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| Sofia, Bulgaria - Susprisingly Good! |
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| Written by Jason Smart | |||||
| Monday, 21 January 2008 | |||||
Page 1 of 3  The woman operating
border control at Sofia
Airport certainly looked
striking enough. In her twenties, dark skin - almost Greek-looking, her face
caught my attention first. Dyed, red-orange hair and heavily made-up eyes
greeted me as I approached the booth. She said nothing as she scanned my
passport and I was soon out the other side. ?Did you see that woman?s eyelashes?? I said to
Angela.
Driving into the city centre involved passing
block after block of Soviet-style apartment blocks. Most were in major
disrepair, but obviously lived in. Cyrillic lettering on road signs and
billboards made everything look distinctly Russian. But what took up most of
our attention was the taxi meter. It was running hell bent for leather.
Before our trip to the Bulgarian capital, I?d
done a little research. A taxi journey into the city centre should have cost in
the region of 10 Lev (£3.50) but at the half way stage, our fare was already up
to 25 Lev. I thought back to how we?d ended up in this particular cab. 
We both looked to where the man was pointing.
There was another yellow taxi parked by itself, just across a road. I grabbed
the address off the taxi driver, still on the phone, and thanked the man behind
us. He smiled and shrugged. We headed across the road and the driver
immediately got out, already opening the boot for our luggage.
?How much to this hotel,? I asked him as I
passed him the address.
Alarm bells started ringing, but I ignored
them. Angela was already loading the bag into the back. ?Can you give a rough
price though?? I pressed.
The driver smiled. ?Sorry. No! Nevertheless, it
will be on meter. Please, get in. Come.?
Sofia, nestled at the base of the Vitosha Mountain,
is not high on people?s list of city breaks in Europe.
If people do venture to Bulgaria,
it?s usually for the sand and sea of the Sunny Beach
resort to the east of the country, certainly not to the relatively unknown
capital in the interior. This was confirmed by the sheer lack of tourists as we
wandered along a main city street, heading for some of the main sights.  The
people around us were obviously the city?s inhabitants, older women with long
eyelashes and strange hair shades, younger people who could have been in any
European city, and occasionally, Orthodox priests, donning long back robes and
even stranger beards.
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