My Impressions of Sofia

A few weeks ago, Boryana asked us to write about our impressions of Sofia over the past few months, to be published in some compilation of how foreigners see and live the Bulgarian capital. I realised that this short text's natural home was, apart from anywhere else, this very blog, and so decided to copy and paste it here.

As out time is ticking - there's only a week left now - you can expect more such retrospective posts, even in this melancholy spirit that has engulfed our little international party, this awkward mood of wanting to fit as much as possible in the little time left but not doing so at all because the current situation of terminal comfortable inertia feels so natural. This single week ahead of us all of a sudden feels like it could fit the entire past nine months in it and with room to spare.

My impressions of Sofia

Sofia is similar in a way to Athens in that you can feel that its status of capital was only recently, in the grander scale of things, given to it. Not so long ago, it was a relatively unimportant provincial town of a large multicultural empire – just like Athens. The same empire, incidentally, And then, history happened.

The malls that are sprouting up like mushrooms nowadays have old communist building to serve as their backdrop meadow. Spreading like mushrooms, popping up almost instantaneously like mushrooms. These and other kinds of buildings or shops go to show what it is that people grew to desire after decades of austerity, lack of economic and political freedom and loyalty to the Party: sex shops, 24 chasa alkohol i tsigari, supermarkets and other shops open every day till late, McDonalds aplenty, multinationals that have set shop and offices due to the low minimum wages… All these things that seem so quaint to a person who grew up in a country where capitalism has been long taken for granted and is being, small step by small step, left behind.

But all the above was the stereotypical image of Sofia, the things I imagined I would find before ever setting foot in Bulgaria 8 months ago, similar to the common preconceptions we often have for cities that used to be communist. All the above I did find, but there was so much more. Sofia: candidate for European capital of the Unexpected  2015!

I found huge parks full of life, kateritsi, old trees, young as well as old people, with dogs or without, but mostly with; Sofians love their kuchetata. I thought Sofia would be a gray city; it is, but it’s much greener than it is gray. Grayn? Sorry, that was a bad joke. It was a big surprise and for me a big reason Sofia is as pleasant to live in as it is.

The city’s mass transit system was also a highlight of the unexpected. The two metro lines connect at Serdika, but they’re really one line split in two, like a single rope half painted blue, half red, forming a huge loop. That’s cool. The old trolley buses with their weird noises and the turbulence at Ruski Pametnik also have a special place in my heart. But my favourite by far is the Sofian tram. It’s almost iconic. Everybody knows I’m a fan of anything on rails, especially if you can muse looking outside the window while on them (which sadly excludes the metro). Sofia’s tram network is huge and plain fun. Who doesn’t like lines changing routes because of surprise repair works on main roads, or permanently angry tram drivers who randomly stop to get lunch or cigarettes and loudly quarrel with passengers? The best by far are lines 20 and 22: they have more seats and less standing room in this way making you feel like you’re on an actual train. Bonus points for line 10, which goes through a forest. By the way, if you don’t think the orange ticket stamp thingies aren’t amusing in their backwards-ness, but in a very adorable way, I’m not talking to you! And yes, I know that tickets are very expensive, especially since you have to use another every time you switch lines. But hey, those are the perks of being an EVSer; free transport cards! Not surprisingly, though, I went ahead and managed to lose mine in these final days of the project.

Then there’s the city proper, the things you can do in the centre. Here’s a brief list of options: eating amazing gelato at Confetti – definitely some of my favourite ice-cream in the world; Art Hostel with its garden: the perfect place to chill with a Stolichno Weiss, my Bulgarian beer of choice; Veda House with its unbelievably rich hummus; Mimas and that place owned by Turks on Ulitsa Pirotska that make the best falafel in town, and of course Sofia City Library and Ploshtad Slaveikov that saw so many of our activities, busy as well as lazy afternoons…  This list of favourite places accumulated over a period of eight months could go on but I’m running out of space on this small page. Not being able to mention every little special thing brings out some kind of familiar guilt in me.

Last but not least, Shar Planina 55 in Opalchenska: the building which was constructed in the Interwar period, with no elevator, the entire staircase of which we had to climb every time we wanted to reach our apartment on the fourth floor. If there ever is a hostel named after this otherwise inconspicuous place, know that it will be because our apartment saw many travellers from around Europe and other volunteers and provided shelter without complaint to more people than what would be considered normal for a living space of this size. It will forever stay in our hearts.

Moving Gallery

Snips of a moving photo gallery we did in July with our EVSer friends. Featuring Anna, Kuba, Florian, Gabi, Miro, Maria, Zanda, Vicente and myself.

 I'm not going to explain anything related to our performance, in order to more closely simulate our complete shut-off of communication with the outside world during the exhibition.

 Perhaps Zanda's assessment about the whole thing was correct: "more pictures, less video"!

ABGU Chamber Orchestra Concert in Bulgaria Hall

Last Friday, the good people at Sofia City Library provided us good volunteers (dobrovoltsi!) with tickets for a concert by the ABGU (Armenian General Benevolent Union) Chamber Orchestra, which took place in Bulgaria Concert Hall. You can read the press release in Bulgarian with more about the Sofia European Music Festival, the orchestra and the soloists here (and, if needed, do a Google Translation accordingly - it's not too bad).

Truth be told, we hadn't been to a music hall in Sofia before this opportunity was given to us. Generally, I find that it's difficult to enjoy concerts of music you've never heard before; this instance, however, was a good opportunity for us to discover and enjoy great pieces.

We recorded (parts of) them for sharing this pleasure with you, dear readers, and for giving you a taste of what it was like for us to to be in a Bulgarian concert hall.

W.A. Mozart Piano Concert №27 1 (I don't know exactly which part - sorry for the low volume)

W.A. Mozart Piano Concert №27 2 (I don't know exactly which part - sorry for the low volume)

Jean Sibelius Valse Triste // Mendelssohn Violin Concert Op. 64 (the audio quality is much better here because I set my audio recorder to "concert", which I hadn't for the previous recordings. I'm sorry to say it's not complete because the battery ran out).
If you choose to listen to just one of the recordings, the last one should be it.
The concert finished with the following piece, which I didn't know and now it's my earworm for tonight.

Valentine's Day

Warning! If you're single and/or hate Valentine's Day, skip this post and allow me to redirect you to the Wikipedia article on the appropriately named Singles Awareness Day - S.A.D.

Now, for the rest of us healthy people with perfect social lives: how did you celebrate your February 14th this year? If you are Bulgarian, you either had the typical romantic date, gifting your significant other one of the heart-shaped balloons which were being sold everywhere in the centre of Sofia as well as maybe some Bulgarian roses (the national flower), or you followed the more traditional national Bulgarian Tryphon Zarezan day: a celebration in the name of the patron saint of wine which consists of trying the new year's fresh vintage.

There is also a thrid option: if you were an EVS volunteer like us, you prepared for this day by helping cut out little hearts and animal shapes for the children to glue together and create greeting cards for eachother as part of the festivities in the American Corner. You don't know cute if you haven't seen an owl made of hearts with an "I'll owl-ways be your friend!" written on it.

сняг!

Snyag; snow in Bulgarian!

Exactly one week ago we were eating ice cream in Vitosha Blvd and didn't believe it when Boryana told us that it would be snowing soon. All for the better: the surprise was bigger!

Vicente and I thought that Maria and Zanda would have had enough snow for a lifetime, them being from northern countries and all, but then we realised that that would be like saying that we Mediterranean types have grown bored of our beautiful beaches, after so many summers of enjoying the sea and lying in the sun!

One of the things I like the best about snow is how everything is equalised under its blanket; the paths in the park disappear and the roads have to be cleaned if civilization is to keep doing its thing.Walking in the streets next to our apartment before the snow bulldozers -or whatever their names are- had really gone to work was quite a feeling; this whiteness that literally freezes reality visible, overwhelming, in all directions, including above and below.

I almost didn't go out for my usual run because of the snow but my sense of duty prevailed in the end and it was a good decision (Vicente remarked that I was very disciplined!) The biggest park near our flat where I usually go to when I don't want to go too far - Sveta Troitsa - gave me an opportunity to witness how, indeed, regardless of how many times you see snow in your life, every time is almost like the first.

"Gay" some things never change, no matter
in which part of the world you are!

Sofians went to Sveta Troitsa Park to enjoy
the snow with their children.

I miss my sled...

Is an invisible path still a path?

My hands were trembling too much in the cold outside
of the warmth of the gloves for this picture to be any good.

Snow never stays around as much as I'd like it to, however, and today the white stuff of happiness started melting under the winter sun, although it was still the coldest day we've been here by far! By this morning all of the roads were already full of the dirty slush that the snow leaves behind and makes it unpopular to those who see a lot of it every winter. In light of this, our mentor Boris told us of a Bulgarian poet, Smirnenski was his name if I recall correctly, who made the parallel in one of his works between the urbanisation of Bulgaria -the rural families moving to the city to find work- and how the pure, innocent snow quickly becomes dirty in the city streets... I would love to find this poem and post it here actually.

Fortunately we heard that there's going to be more snow coming in just a few days; the circle of rural innocence which turns to dirty urbanisation will not stop turning! What would the macroscopic, social equivalent of the dirty slush finally evaporating and returning to the sky be, though?

A January day in Sofia

January 20th was another winter day in Sofia.

You would have been excused, however, if you had been here and had thought that, instead of Sofia, it was a winter day in Athens or the south of Spain: wunderground says it was the warmest January 20th in the recorded history of January 20ths, with the thermometer reaching a max of 18°C. Every Sofian we've talked to has expressed his or her surpise at this unusual weather. I did not sign up for this, Bulgaria! The first days we were here, thick fog and all, were much closer to what I imagined you to be like. If I wanted a warm winter I'd have stayed in Athens! I'm only joking of course but I have to make sure it's clear because of Poe's Law.

Vicente: "I would have never expected I'd be eating ice cream in January. In Bulgaria."

After our Bulgarian class for the day and checking in at the library, we had a free afternoon and decided to take advantage of it by visiting the art galleries in the city centre. It was a Monday, so I'll let you guess what happened... All was far from lost, however. For a start, the ArtHall of Telefonna Palata was open and luckily there was an exhibition of famous photographer Harry Benson.

The exhibition had officially ended but the Balkan tradition of having a relaxed attitude
towards deadlines turned out well for us - this time!

Jack Nicholson portraits

Pop glamour

Since we couldn't actually get in the galleries, we fooled around the pieces they had outside. Here we are outside the Gradska Galeriya.

The nice afternoon at the galleries became a nice afternoon on Vitosha Blvd where we took the picture at the top of this post. We bought the ice-cream there (you should definitely try the zachar flavour with the chocolate cake and jam - not sure about the name, must check!) and went down it to reach the plaza of the NDK, the National Palace of Culture. We didn't expect such a large complex to be there and were certainly taken by surprise by the monuments and the open space. This monument in particular, pictured below, made a distinct impression on us, but we have no idea what it is yet or why (and whether?) construction on it was halted.

Boryana has told us that we can expect snow the following days but after all these sunny ones I find that rather hard to believe. Still, even if they are unnatural and de facto prove that climate change is already a reality, such sunny and warm days are the perfect opportunity to explore this city that keeps piling up the surprises.

Bulgaria and Russia: a special relationship

While spending time with Bulgarian and Russian delegates at this year's International Forum I cannot help but think about the special relation between the two countries.

 

Obviously, both countries are predominantly Slavic, and both share the recent socialist past, but their connections run deeper than that. 

Many Bulgarians will proudly tell you that they gave the Cyrillic alphabet as well as the first Slavic Christian texts to the big cousin, via the Saint brothers Cyril and Methodius.

 

Monks Cyril and Methodius displaying their masterpiece. Source: Wikipedia.

A thousand years later, Russia - by then one of the world's largest empires - liberated Bulgaria from a nearly 500-years' Ottoman yoke*. This happened during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Surely, the newly-liberated knew how to appreciate this. In many Bulgarian towns multiple monuments in order to honour the Russian army, its generals, and the emperor Alexander II were built.  

Alexander II. Source: Alexanderpalace.org.

In Sofia alone, there is the Russian Church, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Russian Monument (Ruski Pametnik), and the Monument to the Tzar Liberator high on a horse   - all initiated at the turn of the 20th century.

Even if nowadays some Bulgarians say they have been deeply disappointed by the recent experiences as part of the Communist Block, the monuments in their cities and some historic sentiments still remain.

* the dramatic word 'yoke' is a favoured phrase by many Bulgarians to describe the times when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire. The phrase potentially originates from Ivan Vazov's novel Under the Yoke - one of the great classics of Bulgarian literature. Bulgarian children spend long months at school reading and analysing the novel.        

It's a yoke.

There are wild bears roaming right next to Sofia: A visit to Bulgaria's Ministry of Environment & Water

One of the good things about being an EVS volunteer is the ability to network and learn something new on a daily basis.

European brown bear. Source: Wikipedia.

Today we visited the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water, located just across the pavement from our library.

We had a coffee with the Ministry's representative Elena; then, after discussing the environmental issues, watched a few films.

One of them was the photogenic environmental HOME by the French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. This eye-pleasing documentary summarises what many of us already know about the environment but it's worth seeing nonetheless as there can never be stressed enough on how important it is to be respectful to our planet.

HOME: the film's poster. You can watch the full film on YouTube.

The two others were environmental documentaries about Bulgaria: one about the Vitosha Nature Park; the other one about bears. Why?

Because the pure, lush Bulgarian nature remains one of the few places on our continent where European brown bears are still able to roam around, without facing too much danger from humans. It is estimated that in Central Balkan National Park alone there are around 200 wild bears living.

Amazingly, some bears are also present in Vitosha Nature Park, right next to the Bulgarian capital Sofia, a city of 1.2 million people - the 15th largest of Europe.

So be excited next time you go hiking in the favourite mountain of many Sofians: you might experience a noteworthy encounter.

With the Ministry's representative Elena (second from the right).

The Ministry's Information Centre, located at 67 William Gladstone Street, round the corner from Sofia City Library, is accessible to the public. There are books, videos and other environmental resources available, as well as the information about the Ministry's work.

Playing chess in the park: Bulgaria's open air tournaments

Sofia City Garden, one of the busiest parks of the Bulgarian capital, is known as the place where informal open air chess tournaments take place.  

 

Strolling there on a nice summer day you will witness gangs of (mostly) elderly men engaged – or sitting and waiting to be engaged – in chess matches. 

Often they are surrounded by agitated spectators. An occasional open-mouthed tourist flashing his/her camera makes the atmosphere even more heated. 

After a few beers our fellow EVS volunteer Ricardo decided to challenge one of the players. Guess who won.

Chess in the park.