Sofia-Grad: things to do worth your time

The gold-domed Neo-Byzantine cathedral that is the postcard image of Sofia and the seat of the Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch.

A tiny UNESCO-listed medieval church whose 1259 frescoes are considered one of the most important works of Eastern European art from the Middle Ages.

A 4th-century red-brick Roman rotunda hidden in the courtyard of the Presidency — the oldest preserved building in Sofia.

The 6th-century basilica that gave the city its name, standing across the square from Alexander Nevsky.

Sofia's central cathedral church, rebuilt after a 1925 Communist bomb assassination attempt that killed 150 worshippers.

The only functioning mosque in Sofia and one of the oldest in Europe, built in 1566 by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

The third-largest Sephardic synagogue in Europe, a Moorish-Venetian jewel completed in 1909 and the spiritual home of the Bulgarian Jews who were saved from the Holocaust.

A converted 16th-century Ottoman mosque now dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius and their five disciples, the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet.

A jewel-box Muscovite Revival church with five gold-and-green onion domes, built in 1914 as the private chapel of the Russian embassy.

A 14th-century mountain monastery on the slopes of Vitosha, hideout of rebel Vasil Levski and one of the most peaceful spots within Sofia's city limits.

A 14th-century monastery on the northeastern edge of Sofia with a remarkable 1493 fresco cycle that survived Ottoman rule almost untouched.

A tenth-century Sofia monastery where St. John of Rila lived as a hermit before founding his famous Rila Monastery to the south.

Bulgaria's largest museum, housed in Todor Zhivkov's former Communist residence, holding 700,000 objects from prehistory to the fall of the Soviet Bloc.

The story of Sofia across 8,000 years, told inside the beautifully restored 1913 Central Mineral Baths.

Thracian gold, Greek marble and Roman inscriptions inside the 1474 Büyük Mosque, Sofia's oldest surviving Ottoman building.

Sofia's oldest and largest central park — 3 square kilometres of forest, lakes, monuments and running paths named after Tsar Boris III.

Sofia's laid-back second park behind the National Palace of Culture — running paths, three lakes, and the city's largest weekend farmers market.

Sofia's oldest open-air market — 400 metres of fruit, vegetables, honey, feta, olives, spices and cheap lunches within five minutes of the mosque.

A beautifully restored 1911 covered market on the Largo — food stalls, cheeses, wines, and a basement of Roman ruins.

The 2,290-metre mountain that fills the entire southern skyline of Sofia and gives locals an alpine playground 20 minutes from the metro.

A tongue-in-cheek Communist-era themed bar serving 250 kinds of rakia — Bulgaria's national spirit — with hearty Bulgarian food.

Sofia's main pedestrian shopping street, a kilometre of cafes and shops with the silhouette of Vitosha mountain framed at its southern end.

Sofia sits on 40 mineral springs — the public taps outside the old baths run 40°C water free, all day, every day.