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Published: December 15th 2009
The arrival into the new swanky Terminal 2 at Sofia Airport on the eastern fringes of the city was smooth and efficient. The terminal is presumably an investment by the EEC to redistribute wealth across all it’s citizens and give an outwardly modern first impression of Bulgaria to the outside world. We relieved the cash machine in the arrivals hall of some Leva and avoided the vigorous pestering of the taxi touts, who were keen to relieve as much as possible of the above wedge. If you don’t fancy the Number 84 bus, a good first decision in Sofia Airport is to approach one of the two taxi desks to the right of the car hire places in the arrivals - one of which I can’t recall and the other being OK Supertrans or something very similar. The “very similar” is a crucial point in the world of Sofia taxis, as there are a multitude of companies that seek to imitate the OK Supertrans logo and then proceed to charge an inflated rate 10 x times the normal per km price for your journey into the city. The approach to the desk solves this dilemma and the fare for most central
areas should be no more than 15 Leva - just for information the current rate per km (in December 2009) should be 0.59 Leva and not a multiple of that and an OK Supertrans taxi should have two red dots placed strategically with the “OK” and will probably have a First Bank of Bulgaria advert on the back doors………proceed with care!!
We arrived at city centre hotel about 3 pm, checked in and headed off in search of tickets for the chosen cultural events, namely the Sofia Symphony Orchestra at the Bulgaria Hall and Prince Igor by Borodin at the National Opera & Ballet. We are not prone to such cultural excursions at home, both as we’ve done the ballet before on forays into Eastern Europe it seemed a bargain opportunity to experience something new. The lowest price tickets for both were 10 Leva from the respective box offices, so we figured that would be enough to pay to indulge in the experiment - assuming there was no sell out, opportunities for relocation are always available. It was dark by this time, so there wasn’t going to be much in the way of sightseeing. The limit was a glimpse
of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre and the thoughts then turned to Levski.
The football festivities of the trip started at the Georgi Aspararuhov Stadium, home of PFC Levski for the Europa League game against Villareal. Levski were pointless prior to the game, so the local interest was somewhat muted and there was not exactly a rush at the ticket kiosks on the south side of the ground. The steady rain in the late afternoon probably didn’t help the ticket cause either. We’d flown over the ground to the east of the city centre on the flight path into the airport - a largely open bowl with a roof over the Main Stand. We caught Tram 22 from the city centre and the floodlights become clearly visible from the left hand side of the tram, as we passed over the major junction near the eastern train station also on your left. The ground is about three minutes walk away to the north side of tram tracks - just head straight through the tower blocks and the ticket kiosks are just to the right hand side as you approach the Levski Ultra end in front of you. The rain made
Bulgarian TV Chef
The unidentified celeb threatens the crowd to practice recycling with a large knifethe ticketing decision easy - 20 Levas secured the best seats in the house under the roof of the Main Stand, which is to your left as you face the ticket office. The immediate area around the ground was a dry zone, although we couldn't work out whether that was a UEFA decision or one the Bulgarian authorities had reached to combat some form of perceived hooligan threat. We sought refuge in a better than average coffee bar near the ground and a hunt for edible provisions revealed only a choice of fast food, takeaway pizza and a cafeteria style offering of Bulgarian food, all obviously minus the alcoholic beverage. The numbers of police, all with handy riot shield and helmet, seemed a bit excessive in the hour leading up to kick off and was similarly over the top in the ground where a total of 18 guarded an away pen completely devoid of any Villarreal fans. There were about 10 in evidence in the corner of the main stand, who enthusiastically cheered both of their goals and waved a Spanish flag to the complete indifference of the locals. A further 50 or so “hid” in the VIP section and
Levski v Villarreal
Levski line up against visitors, Villarreal seem to have arrived with the team. Levski huffed and they puffed, but were clueless in front of goal and were beaten by the superior Spanish strike force who sniffed a couple of chances and took them. The “Yellow Submarine” marched on to victory! The Tram 22 was a bit boisterous on the way back to town, as the 15 year old section of the Levski ultras displayed their bravado by shock horror, standing on the tracks waiting for it, smoking on board and singing songs!!
We awoke the next morning to take in the sights of Sofia and marvelled at our choice of location of the hotel, just a 100 yards off the main Boulevard Vitosha. It is a perilous 100 yards mind……………the state of the footways make most journeys a tricky thing to pull off without landing flat on your face. There was clearly a central decision taken some years ago to lay hexagonal paving slabs across the city - very attractive if laid correctly or not cracked and damaged. Alas neither of the latter two points were true, so a tripping hazard beyond comprehension that would have the insurance department of most local authorities running for
cover if replicated in the UK was in place ………..and so to Boulevard Vitosha, which is wide street, frequented by trams and no cars and home to a lot of the capital’s most exclusive shops. At one end, there should be a panorama of Mount Vitosha - if the clouds lift - with the National Palace of Culture in the foreground. At the other end, the road leads past the Palace of Justice flanked by it’s bronze lions to the Church of Sveta Nedelya. A plain exterior hides a golden alter within, which was packed with a service at the time of our visit and copious other members of the faith dropping in to light the odd candle and kiss a Saint’s picture. One couldn’t help thinking, where were the swine flu posters at this point?? The end of Vitosha opens out into a large elongated Square with a large statue on one side, the Sheraton and the former Tzum Department Store (now a very upmarket shopping complex) on the other. A further subterranean Church can be found peeping it’s steeple above ground level down within the Metro Station which occupies the Square.
We chanced upon the Sveti Rotunda
St George in the courtyard behind the Sheraton Hotel and also what we thought might be the Bulgaria version of changing the guard at the Parliamentary offices just behind it. The long lines of soldiers in dress uniform turned out to be some form of guard of honour or welcoming committee for a visiting dignitary - possibly from the Ivory Coast judging by the flag on the official cars - which also explained the serious heavy duty security with the dark glasses despite the overcast conditions that was in tow. It can't have been Ivory Coast royalty, as Mr Drogba was nowhere to be seen.
We headed down past the former Communist Party HQ and on towards the imposing Alexander Nevksy Cathedral. In contrast to the other Church, the exterior with it’s golden roofs takes all the glory and the interior is starkly barren. It was similar to the St Sava in Belgrade. It is probably the showpiece sight in central Sofia and even in bad light, seems to take a decent picture. The Russian Church has the same golden roofs to wow and stark interior, but it's minute size in comparison to Nevsky means it pales in significance.
Guard of Honour
The welcome for a visiting foreign dignitary - the Ivory Coast we think, but no sign of their "royalty" in the form of Mr Drogba A lot of the other central architecture is to be honest drab and colourless, although interesting can be found below ground level. The Sofia basement shops for example are a testament to an ingeneous use of business space, where a 2 foot window can be an alladin's cave to a vast array of goods within - they just have to remember to open for business!
On a football free night, we went to listen to the Symphony Orchestra at the Bulgaria Hall. The venue itself opens out from a humble street view into a 1100 seat auditorium. The concert itself was a big disappointment - maybe we were expecting a bit more Out of Africa melodic strings, but it all seemed a bit modern and harsh. A number of old ladies in their finest robes - the regulars - clearly thought the same and actually walked out. There ws an exceptional interest in the promotional posters oustide - perhaps they were making a note of Mr Conductor to make sure they avoided his future performances.
The strangest bar we ventured into was called The Apartment. A top floor apartment no less, with themed rooms to capture the mood
and lots of sofas on which to lounge - a bit like a house party. One of the rooms was showing a film of cityscape type photos from around Europe, while others were more formal e.g. the old study. There was no bar as such and it was a case of popping into the kitchen to get a drink out of the fridge. The only downside was that it was the most expensive bar we visited in the city - still a unique atmosphere and worth at least a bottle of your time. Whilst Sofia is devoid of pristine footways for your wander, it has no shortage of stray dogs who seem to have no issue wandering around the streets creating additional under foot hazards - one to watch out for en route back from the pub.
The second football entertainment was at Slavia, in the south west area of the city. Slavia are the oldest team in the capital, formed in 1913, but sitting in their vast bowl of a stadium on a Friday afternoon it is somewhat difficult to grasp a club with nearly a 100 years of existence, let alone 7 League titles and a quarter
final appearance in the Euro Cup Winners Cup. Tram 5 from just behind the Palace of Justice delivers you to the Slavia Stadium - it would be obvious to say look out for the floodlights on the right hand side of the tram ,except Slavia don’t have any - look for the park instead and walk up the left hand side of the park to the service station. The demand for football at Slavia is low and a Friday afternoon fixture live on TV restricts the crowd to all but the totally committed, retired and school kids nipping in on their way home from school - it’s a question of debate as to whether live TV is killing football or football is killing live TV! This level of support is not clearly unusual, given there being only one ticket kiosk and a flat 5 leva charge to sit anywhere. The main stand affords a good view of Mount Vitosha, if the cloud lifts. FK Beroe took a lead, before super sub came to the rescue to secure Slavia a 3-1 win.
On one morning, we found ourselves down by the Christmas food markets on the edge of the park
where the Soviet Army Monument looms. The live TV was there - and why not, they were at all our football fixtures - it seemed like a sort of Bulgarian Saturday Kitchen with a cooking demo and a recycling lesson thrown in. We obviously had no idea who the guy was, but he was clearly a recognised figure by the crowd. The cooking demo was nothing to write home about, but the “Delia” cheating from jars etc was obviously deliberate to encourage the crowd to get into recycling. We take recycling for granted as the accepted norm and fight with our multitude of bins, but we were fascinated by the obvious amazement of the crowd that such a concept exists - recycling is set to join pavements in Bulgaria as a business of the future.
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