Bulgaria - Eastern Europe - page 69

Telephone Calling home from Bulgaria can be costly. Hotels often quadruple
phone charges; pay phones demand a prepaid phone-card, typically sold in
small kiosks by a person not likely to speak English (though some hotels stock
them). Intrafonica Bulgaria offers easy-to-use GSM cellphone rentals; review
the packages on the Net (www.intrafonicabulgaria.com), make your choice,
and fax the order form and copy of your passport; they will provide you with a
local GSM cellphone number within 48 hours, then deliver the phone to your
hotel on the first night of arrival. Bulgaria's code is & 359.
Safety & Crime Bulgaria is one of Europe's safest countries, with a below-aver-
age crime rate; all you need to guard against is petty theft.
Time Zone Bulgaria is 2 hours ahead of GMT.
Tipping Leave 10% to 15% for all good restaurant and bar service.
Water Bulgaria's tap water is not only potable but delicious. Really—it is the
best water I have ever tasted!
3 Sofia
A small group of worshipers stand on a concrete plinth, their heads bowed as a tall
man, his long beard a gray rectangle on his black cassock, intones a fervent prayer.
Behind this open-air church, flanked by the priest's rusty trailer, children throw them-
selves about on lurid jumping castles, the generator hum joined by a low thump ema-
nating from a bustling bar-cafe. A group of students approach the central fountain; on
each head is perched a large handmade paper hat. They start to dance as a Gypsy
busker picks up the pace to serenade this strange parade. It is Sunday, and you could
only be in Sofia's overgrown City Garden.
Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, is a fascinating city. It's as run-down as you would expect
from a country that has suffered much under Communist rule, and continues to be
starved of civic pride due to the high levels of corruption and a poor judicial system.
But step away from the traffic-choked boulevards and drab gray concrete edifices, and
into the cobbled streets east of the central square, and you find the hard edges of the
city softened by untended but verdant parks and towering trees, filled with the unex-
pected sound of birdsong.
One of the youngest capitals of Europe (it was only declared the administrative cen-
ter in 1879), Sofia has little to show for its 2,000-year-old origins: Aside from the 4th-
century Rotunda of Sveti Georgi, Sofia's oldest building, most of the city's historic
buildings date no further than the 18th and 19th century, and even then there is no
great architectural beauty; certainly nothing that could be seen as a major tourist draw.
But Sofia's attraction does not lie in checking off a list of must-see attractions, but
in wandering its streets at will, stopping to drink the occasional espresso at one of the
myriad open-air bars and cafes that have sprung up in and around the parks. While
Sofia has traditionally been seen only as a gateway to Bulgaria's beautiful hinterland,
itineraries are increasingly featuring 2-night stays in this city, which is gradually evolv-
ing into a sexy south-European destination, a testament to the veracity of the city's
motto: “Grows but never ages.”