In this rather unflattering description of Sofia, written by a US Embassy staffer in April 2009, the author talks about the terrible streets, wild dogs, and organized crime.There are many nice things about this city and this country, but unfortunately, all of this is true as well (at least the trash strike ended before we got here...we saw one in Naples, Italy in 2008 and man was that awful). I particularly liked this line:
Drab, decrepit soviet style blocks rise up, inRead the whole article for a full view. I honestly think things are getting better here, but it's really touch and go. The new Metro system opened a few months after this diplomatic cable was written (construction started in the 1980s, then was abandoned for 20 years), and is still quite shiny. It's great, and will be even better when they open the 2nd line and 1st line extensions that are currently under construction. Streets are being paved in preparation for this fall's elections (apparently every 5 years the roads get better in preparation for elections, trying to convince voters that their MP is not so bad, even if the rest are bums). The new expressway around the city (the "Ring Road" or околоврустен пут) is great in the sections where it is completed, and they've gone from 0 to almost-done in less than a year on the sections near the new IKEA (also going up in record time). The juxtaposition of old and new, flashy and trashy, are really quite overwhelming here. We had a lovely dinner last night with some Bulgarian colleagues in their very nice apartment, in a new building completely surrounded by drab, falling-down soviet-era apartment blocks. It turns out we didn't really need a map or directions to her place at all - her instructions of "go to Fantastico and it's the only new building in the neighborhood" were patently clear. I'd like to buy the whole country a few thousand gallons of paint. It would go a long way just to give everything a decent paint job (something they've tried with some success in Tirana, Albania, actually). So anyway, read the unofficial "official" bad word on Sofia from WikiLeaks. I don't mind saying such things, as I'll soon be posting an album full of beautiful shots of Bulgaria taken on various ACS hiking club outings, which will even out the bad press, I hope.
stark juxtaposition to the Porsche dealership. Crumbling
streets with unevenly patched pavement, potholes that can
pass for tank traps, and sidewalks crammed with parked cars
are routine. Basic infrastructure is mediocre to poor.
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