You Don't Have To Be A Red Star To Be In My Show

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The Man in the Middle woke with ideas of mountaineering. I took one look at the weather out the window and suggested that the gloom could be against us. He was obviously fortified by his traditional sausage meal. The weather refused to be an obstacle to his mission. Clouds and mountains don't mix, but we set off regardless. The first mission was an all-day ticket for the metro, trams and buses. The ticket office at the adjacent Metro Station round the corner was the obvious place to start. Do you speak English, we inquired? It never ceases to amaze me, when the answer suggests perhaps one or two words to get by and then a perfect explanation of requirements follows. It wasn't quite that this time, but bonus points should be awarded anyway if they can understand my Northern tones. Twenty years of living in the South - the border always was Wetherby roundabout on the old A1 - and I still get puzzled looks where I live in England .............. and that is from people I work with. Anyway, all day ticket secured - a mere 4 Lev (the equivalent of 2 Euros). We set off south on the new Metro system. The system has been extended to the Terminal 2 at the Airport now and the extensions are now heading south from the National Palace of Culture area. The latter station was quite impressive - makes the London Underground look a bit tired - wide spacious and clean. The stations are possibly the only places in Sofia devoid of graffiti! The next station southwards is called European Union, which give you a clue who paid. The line suggests one more station, but that is under construction. We alighted and searched the bus routes for our next leg.



The world of real time has come to Sofia, so we had no difficulty in locating transport for the next stage. It was only a couple of stops. We alighted again in pursuit of Service 93 towards the ski lift. I still had some serious doubts about the cloud cover, but we waited. We waited some more. It never did arrive. The cloud level had come down further by this stage. It was easy to monitor, using the scientific method of angles and street light columns. However, we had landed by error in Paradise.



Paradise was not in fact a football ground in the east End of Glasgow, but the holy grail of Sofia shopping. An aspirational environment for a Saturday morning, amongst the great and good of Bulgarian society. Western brands meet Bulgarian shoppers, but possibly not in the numbers anticipated by the owners. It was largely empty. The new autumn collection from Marks and Spencer was falling short in the eyes of the Bulgarian consumer. As ever those affordable little luxuries – the Starbucks latte – looked like it was the best seller. We had a wander for 20 minutes without ever having intention to purchase – the hand luggage allowance on WizzAir seriously restricts any possibility of bringing anything back to the UK.



We retreated to the Metro and inserted our tickets into the barrier. A big red cross appeared. Turn round the ticket and insert the bar code at the other end. A big red cross appeared again. The girl in the ticket office beckoned us across. She reactivated the ticket and we on course again. Alas, we still didn’t know at that stage that you need to have them reactivated in advance of every journey. I doubt somehow this is going to catch on in the major European capitals.



The centre of Sofia was as quiet as Paradise. The area around the Mosque was an archaeology dig, EEC funded naturally. The Man in the Middle investigated a building we thought was a museum. The sign “Closed” was displayed prominently in the door. We surveyed the scene from the walkway above the Metro. I spied a group walking tour. It was the free Sofia tour, led by the informative Viktoria. We tagged on and learned a thing or two. This central section of the city with religious houses at each end of the square was known as the Square of Tolerance. She pointed out the Mosque, the Church and the Synagogue. The latter was a disproportionately large building, designed for a different time. The majority of the faith had avoided deportation during World War 2, but decided Israel was a better place to be going forward. The building we thought was a museum was in fact a former public baths, being converted into a museum. The taps on the side of the building were producing warm spring water with special qualities. An old lady was busy decanting the said water into 2 litre plastic containers and depositing them in her wheelie shopping trolley. A market stall elsewhere in Sofia was probably eagerly awaiting the next delivery. The next major port of call was the former Communist Party HQ building. Viktoria highlighted the missing Red Star .............. now long since removed ....... and made not of some highly prized material, but plastic! We would see it later in the day. A small, but significant, Rotunda St George Church is surrounded by other buildings of as they say, "the socialistic period". The National Theatre is somewhat older. The upper facade is decorated with grand figures and gold leaf. The artists had a sense of humour ............. look closely at the gold leaf applied to a certain part of the young boy's anatomy! Viktoria highlighted the small packages on the trees nearby. A Sofia tradition to place them on the trees and give them to a loved one in Spring. The facts kept coming ........... a fountain of knowledge our Viktoria proved to be! Who would have known that the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is 2 inches shorter than the Saint Sava Cathedral in Belgrade, which we have passed many time on the Eternal Derby missions ........... a cunning plan by the Serbs to be bigger and better! No wonder, the popular subject of the paintings in the Military Museum was the Serb prisoner of war! The tour ended. There was no dramatic plea for cash or a donation and just a promotion of other tours on offer. We gave a small tip and moved on. However had our plans allowed, based on what we saw with this tour I would definitely think about going on their Communist Tour of Sofia - Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from memory.

We headed off to do our own Communist tour. At this point, we finally discovered the need to validate those all day Metro tickets everytime! In suburban Sofia, but easily reached on the Metro, we tracked down the Socialist Art Museum - a haven for all those Lenin statues that are all of sudden surplus to requirements once the socialistic times are over. It is quite ironically situated behind 3 modern towers housing corporations such as Litex that now hold the balance of power in modern day Bulgaria. The Man of Middle was like a kid in a sweet shop. He was at home amongst the outdoor collection of Lenins and other greats of the socialist times. They were of course upstaged by the Red Star - fallen from grace at the top of it's building and now housed in a memorial to the past. The ticket office relieves you of a mighty 6 Lev for the privilege, but provides an art gallery which was quite interesting in it's own right and a film to show just how Bulgaria once was ....... even just a few years ago. The 30 minutes propaganda shows the nation all working as one to be a good disciple of Soviets. The sun had started to shine, so we left the Lenins basking in the afternoon warmth and went in search of a football match.

Plan A was a game at Akademia. I had been to a game at all the major grounds in 2009, so this was a major ground with no worthy team. It turned out to be a major ground with no sign of any team. We wandered through the Main Stand - the only Stand - and unopposed through the tunnel and on to the perimeter track surrounding the pitch. The sun beat down, but the only thing ever likely happen was the grass growing. The Festival Hall outside looked almost derelict and about to be consigned as another socialistic sporting venue about to become a victim of the brave new world that represents modern economic Europe. We ploughed on via the bus to Plan B - Levski Sofia U19. The Programme Man would be absent ........... on a bus to Milan for the Inter v Milan derby ....... using up his press accreditation, whilst still available. We stopped for a pint across the road from the Stadium .... even I didn't anticipate a rush at the turnstiles for this one. We had checked the day before, so new it was being played on the mini stadium pitch in the Levski complex. It doesn't have turnstiles! A form of barrier might have been useful the previous Monday - the mini-derby between Levski U19 and CSKA U19 had ended in tears with crowd violence, player involvement and a suspension of play. The Police apparently kept a discreet distance whilst differences were resolved. The match v Sofia 2010 was a different kettle of fish. Calmness in the sunshine. A few away fans savoured their moment, as Sofia 2010 mugged the previously 100 per cent Levski. The Man in the Middle sat in the sun. I snapped away from the shade. The youth goalkeeper we had met while with the Programme Man shook my hand. Welcome! The Levski family were keen for our support. The majority of the 133 went home unhappy.

Appendix 1




Bulgaria U19 Elite Liga



Date: Saturday 12 September 2015 @ 1700 Hours



Levski Sofia U19 1 - 2 Sofia 2010

Stadium: Stadion Georgi Asparuhov ComplexAttendance: 133

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Photos

Levski U19 v Sofia 2010 U19
A kick up the arse............

Comments

[WelshWanderer]

The more people I speak to who have been to Bulgaria... the more I need to go there! :) x