Tag: Bulgaria

Naples vs Sofia

~ Veselin ~ 13 Comments

I spent a week in Naples for a team meetup with my team. I kept comparing the city with Sofia for reasons that may not be immediately obvious. At least not obvious to me. Don’t take this post seriously.

Here’s this spreadsheet with an honest and unbiased comparison between Sofia and Naples.

Sofia 🇧🇬Naples 🇮🇹
Volcanic activity🚫✅
Nearby mountain✅✅
Mountain tries to kill you🚫✅
Lots of pizza✅✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Lots of trash✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🍌 💩
Dog poop💩💩 💩 💩 🤦
Frequent dealers🚫✅
Sidewalks blocked✅,✅,
Pineapple pizza✅🚫
Roman ruins✅✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Has skyscrapers✅✅
Has skyscrapers everywhere✅ 🚫
Has a giant brutalist trash can🚫 in progress ⏳✅
Restaurant food prices💰 💰 💰
Restaurants offer salads✅ 🚫
4-course meals for tourists🚫✅
Food is usually great🚫✅
Yogurt is usually great✅ 🚫 🤦
Coca Cola Zero bottle size500 ml ✅450 ml 🤦
Number of cats🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈
Crowds of tourists🚫✅
Drivers sometimes stop for you✅🚫
Taxi prices💰💰 💰 💰 💰
Taxis may attempt to scam you✅✅
Walkable🤦🤦

Naples for me was a place with a long history, old buildings, too much pizza, and lots of cars.

Happy Holiday, Bulgaria 🇧🇬

~ Veselin ~ 11 Comments

I visited a few iconic places today to celebrate the national holiday.

The Nevski Cathedral, St. Sofia with the eternal flame, and King Samuil’s statue.

This is King Samuil, watching if you click like.

The other cathedral, St. Nedelya (we have two), the Largo with the St. Sofia statue in the distance, and the president’s office with the guards.

Vitosha Boulevard, The Palace of Justice (The Court House), and The Parliament, with the Horse, an ancient TV truck, and the Cathedral in the background.

There will be fireworks in the evening. I hope we have a chance to go and watch them in person.

Bansko

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

Bansko is changing.

It used to be a small town with an old city. Then the ski zone came with thousands of new hotels, growing faster than the infrastructure. It had lots of people in the winter but was a muddy ghost town in the summer. Now the central area is expanding with paved walking streets that make it a summer resort as well.

The digital nomads and hipsters have found it. It has multiple co-working spaces. An abandoned hotel turned to a co-living space. The central square has daily events. People everywhere.

The success infected the nearby villages as well. Banya has multiple 4 and 5* hotels with mineral water.

I can see us going back with the goal to climb Vihren again. Not sure when. The summer season is over.