My last taste of Southeastern Europe was a trip to the capital city, Sofia, Bulgaria. This country was also an eye-opener for me. As soon as we arrived in the airport, I knew I was going to more disrepair and crumbled buildings. What tipped it off? The airport. In the airport itself, the paint was peeling off the walls, the floors were dirty, the bathroom, after being ‘cleaned’ was still a mess, and most of the cars in the parking lot were circa 1990. The outskirts of Sofia were terrible- vast plains of appalling ramshackle buildings that were people’s homes.
It was just miles and miles of shabbiness until you reached the capital city center. Sofia, Bulgaria put up a good façade, looking more like what I would imagine a capital city in Europe to resemble.
Most of the buildings within the district were taken care of or, at least, attended to. On our city walk, the guide did a good job of showing us the historically important buildings and describing the prehistoric settlements excavated in the center of the city.
We walked along Sofia’s yellow brick road running through the city center, the Sofia Church, which helped give the city its name, the famous Aleksandâr Nevski Cathedral, Saint Sofia watching her city, men playing checkers in the Borisova gradina, the grand National Theatre, and the amateur changing of the guards in front of the National Palace.
Aleksandâr Nevski Cathedral
Afterwards, we visited the underground shops in the excavations to buy souvenirs. I bought several bracelets for martenitsa.
The tradition is called mărţişor in Romania and martenitsa in Bulgaria. When you see a stork, a sparrow, or the first signs of spring, you tie the bracelets on the trees. We saw more of the bracelets for martenitsa in Bulgaria since the trees and forsythia were in bloom.
The bracelets are a sign for hope, prosperity, good health, and love. Later that evening, I tired to enjoy a wonderful Bulgarian meal for dinner (shopska salad or sliced cucumbers with peeled tomatoes, parsley, and a feta-like cheese with baked eggplant in tomato pulp with cheese), but I was still not feeling well from whatever I ‘picked up’ in Romania.
In fact, I felt miserable. It was wonderful that daddy knew a doctor back home who was familiar the healthcare system in Bulgaria and could recommend antibiotics for me. I made a trip to the pharmacy first thing Thursday morning with the IES faculty field trip proctor. We made our way through the covered market to a pharmacy located inside.
I can’t read the Cyrillic alphabet, so we were lucky to find a pharmacist who spoke some English. Total cost of the drugs, water, and electrolyte packets was 12.40 Lev, approximately 6 Euros.
I couldn’t believe how inexpensive it was and was so grateful to rest and recover. I think whatever I had was multiplied by how I felt about the cities, because I was so dismal.
It was just difficult to see Romania and Bulgaria in such disrepair, especially after EU accession in 2007. I wasn’t expecting the “West” to be so far advanced. I thought Romania and Bulgaria would have nice capital cities and not have many remnants from communist times. It was sad to see the crumbling old buildings, corruption keeping the city from progressing, and the people who have suffered so much. Returning to Germany on Friday gave me so much hope and strength. I never thought I would look forward to returning to a country that is still so foreign to me (I am not fluent in the language by any means). When I had my passport stamped, entering Frankfurt, Germany, I wanted to hug the officer.
It was so nice to see washed, luxurious cars, an airport where you could drink the water from the faucets, and sound infrastructure. On our drive to Freiburg, all of us students on the bus welcomed the warmer weather, gazed into the sunset, and slept peacefully. Welcome back to Germany; I think I’ll stay put for a while here.
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