I managed to get out of bed earlier this morning. I took a few magical photos while the smog was still fresh.
This is the church, the tourist magnet of Sofia. It shines.
A hidden garden behind Tzum. The building on the left was the shopping mall of the communism period. You couldn’t do much shopping in there before 1989 but it was a good walking destination. You could watch things that you’d never buy.
Very different protests, mostly against the Pig and the Pumpkin, but also the Euro. The migration to the Euro is glitching right now. I hope it goes well.
I walked to the Book Fair today (well, skipped a few bus stops, but mostly walked). I was under the impression that I’d taken some pretty cool photos on the way there. After all, I crossed the city center. This is what I actually found later in my camera roll.
Three photos in total.
A colorful building on Lyuben Karavelov street. I twist my neck every time I pass by because the people who restored it painted outside ACs. I don’t know why but I find it cool.
Sticker graffiti with USA’94 near the Romanian embassy. It’s ironic because I ordered a gamebook called USA’94 a few days ago. After seeing the photo, I googled the book to see if there’s any resemblance – none. Whoever does these stickers is unrelated to the gamebook community.
And a Twingo 1. Renault is about to revive the Twingo 1 car (1993-2007) as Twingo E-Tech. The concept car has eyelashes by design. I owned a similar car when I was younger. It’s great for parking.
This particular unit is the facelift version from around 2001-2006.
There’s a wave of protests in Sofia against the oligarchy, and particularly against a few obese politicians who have been in power for decades. The statue is not fat-shaming. We have a some long history with the usage of this word to describe evil humans. It predates Animal Farm.
The Pig was defaced by structures with other goals. The paint under it was from people trying and failing to keep it pure pink. So one layer under of the fight with the government, there’s a fight about what’s written on the pig. BTW, the yellow pavement is falling apart and is not safe for the crowds that will gather around it.
The Tall Lady
I don’t know who she is even though there’s a very clear text explaining under the sculpture. The AI doesn’t know either. I was close to citing it but I accidentally remembered that the AI result points to another sculpture I’ve seen and remembered, and it is not this one. Let’s say she’s called “The Tall Lady”.
East Plaza Hotel
I’ve always wondered what do they protect with the rusty barbwire. Behind that wire is a building where you go to pay your heating bills and a large, empty lot. There’s a tunnel with a dirt road, going down 2 levels under a bridge, reaching a dog park with abandoned buildings on both sides and then a highly questionable closed bridge. Deserves its own post. I will try to figure out why do we have rivers up to around this wall but then do not have any after. Where do they go?
Oh, Hi
I didn’t see the young lad but he saw me and waved. The Roman ruins are dry and protected from rain, a good place to hang out.
7:2
Someone painted the name of their favorite football club and as it always happen in Sofia, the graffiti got vandalized. CSKA lost to Levski with the crushing 2:7 in 1968, some 57 years ago. You have to be around 65 to remember this event, maybe more given that few had access to TV at that time. However, the ugly walls of Sofia keep the memory alive.
Not the same void
I’ve not walked this particular path in months so this fluff has not been featured here before. Featuring her here to brighten the mood from the overall dark post.
All the fluff is thinking about is the good of humanity.
I hope you enjoyed the unusual tour of Sofia and reached the end of the post. Have a nice day!
I’m one of many Bulgarians who like to celebrate things with grilled kebapcheta. We adopted the Christmas Markets from the Germans but added our twist – kufte, kebapche, turshia, and high prices, instead of bratwurst and super-high prices. Get your small Coca Cola for 2 euro and you’re ready to board your sled to Laplandia. I already switched to this diet about a month ago, although the food comes from less fancy places.
I visited 3 Christmas markets during my morning walk, NDK, the National Theater, and Knyazhevska Gradina. The first was covered by healthy smoke, the other two were still closed, most likely because I visited them too early in the morning.
I plan testing these booths next week as we’ll have the Christmas Book Fair in the big building at the back of my photos (NDK). I do not need any books but this event attracts me like like a magnet, and I hope the kebapcheta will come with it.
Veselin.blog 