Churches, Synagogue, and Mosque in Sofia

We had a week in Sofia. During that time we walked far and wide. This post features some of the churches we visited as well as Sofia's only synagogue and only mosque.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Interior

Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker

Saint Nedelya Church

St. Georgi Church

St. Sedmochislenitsi Church 

Synagogue

Interior

Detail

Banya Bashi Mosque

Flight to Bulgaria and our apartment in Sofia

Since we normally go for several long walks every day, on the day of our flights to Bulgaria we decided to walk to the airport to catch our flight. The trip was uneventful, apart from one late flight and a mad dash through the Munich airport as a result, but we managed to catch every flight. We arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria around 6:30 pm and took the Metro downtown where we met our Airbnb host and checked into our apartment.

Walking to the Kamloops Airport

Our luggage for three months

Welcome to Happy Bulgaria (it's actually a restaurant advertising)

Our apartment is on the top floor on the corner

Kitchen

Livingroom

Bedroom

View from the balcony

As expected we feel a bit disoriented from the change of location and jet lag but are excited to begin exploring Sofia and then the rest of Bulgaria.

Weekend events in Kamloops

A lot going on this weekend in Kamloops. The downtown streets were closed to traffic for a car show for Saturday. And the annual Ribfest was in Riverside park along with dragon boat races on the river.

A view of the car show from our apartment.

Lower Rose Hill trails

This morning Cindy and I walked a loop over some of the trails on the lower part of Rose Hill (7 km and 700 ft elevation gain). We lost the path at a few points and did some minor bushwhacking.

Lots of sagebrush, grasslands and gullies with silt cliffs.

Mount Mara and Mara Canyon

I spent the morning hiking up to the top of Mount Mara. On the way up I followed the trail on the ridge to the east of Mara Canyon, and then scrambled down the ridge to the west of the canyon (approx. 7 km and 2,100 ft elevation gain). This hike passes a lot of hoodoos and other interesting rock formations.

Near the bottom of the canyon

Top half of the canyon with Mount Mara in the background

View from the summit

Looking up the upper portion of Mara Canyon

Sunrise Mountain

This hike started at the end of Ronde Lane in Barnhartvale. It was a steep climb most of the way to the top of Sunrise Mountain, then a short bushwhack to GMS Hill. There were great views of Barnhartvale below and along the valley. From Sunrise Mountain, I followed old double tracks through the bush to the top of Pratt Road, and walked along to road back to the car (11 km and 1,900 ft elevation gain).