Sofia Factsheet

Tastefully cobbled, and with flowerbeds and cast-iron lampstands running down the middle, it's one of central Sofia 's more attractive shopping streets. The junction of Pirotska and ul. Stefan Stambolov marks the southern extent of the Zhenski pazar or Women's Market, an intensely crowded affair where you can find everything from fruit and vegetables to fake designer-label tracksuits and car parts. Peasants from the surrounding countryside arrive here early each morning to sell their produce. There's a weekly English-language newspaper , the increasingly authoritarive Sofia Echo, which offers good cultural listings as well as up-to-date coverage of Bulgarian politics and business news.

According to its motto, SOFIA "grows but does not age" (raste no ne staree). Various Byzantine ruins and mosques attest to a long and colourful history, but Sofia's finest architecture post-dates Bulgaria's liberation, when the capital of the infant state was laid out on a grid pattern in imitation of Western capitals. Sofia is surprisingly laid back for a capital city and the place comes into its own on fine spring and summer days, when the downtown streets and their pavement cafés begin to buzz with life. The close historical relationship between Bulgaria and Russia reveals itself in the capital's public buildings, foremost of which is the Aleksandâr Nevski church, a magnificent Byzantine-Muscovite confection. The neighbouring streets harbour an interesting collection of museums and galleries.
	Sofia's real forte is drama, ballet and classical music, all of which are of a high standard and very inexpensive. Youth culture is less prevalent, although it is beginning to make its presence felt. Festivals to look out for are the Sofia Music Weeks (late May to late June), featuring international soloists and ensembles; the Music Evenings (early Dec), concentrating on the best native classical musicians; and the November Jazz Festival.
		One of the finest pieces of architecture in the Balkans and certainly Sofia's crowning glory, the Aleksandâr Nevski memorial church honours the 200,000 Russian casualties of the 1877-78 War of Liberation. Facing the nearby Banya Bashi mosque is the market hall or Halite and immediately to the west lies the Sofia synagogue. On the southern side of the synagogue, the pedestrianized ul. Pirotska darts westwards past nineteenth-century apartment blocks, nowadays colonized by clothes boutiques and electrical goods stores.
Tastefully cobbled, and with flowerbeds and cast-iron lampstands running down the middle, it's one of central Sofia 's more attractive shopping streets. The junction of Pirotska and ul. Stefan Stambolov marks the southern extent of the Zhenski pazar or Women's Market, an intensely crowded affair where you can find everything from fruit and vegetables to fake designer-label tracksuits and car parts. Peasants from the surrounding countryside arrive here early each morning to sell their produce. There's a weekly English-language newspaper , the increasingly authoritarive Sofia Echo, which offers good cultural listings as well as up-to-date coverage of Bulgarian politics and business news.