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Published: December 16th 2009
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President's Building
Changing of the Guard After the false dawn in the last blog, we found the changing of the guard this time - same location outside the President’s Building minus the heavies with the dark glasses. The numbers of soldiers were somewhat less, but more than compensated by some red uniforms and an awful lot of goose stepping.
Central Sofia is not that big on must see sights, but various recommendations after the Nevski seem to point to the Sofia Synagogue. We never did see the interior, as it was firmly locked up on both occasions - the sign indicated opening times, but the padlock gates suggested otherwise. The nearby mosque held the same amount of entertainment value. The nearby Ladies Market seemed to be populated by people we didn’t really need to meet, selling goods we didn’t particularly want - not surprisingly, not very many ladies were in evidence. We declined one of those currency exchange scams, where the exchange rate is just too good to be true and made our way back down towards Vitosha.
The NDK or National Palace of Culture at the end of Vitosha is Sofia’s concert hall and exhibition centre. A crumbling piece of concrete considering it was
Socialist Statues
.............taking no prisoners only built in the early 80’s, it had the privilege if that is the right word of hosting Boney M while we there and Simple Minds very soon after. It didn’t give you confidence in the chances of some of the tower block flats surviving too many more years, it they were built to the same construction standards.
A night at the opera turned out to be a lengthy evening. The Symphony Orchestra for all it’s ills only lasted a maximum of 1 1/2 hours. Prince Igor carried on and on and on - probably clocking up a 3 hour stint equivalent to extra time and penalties. We were “helped” in figuring out what was going on all that time, by those ever so helpful Bulgarian subtitles which went across the top of the stage. However, we would recommend it for 10 Levas just to go inside the National Opera & Ballet. The experts out there will probably be able to say why a significant proportion of the final scenes were ballet, but we held a consensus that these were by far and away the most enjoyable scenes. In future, we will give the opera a miss and stick
to ballet!
It would be an omission not to point out that beer was on average around 80 pence a pint, with the notable exception of The Apartment. We tended to favour Zagorka, but both that and Kamenitza were widespread and perfectly drinkable. The Bulgarian food was predominantly a lot of skewered or grilled type meats, usually heavily flavoured with onions and peppers and mixed vegetables. We found it to our liking and while they weren’t exactly giving it away, it was competitive.
The hotel served some very dubious coffee, so we sought out a fave cappuccino haunt. The preferred choice in the end was Puuka, just along from the Palace of Justice - if you are looking for a bargain in the cake and coffee department, this is the place to head. It also turned out to be a convenient place for trams to the suburbs, most notably those containing a football stadium.
The tram 12 for our next venture into the unknown was conveniently across the street - the battle of the Lokomotivs, Sofia versus Plovdiv. The tram took forever heading into the northern suburbs - concern was evident, where was the stadium? The tower
CSKA Sofia
..........best seats in the house at the Balgarskia Armia Stadium blocks were left behind and we ventured into an underpass world near the sprawl of factories, before the floodlight pylons came into view on the left. Pylons were the operative word, given that the two towers visible held no lights! It was the sort of place you would think you don’t want to be on a night match, but the locals turned out to be the friendliest we encountered in Sofia football - one even gave up his club pin badge as a “gift”. We were encouraged to stand with the Iron Brigades on their Iron Side, which turned out to be a cheap decision at 3 Levas and a good view. It had atmosphere and a roof - the Main Stand appeared to have neither at twice the price. Loko Sofia crushed the opposition 3-0, taking total control once Plovdiv had a man sent off early in the first half. There seems to be a view on certain websites and publications that the stadium is on the verge of collapse, despite being a recent creation of the 80’s - trust us, it’s a lot better than CSKA. We headed over behind the Main Stand after the final whistle -
Bulgarian Cuisine
The restaurant behind the Hotel Niky - worth tracking down - the Bulgarian's go out of their way to eat there. it is open house and you can almost conduct the post match interviews.
The final football instalment was CSKA’s clash with Chernomorets from the Black Sea coast. “Clash” is probably an overstatement - as both seemed decidedly disinterested in anything other than going through the motions in the 0-0 draw. I am sure there were TV sets all over Bulgaria tuning in eagerly awaiting some fireworks, only to turn off 10 minutes later or go to sleep. CSKA had clearly used up all their energy on the trip to London in midweek and the game was just a chance for their fans to show off various memorabilia extracted from the mighty Fulham’s club shop or the street vendors of SW6. The Bulargski Stadium is essentially run down and wrecked. There is a small away terrace and the rest is the typical bowl of 20,000 seats with a small covered section for the VIPs and press. “Seats” is another overstatement, because the reality is that 10,000 are probably smashed and another 5,000 should be declared unfit for human occupancy. There was an air of menace not seen at the other games, with a healthy population of the new VIP royalty
Zagorka Advert
..........our beer of choice in these parts parking their 4X4 transport as close as possible before donning their leather jackets. The only plus point of the evening was the ground was a short stroll past the Vasil Levski National Stadium into the Borisova Park. You would be best advised not to waste your money on the Sector A tickets (at 8 Levas for this match), as the roof provides no cover and the clientele are as obnoxious as you would find in the cheaper seats) - the majority spent their evening breaking seats and hurling abuse at Penev and the substitutes. The adjacent riot police’s job description doesn’t run to apprehending vandals. If you are so inclined, the CSKA Fan Shop is to the left of the main entrance as you approach from the city centre and next to the ticket kiosks.
The abiding final memory of Sofia will be the cigarette smoking. We have now become accustomed to the smoking ban and the fact that you don’t need to select a drinking venue - for coffee or alcohol - based on whether you can breathe within the premises. It seems everybody in Bulgaria smokes........and smokes a lot.....a night out in a few
Lokomotiv Sofia
The Iron Brigades bars or a restaurant or just a coffee or two during the day can leave you feeling like a stale ashtray, but it is still preferable to a night out at a goalless draw at CSKA! The up and coming business opportunities in Bulgaria would therefore seem to be pavements, recycling and nicorette patches!
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