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Visit Sofia

  Visit Sofia Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 47th largest city by population in the European Union with 1.3 milli...

 

Visit Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 47th largest city by population in the European Union with 1.3 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and is ranked as a Beta world city.

Prehistoric settlements were excavated in the centre of the present city, near the royal palace, as well as in outer districts such as Slatina and Obelya. The well-preserved town walls (especially their substructures) from antiquity date back before the 7th century BC, when Thracians established their city next to the most important and highly respected mineral spring, still functioning today. Sofia has had several names in the different periods of its existence, and remnants from the city's past can still be seen today alongside modern landmarks.


Music and nightlife

Sofia has an extensive nightlife scene with many night clubs, live venues, pubs, mehani (Bulgarian traditional taverns), and restaurants. The city has played host to many world-famous musical acts including Elton John, Madonna, George Michael, Tiesto, Lenny Kravitz, Kiss, Kylie Minogue, Depeche Mode, Rammstein, Metallica, Megadeth,Slayer, Anthrax, Judas Priest, Rihanna, Iron Maiden, AC/DC , Marillion , Scorpions, Duran Duran , Simply Red and many more.


Places of special interest

The city offers many places of special interest such as the Sts. Cyril and Methodius National Library (which houses the largest national book collection and is Bulgaria's oldest cultural institute), the British Council, the Russian Cultural Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Hungarian Institute, the Czech and the Slovak Cultural Institutes, the Italian Cultural Institute, the French Cultural Institute, Goethe Institut, Instituto Cervantes, and the Open Society Institute. The city is also known for theBoyana Church, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. In addition, Sofia houses the Sofia Zoological Garden, which was founded in 1888.

Several international film productions were made here. Vitosha Boulevard, also called Vitoshka — ranked as the world's 22nd most expensive commercial street — represents numerous fashion boutiques and luxury goods stores and features exhibitions by world fashion designers. Sofia's geographic location, situated in the foothills of the weekend retreat Vitosha mountain, further adds to the city's specific atmosphere.


Venues

The capital is home to a large number of sports venues, including the 43,000-seat Vasil Levski National Stadium which hosts most major outdoor events in Bulgaria, Levski Sofia's Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, CSKA Sofia'sBalgarska Armiya Stadium, Slavia Sofia's Ovcha Kupel Stadium, and Lokomotiv Stadium stadium, which has hosted many major music concerts in recent years.

An important sports facility is the 3,000-capacity Universiade Hall, where in turn many indoor events are held, including Akademik's European basketball games. There are two ice skating complexes — the Winter Palace of Sports (capacity 4,000) and the Slavia Winter Stadium (capacity 2,000), both containing two rinks each.

There is a velodrome with 5,000 seats in the city's central park. It is currently disused but undergoing renovation.



Recreation

Most football stadiums have tennis courts, astroturf pitches and other sports facilities joined to them, and there are other such facilities scattered throughout the city, mainly in the parks.

There are also various other all-round sports complexes in the city which belong to institutions other than the football clubs, such as those of the National Sports Academy, of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, or those of the capital's various universities.

There are more than fifteen swimming complexes in the city, most of them outdoor. Nearly all of these were constructed as competition venues and therefore have seating facilities for several hundred people.

There are two golf courses just to the east of Sofia — in Elin Pelin (St Sofia club) and in Ihtiman (Air Sofia club), and a horseriding club (St George club).



The capital's main attraction is probably the ample opportunity provided to Sofianites for making use of the city's sprawling parklands, many of which are densely forested. There are four such major parks - Tsar Boris's Garden in the city centre, as well as the Southern, Western and Northern and several other smaller parks, most notable of which are the City Garden and the Doctor Garden. The Vitosha Nature Park (the oldest national park in the Balkans), which includes a big part of the Vitosha mountain to the south of Sofia, covers an area of almost 270 km² and lies entirely within the city limits. Many Sofianites take weekly hikes up the mountain, and most do so at least a couple of times a year. There are bungalows as well as several ski slopes on Vitosha, allowing locals to take full advantage of the countryside and of the mountains without having to leave the city.

The Pancharevo lake area is a popular destination due to its scenery, historical heritage (Urvich fortress and Pancharevo monastery), as well as Bulgaria's largest rowing base - "Sredets".