Situated on an open plain between the Balkan Mountains to the north and the Rila Mountains to the south, Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, stands 550m (1804ft) above sea level. Owing to its altitude, the summers are moderately hot and the winters cold and snowy. The city is surrounded by a sprawling periphery of bleak, Socialist-era block housing - a formidable greeting for the first-time visitor.However, arrival in the centre reveals the true magic of Sofia: a city of tree-lined boulevards where East meets West. Mosques stand side by side Byzantine Orthodox churches, while imposing governmental buildings neighbour the florid works of nineteenth-century Russian and Viennese architects. History is animated by everyday life - as locals meet for coffee at open-air cafés, fast-food kiosks trade mouth-watering Turkish-inspired goodies and a gypsy girl sells flowers on a street corner while shoppers queue to board the city's rattling trams and trolley buses.