Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 5, 76, National Stadium Vasil Levski, Kliment Ohridski)
Lying southeast of the
city centre, Sofia's most attractive park is filled with countless statues and flowerbeds and
is a relaxing place for a stroll. It's a vast place, and is home to the
Vasil Levski Stadium
and
CSKA Stadium
, as well as several cafes and children's play areas.
The eastern end of the park is dominated by a gigantic communist monument built in
1956 and known as the
Mound of Brotherhood
, featuring a 42m-high obelisk and
socialist-realist icons including a pair of partisan fighters, dramatically gesturing com-
rades clutching Kalashnikovs, and smiling, stoic workers. It has long been neglected by
the authorities, and several of the socialist heroes are now missing limbs and gaining coats
of graffiti, but small groups of pensioners come on occasion to lay flowers in remem-
brance of the red old days.
Ploshtad Bulgaria
(pl Bulgaria; 1, 2, 5, NDK)
Watched over by the polygonal concrete bulk of the
park, with its fountain, ice-cream kiosks and bars, is popular with promenading locals,
skateboarding teens and buskers. At the southern end is a tiny memorial chapel dedicated
to the victims of communism.
PARK
Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church
(Church of the Seven Saints; ul Graf Ignatiev; 7am-7pm; 10)
Set in a leafy garden,
this church, dedicated to Sts Cyril and Methodius and their five disciples, was originally
built as a mosque in 1528; it later became an arms depot and a prison, before being con-
secrated as a church in 1903. Inside, there's a gilded iconostasis with icons painted by An-
ton Mitov.
CHURCH
Earth and Man Museum
(
www.earthandman.org
;
bul Cherni Vrâh 4; adult/student 4/2 lv; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun;
6)
This rather old-fashioned museum is dedicated to geology, with two floors' worth of
minerals, crystals, ores and the like. There are some big, impressive geodes on show.
MUSEUM
Yuzhen Park
( 74)
South of the city centre, Yuzhen Park is a vast, wild green sprawl, filled with trees
and shady pathways. A sparkling stream bubbles through it, and there is a handful of dis-
PARK
