Wednesday, 02 May

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="044d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tuesday, 01 May"><U><IMG SRC="0450b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>   <A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thursday, 03 May"><U><IMG SRC="0460b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>       <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="11" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="11">   <A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May"><U><IMG SRC="0480b0b0.gif" border=0 width="11" height="11" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="1e5afa20.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="162" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Sofia, Bulgaria</FONT></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Gastropod's Trail</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Gastropods Trail"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> Wednesday, 02 May</div> <div> Burgas, Romania to Sofia, Romania</div> <bR> <div> Sofia, the Bulgarian capital is one of the oldest settlements in Europe. "Ever Growing, Never Ageing" is the motto on Sofia's coat of arms. For over 7000 years Sofia has been a meeting place of the four directions of the world.</div> <div> Tribes and peoples came and went, civilizations flourished and declined but the city stayed forever. Historically it has been recorded as Serdica, Sredets and Sofia. Over 250 archaeological, historical and cultural monuments that the Thracians, Romans, Byzantines, Slavs, Proto-Bulgarians and Turks created are part of the cityscape of a capital with a population of about one million.</div> <bR> <div> We took the main highway from Burgas to Sofia and, for a change, jumped our schedule by a day to make sure we were there in plenty of time to get our visa for Romania. The road is excellent and slowly rises from the Black Sea to the foot of Vitosha Mountain at 600 m altitude and only one pass (1150 m) in between. </div> <bR> <div> Despite various Byzantine ruins and mosques attesting to a long, colourful history, many of Sofia's historic grandeur has been lost. Some of its most impressive architecture post-dates Bulgaria's Liberation of 1878. Wide tree-lined boulevards house numerous turn-of-the-century stuccoed buildings. Sofia's protective fortress walls for 12 centuries, straddle the city centers where remnants of the original Serdica settlement (2nd Century) still lie - competing with MacDonald, KFC, Dunkin Donut etc. </div> <bR> <div> To us, Sofia is a sad city. Struggling to modernize while most of the town is more or less in a state of disrepair. One streetcar line will be ultra-modern while the next is WW II vintage. New office buildings shadowing small streets with potholes and uneven sidewalks. The yellow brick road which runs from the National Art Gallery to the National Assembly is a beautiful tree-lined avenue and behind the National Assembly is the impressive Alexander Nevski Cathedral which was built from donations of the Bulgarian people to honour the 200000 Russian soldiers who gave thri lives (1877) to free Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke. Its magnificent icons and frescoes are world famous and the church is currently undergoing extensive renovations.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>