Sofia

Look up: you're standing beside an Ottoman mosque in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Its name, Banya Bashi, translates literally as 'many baths'. It went up between 1566 and 1567, designed by the famous architect Sinan. And here's the remarkable part: of all Sofia's mosques, this is the only one still open for worship. Step toward the entrance and you'll find a porch on four pillars, crowned by three domes. Its vaults carry floral patterns and honeycomb muqarnas. To the right rises the minaret, built of stone and red brick. Inside, the prayer hall opens under a dome fifteen metres across. The walls hold Quranic inscriptions and painted flowers.

Look up at the neoclassical building on Alexander Nevsky Square: this was once the Royal Printing House. It went up between 1882 and 1884, under Prince Alexander Battenberg. The Austrian architect Friedrich Schwanberg drew the plans. Bombs fell on Sofia in the Second World War and wrecked it, so what you see was rebuilt. On 5 November 1985 it opened as the gallery of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Foundation. Many works arrived from the "13 Centuries of the Bulgarian State" fund, created by Lyudmila Zhivkova. A Buddhist collection was donated in 1987. Since May 2015 everything is shown with the National Gallery, in the space called National Gallery Square 500. Behind you stand the National Assembly and the Alexander Nevsky cathedral.

Look up at this neo-Renaissance facade by Konstantin Jovanović — a protected cultural monument. Bulgaria's National Assembly was born here in 1879, under the Tarnovo Constitution. It didn't last long: from 1881 to 1883, Prince Alexander I swapped it for a State Council he appointed himself. Grand National Assemblies once chose the country's first two monarchs after liberation from the Ottomans. Under communism, from 1946 to 1989, the chamber simply rubber-stamped the Party's decisions. One legacy survives: ministers are still appointed by the Assembly, not the President. The old hall holds 286 seats, twenty-six rows of eleven, with seventeen places kept for the government on the chair's right. In 2021 deputies moved back here, rejecting the Party House as a symbol of the communist past.

Stop right here. On this very spot, on 18 February 1873, Vasil Levski was hanged. The monument you see is among the first raised in the newly freed Principality of Bulgaria. It climbs 13 metres, cut from grey Balkan granite, designed by the Czech architect Antonín Kolář. The bronze relief of Levski's head is credited to Josef Strachovský, though some sources name Rudolf Weyr. The stonework came from an Italian hand, Abramo Peruchelli. Work began in 1878 and dragged on for seventeen years, until the unveiling on 22 October 1895. Bulgarian intellectuals were furious at the delay; in 1881 the poet Konstantin Velichkov mocked it in verse. One rejected design showed a Christian cross above a crescent, judged too intolerant.

Look up: you're standing beside Bulgaria's oldest home for professional artistic training. It began in 1896, under a plainer name: the State Drawing School. Prince Ferdinand signed the decree, and that October the doors opened here in Sofia. Three artists shaped its birth: Anton Mitov, Ivan Mrkvicka and Boris Schatz. Two writers and public figures helped too, Konstantin Velichkov and Ivan Shishmanov. In 1911 the teachers asked the Ministry of Education for a grander title: Academy of Art. They waited a decade. The change finally came in 1921, proposed by minister Stoyan Omarchevski. Today two faculties work behind these walls, Fine Arts, and Applied Arts and Design. Nearly a thousand Bulgarian and international students study here, doctoral candidates included. Their crafts range from mural painting to wood carving and stage design, with conservation and restoration too. And a curious note: some of its most famous names never finished their studies at all.

Look up: a tsar on horseback, right in the heart of Sofia. He is Alexander II of Russia, the man who freed the serfs and won the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Bulgarians call this street Tsar Osvoboditel, and the National Assembly stands just opposite. Ninety artists from fifteen countries showed interest in the competition; thirty-one rivals actually competed. The winner was the Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi, working with Bulgarian architect Nikola Lazarov. The first stone was laid on Saint George's Day, 23 April 1901, with Knyaz Ferdinand I watching. Work finished on 15 September 1903, but the unveiling waited until 30 August 1907. Ferdinand came with his sons Boris and Kiril, joined by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the tsar's own son. The polished black granite came from Mount Vitosha, crowned by a neo-Renaissance cornice. At the base, a bronze wreath given by Romania honours its fallen soldiers. Circle around and find Russian and Bulgarian troops led by the goddess of victory, sword raised high. Nearby faces include Count Ignatiev, generals Gourko and Skobelev, and writers like Ivan Vazov.

Keep walking, and lean in for a moment. This central Sofia boulevard hides a small secret in its name. Today it honours Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, wife of Ferdinand the First. But under communism, the very same street carried the name of Georgi Dimitrov. One road, two identities. Follow it and you cross the Lavov Most, the Bridge of the Lions, one of the city's most emblematic crossings. Along the way, watch for the Covered Market, the church of Sveta Nedelya, and the Public Baths. Below your feet runs the new metro station named after the same princess. And just off to the side, a square paved in yellow: Prince Alexander of Battenberg. Nearby stand the Presidency, the Council of Ministers and the deputies' offices, together forming the Largo. The street runs from the Central Station to Vitosha Boulevard, which carries on to the National Palace of Culture.

Here's a secret hiding in plain sight: this square has worn another name. Before 1989, locals knew it as Dimitar Blagoev Square. Today it's Macedonia Square, one of the busiest hubs in central Sofia. Look at your feet, then up. Two of the tallest towers in the city stand right here, and a third is still rising. Listen for the trams; several lines rattle straight across this open space. Three routes meet here too: Macedonia Boulevard, Hristo Botev Boulevard, and Alabin Street. Follow Alabin and it slips you onto Vitosha Boulevard, the heart of the city. Behind the traffic sit quiet offices, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests and the Road Infrastructure Agency. And close by, watch for signs to the Russian Monument.

Lean in, because this corner holds a quiet diplomatic secret. Italy's ambassador in Sofia speaks here for the government in Rome, to the Bulgarian government. But here's the curious part: Italy was already present long before Bulgaria broke free from Ottoman rule. Small Italian consulates were quietly working in Plovdiv, Ruse and Sofia. Then came the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 to 1878, and Italy spread toward the water. New consulates opened in the ports of Lom, Varna and Burgas. And the true beginning? Picture Christmas Day, 1879. Inside the Royal Palace of Sofia, Domenico Brunenghi handed his credentials to Prince Alexander the First. A Christmas ceremony, and a relationship that never stopped.

Here's a little secret hiding right under your feet. Lavov most is one of the stations on Sofia's metro network, here in Bulgaria. It opened its doors on the 31st of August, 2012. And it was no quiet opening. Bulgaria's prime minister, Boyko Borisov, came in person. Beside him stood Barroso, the president of the European Commission. Why such important guests for a metro stop? Because European Union money paid for this new stretch of tunnel. Now look around you at street level. Trams 4, 12 and 18 all meet here. Trolleybus number 6 rolls through too. And plenty of city buses stop nearby. A quiet crossroads, busier than it looks.