Autumn in Town

It's been cold, really cold these days and winter already stepped into the mountains. I'm still hoping we'll get some Indian summer later in the month, but today we had to put our wooly hats on during our walk in the park. Despite the cold it was so peaceful and beautiful, I love the smell of autumn in the air!

Sofia Botanical Garden

If you ask Sofia residents, only a small percentage of them would know that there is a Botanical garden in Sofia, and an even smaller percentage would know how to get there. Hopefully, things might be changing with the big signs on the ring-road - that's how we noticed it. The gardens have been allotted a solid piece of land at the foot of Vitosha mountain, between Simeonovo and Boyana. So far the operational part is a complex of green houses, the vast land outside is mostly uncultivated. Yesterday our traveling trio visited the Botanical garden and spent a couple of entertaining hours there. Just a few phone-made pictures:

We bought a small red-leaved coleus flower like the ones in the center of the picture:

These golden Mexican balls were the cacti that impressed me most:

Rare desert cacti - living stones and others:

The bougainvillea was magnificent:

A few orchids:

The grounds outside the green house - these could become beautiful gardens with proper funding:

A small piece of land is made into a rosarium:

A giant redwood tree:

Medieval Fair in Boyana Church

Just a few snapshots of the Medieval Fair, held in the yard of the Boyana Church at the beginning of the month. It was well visited and I hope they gathered enough proceeds to organize a bigger event in September, as planned.

To my surprise :), I enjoyed a lot the medieval music
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDqda4QcPgA)

The fair featured medieval games, weapons and drinks:

The key of the program was the lecture on medieval warfare and the demonstrations of knights' battles:

At the end we tried our hands at bow shooting - Gaby was amazing and won the cheering and applause of the crowd, hubby was very good, I was a sorry picture, missing all of my shots :)))