Boris’ Garden is more than just the location for the national stadium. Levski Sofia also have a slightly smaller stadium there, only a stone’s throw away. Seems a bit “stadium overkill”, but there we go. There are also very pleasant, picturesque walkways and gardens which, in more hospitable weather, would have been a pleasure to have spent a little time in.
After idling round Levski Sofia and worrying about being taken for an autograph hunter, I took in more of Boris’ Garden, then walked up past the University and back into the city centre. Sofia, I decided, is prettier than Belgrade, which seems more impressive and - what with the rivers and fort - more beautiful. Sofia’s squares and palatial buildings give it an almost Viennese feel, with touches of Western commerce I experienced nowhere more so than at night-time, when patrons in a club on the same square as the Rila Hotel periodically took to the streets and made a celebratory racket, waking me on more than one occasion.
Still, some solace, and oddly, delivered by T Cook. It turns out my hotel is named after St John of Rila, a ninth century hermit who spent time in the Rila Mountains, attracted a whole load of devotees, had a monastery named after him and has since become the patron saint of Bulgaria.
