Tag: Travel

Slaveykov Square, Sofia

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

We went to Slaveykov this Sunday because of @knotty‘s comment about their visit to Sofia in the 90s. Back in the day, the square was a book market. My high school was 15 minutes walking from it so I visited it almost daily for many years. It had crowds of readers and piles of trash. The municipality reformed the area a few times, slowly pushing the booksellers out and to the surrounding buildings.

The building in the back of the first photo is the Sofia Library. The first floor is a ДКЦ – 2nd Diagnostic Center. Go there in case you have non-urgent health issues.

The fountain on the second photo has a sad story. Same spot had another fountain that electrocuted a person and was named “The Killer Fountain”. It was demolished and rebuilt after that.

The McDonalds in the back is the first one opened in Sofia in 1995. The queue was hundreds of people long. I liked it very much, it was a favorite spot in the center before Covid. It has a secret second floor where you can chill over your large Coke and nobody will bother you. One of the few McDonalds that operate somewhat normally, most of them are a shadow of their former glory.

The third photo is the Slaveykov monument. The father, the poet Petko Slaveykov, lived around that place, and the monument is with his son Pencho Slaveykov, also a poet. The heavy use of the bench for photos damaged the shadow, which is now replaced with a more durable but much uglier copy.

Rome

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

I visited Rome on a work trip last week. Couldn’t experience too much of it because the trip was brief and the schedule – tight.

I liked their inner gardens and pretty, well dressed people. The food outside of the tourist centre was superb.

I hated the car culture, the swarms of tourists. Almost got run by a motorcycle on the sidewalk. Didn’t see a single cat. The Sistine Chapel was so packed that I wandered if I’ll get out alive.

Had Gelato every day. It was fantastic 🍧

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.

Bridge

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

The path from Hotel Moreni to Aleko Hut is so good these days that I saw a baby in a stroller on this bridge. Babies are usually carried in special backpacks by their parents. Was too shy to take a photo so here’s the bridge sans people.

You can get there by taking bus 66 to the final stop, then walk 200 meters back. Take the alley to Cherni Vrah. There will be a sign pointing to Aleko about 10 minutes later. The path is very easy.

Petralona

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

The Petralona Cave is a nice place to visit in Halkidiki. We went there on a hot weather day rather than on a rainy day, which was the original plan. The kids wanted to see a Minecraft cave and didn’t want to wait for the rain. They were right, it didn’t rain.

I’ll bring them to a wilder cave somewhere in Bulgaria.