The capital and largest city of Bulgaria, in south-eastern Europe. It sits inland, at the foot of a mountain called Vitosha, and it is one of the oldest cities in Europe — people have lived on that spot for thousands of years, under Thracian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rule in turn, and you can still see Roman ruins in the middle of the modern streets. Say it with the stress on the first part: SO-fee-a. The same spelling is also a common girl's name in many countries — Sofia, Sophia, Sofía — and there is a region of Madagascar with the name too, so context tells you which one is meant. As a city name it is always capitalised and takes no 'the': 'I flew to Sofia', not 'the Sofia'.