Sofia, Bulgaria - West Park, gardens - postcard c.1970s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Sofia - The West Park 
• Publisher: Septemvri, Bulgaria
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Sofia (/ˈsoʊfiə, ˈsɒf-, soʊˈfiːə/ SOH-fee-ə, SOF-, soh-FEE-ə;^[12][13] Bulgarian: Со́фия, translit. Sofiya,^[14][15] IPA: [ˈsɔfijə]() is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. The city is at the foot of Vitosha Mountain in the western part of the country. Being in the centre of the Balkan peninsula, it is midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, and closest to the Aegean Sea.^[16][17]

Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC.^[2] The recorded history of Sofia begins with the attestation of the conquest of Serdica by the Roman Republic in 29 BC from the Celtic tribe Serdi, raided by Huns in 343-347 AD and 447 AD, conquered by Visigoths in 376-382 AD, conquered by Avars and Slavs in 617 AD, and on 9th April, 809 Serdica was surrendered to Krum of Bulgaria.^[18] Bulgarian rule lasted until 1018, in 1040 and 1193-1382, which was interrupted by more than a century of Byzantine rule and by nearly five centuries-long Ottoman rule until Bulgarian rule was restored in 1878.^[18] During World War II Sofia was bombarded by the UK and US Air Forces and at the end of the war, it was seized by the Soviet Army.

Being Bulgaria's primate city, Sofia is a hometown of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies.^[19] Sofia is one of the top 10 best places for start-up businesses in the world, especially in information technologies, according to Bulgarian National Television.^[20] Sofia was Europe's most affordable capital to visit in 2013.^[21]

The population of Sofia declined down from 70,000 in the late 18th century, through 19,000 in 1870, to 11,649 in 1878 and began increasing.^[18] Sofia hosts some 1.23 million^[9] residents within a territory of 492 km²,^[22] a concentration of 17.5% of the country population within the 200th percentile of the country territory. The urban area of Sofia hosts some 1.54 million^[10] residents within 5723 km², which comprises Sofia City Province and parts of Sofia Province (Dragoman, Slivnitsa, Kostinbrod, Bozhurishte, Svoge, Elin Pelin, Gorna Malina, Ihtiman, Kostenets) and Pernik Province (Pernik, Radomir), representing 5.16% of the country territory.^[7] The metropolitan area of Sofia is based upon one hour of car travel time, stretches internationally and includes Dimitrovgrad in Serbia.^[23] Unlike most European metropolitan areas, it is not to be defined as a substantially functional metropolitan area, but is of the type with "limited variety of functions".^[24] The metropolitan region of Sofia is inhabited by a population of 1.68 million^[11] and is made up of the whole provinces Sofia City, Sofia and Pernik, comprising more than 10,000 km².^[25]

The city has an extensive green belt. Some of the neighbourhoods constructed after 2000 are densely built up and lack green spaces. There are four principal parks – Borisova gradina in the city centre and the Southern, Western and Northern parks. Several smaller parks, among which the Zaimov Park, City Garden and the Doctors' Garden, are located in central Sofia. The Vitosha Nature Park (the oldest national park in the Balkans)^[97] includes most of Vitosha mountain and covers an area of 266 square kilometres (103 sq mi),^[98] with roughly half of it lying within the municipality of Sofia. Vitosha Mountain is a popular hiking destination due to its proximity and ease of access via car and public transport. Two functioning cable cars provide year long access from the outskirts of the city. The mountain offers favourable skiing conditions during the winter and during the 70s and the 80s multiple ski slopes of various difficulty were made available. Skiing equipment can be rented and skiing lessons are available. However, due to the bad communication between the private offshore company that runs the resort and Sofia municipality, most of the ski area has been left to decay in the last 10 years so that currently there is only one chairlift and one slope working.