Sofia Tour and Concert

We went on a walking tour of Sofia after a day on our own. We saw many important buildings including the President's office, several churches, museums and other city buildings. We saw a Byzantine church of St. George that has been under restoration for the last 20 years and was just reopened. We were lucky that we were able to see it. This is the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia. Beautiful on the outside but not much on the inside.

One of the most beautiful buildings in the city is the Ivan Vazov Theatre. He was an important Bulgarian writer that they named the theatre after.
We will be attending a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when we return to Sofia on the 4th of July. That should be great but it will be in Bulgarian.
Many art students were outside the theatre sketching it for an assignment.
There is a nice park area there with fountains and a statue garden. That would have been really neat if it had not been so hot that day.

The next day after our lectures, we went to a concert. There was traditional music heard in the Eastern Orthodox church as well as some classical violin and piano. At the end, we were entertained by a folk group. All of these musicians were very talented. They were also very proud of their country and very eager to share their talent with us.

So far, Bulgaria has been very exciting.