is quite fascinating and was definitely one of the highlights of the walking tour. In the middle of the tour, we stopped for a quick breakfast that included Baklava, Banitsa, and Ayran, which is yogurt mixed with water and salt. The Banitsa is another layered pastry made with filo dough and cheese.

We were fortunate to have wonderful weather on the day that we did our walking tour, which certainly added to our enjoyment. We walked through several parks with beautiful greenery in the heart of the city. Another interesting thing were the cobblestone, brick roads that were painted yellow to resemble gold in an attempt to demonstrate the wealth of the city and its leaders. The entire tour took a little less than three hours and if you decide to do the tour on your own and go inside more of the museums than we did, you can make it a full-day activity. It is certainly a must-do when visiting Sofia in Bulgaria.

More from the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Medieval Orthodox Temple of Petka Samardjiyska

Another Statue Celebrating a Political Figure

Hidden Gems from Our Travels Around the World

On February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Bulgaria, Egypt, Laos, TurkeyLeave a comment

We have had many memorable moments traveling in various parts of the world and we are always thrilled when we come across something that was completely unexpected or planned. Whenever we travel to a location, we research the top sites to visit as most people do, but we will also look for something interesting that might be located just outside of the city that we are visiting or perhaps something that isn’t on the typical tourist list. These hidden gems are just a few of the places that we have seen during our travels, but each of these should be on your list should you visit that particular city.

Getting a Sense of the Scale of Aphrodisias in Turkey

The Ruins at Aphrodisias near Kusadasi, Turkey – One of the day trips that we took from Kusadasi in western Turkey was to see the Greek ruins at Aphrodisias. Of all of the ruins that we visited, Aphrodisias was actually our favorite even though it is not as excavated as the ones at Ephesus. The cruise ships don’t typically do tours to Aphrodisias, so you will not be surrounded by crowds and will be able to get up close to all of the different sites within the area. The ancient city gets its name from the Temple of Aphrodite that is located at the site, but one of things that makes Aphrodisias so unique is that was the location of the school where artists learned to carve statues, so there is a museum featuring many statues that the students had created.

The Statues of Buddha Park near Vientiane, Laos – Located near Vientiane, Laos is a park that is filled with sculptures representing Buddhist and Hindu images. Built in 1958, the park is a popular tourist attraction for those who travel to Vientiane. Buddha Park is also called Xieng Kuan or Spirit City and has over 200 statues of various sizes. We visited the park with a guide who was able to explain the meaning behind many of the different statues, which made the experience even more interesting.

The Fascinating Rila Monastery near Sofia, Bulgaria – We took a day trip from Sofia to visit the Rila Monastery, which is located about two hours away in the Rila Mountains southwest of the capital of Bulgaria. The monastery was first founded in the 10th century and gets its name, as does the mountainous region, from the hermit Ivan of Rila who founded it. Although the monastery bears some resemblance to the fortified churches that we saw in Romania a few years back, it did not serve the same purpose as the mountains were fortification enough. Even though it takes a couple of hours to reach the monastery from Sofia, it is definitely worthwhile because of its historical significance as well as the beauty of the surrounding mountain range.

The Historic Ottoman House in Old Town Cairo, Egypt – If you are looking for something of a hidden gem while visiting Cairo, then we would suggest putting Bayt Al-Suhaymi, a historic Ottoman house, on your list of places to visit. On our final day in Cairo, we made a last-minute decision to book an “Islamic Cairo” tour through our hotel and we were certainly not disappointed. We saw several ancient mosques, but just as interesting was wandering the narrow streets of the Old City of Cairo. Just wandering the streets is quite exhilarating, but the highlight was taking a tour of an Ottoman era house that was built in 1648 and is in excellent condition as it was refurbished in 1997 as part of restoration project for the entire area. Since it is located near the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, it would certainly be worth adding a visit to the house before or after doing shopping in the market.

Many Items for Sale and a Vendor Ready to Bargain in Khan el-Khalili Bazaar

It is often the case that these special excursions become some of your favorite memories as you share your adventures with friends and family upon you return home. If time allows, it is always a good idea to research locations that can be visited just by driving an hour or two outside of the city. It is often possible to hire a guide to take you so that you don’t have to rent a car, but if you are adventurous or already have a vehicle, then it is certainly worth the effort to visit them on your own.

The Amazing Views from Chandragiri Hills in Kathmandu, Nepal

On February 1, 2024February 1, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn NepalLeave a comment

During our trip to Kathmandu, we had the opportunity to visit the Chandragiri Hills, which is right on the outskirts of the city. The final tour of our trip started with taking the cable car up the side of the mountain, which are really foothills, to see the temple of Bhaleshwor Mahadev. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy on the day that we visited, but that didn’t diminish from the experience, although we’re sure that the views of the Kathmandu Valley would have been even better and we weren’t able to see the Himalayan Mountain Range. Since we had already taken a high-altitude helicopter up to base camp on Mount Everest, it wasn’t much of a disappointment to see the peaks off in the distance.

It can be very busy visiting Chandragiri Hills, partially because of its close proximity to the heart of Kathmandu and the views that can be seen. Perhaps because we visited on a weekday or because it was an overcast day, it wasn’t particularly busy during our visit. The views from the cable car were quite spectacular, especially during our trip back down from top as the clouds had begun to clear somewhat. In addition to the temple, there is also a zipline at the top of the hills as well as some activities for kids. We received a blessing from a Hindu Priest during the time that we spent at Bhaleshwor Mahadev, which was very memorable for us.

After visiting Chandragiri Hills, we continued on to Swayambhunath Stupa, also known as “Monkey Temple”, which was much busier than the cable car. We had many wonderful experiences during our time in Nepal and Chandragiri Hills was certainly one of them. It took about two hours between the time that it takes to go up and down on the cable car as well as walking around the temple. There is also a trail that you can take from a resort at the base of the hills if you would prefer a strenuous hike instead of taking the cable car.