I met Camilla and Dilyana during our first week in Maastricht, and we remained great friends for the entirety of the semester, the summer, and inevitably the future.

Dilyana is a political science and marketing major from Sofia, Bulgaria. Camilla is a European Studies major from Milan, Italy. The three of us joked for months about visiting Dilyana in Sofia – then one day, WE DID IT.

July 13th Cami was to fly in from Milan and I was to take the train into Sofia. Despite my ridiculous journey to make it, I was able to arrive on time. I stepped off the night train and into a massive communism structure: the Sofia Bulgaria Train Station.

Large, grand, non-ornate but stunningly massive conrete structures – the buildings from the Bulgarian communist era are impressive. The People’s Republic of Bulgaria existed from 1946 to 1990 during which the Bulgarian Communist Party held power. Remnants of the communist era are still ever present in Bulgaria. From the architecture, to the workers continuing their trade they learned under communist education, to corruption in the government, Bulgaria is a country still transitioning into democracy.

And with this transition comes political turmoil and public unrest. Every night that we were in Bulgaria, we would join thousands of other nationals outside parliament to protest the government.

Protests, while I was in Bulgaria, were approaching 40 days of straight protests with thousands of people gathering in the streets each night. Protesters were taking to dramatic means to be noticed:

These famous Bulgarian actors recreated the painting Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix to bring some of the passion from the French Revolution to modern Bulgaria.

 OSTAVKA! RESIGN!

Despite these dramatics and the enormous gathering of people each night, the government did not acknowledge the wants and needs of the Bulgarian people. Earlier this year, the ruling government resigned after protests over energy bills. Corruption remained when a new government took power, and Bulgarians are again dissatisfied with their political situation. Dilyana and her friends passionately told us about how much of the corruption from the Communist era still permeates the current government. There is a ring of dishonesty with the appointment of officials and a large presence of the mafia.

It is frustrating how the voice of so many Bulgarians is continuously ignored by the government. It is frustrating how, as a foreigner, I had no idea about the Bulgarian protests. The Bulgarian government reported on the protests but with grossly underestimated figures – to the point of dishonest reporting. While the rest of the world simply did not report on the protests. The protests reaffirmed my admiration for the media as a faucet of change – yet in this case, the reminder came from a failure of the media to report on an important an event and demand change.

The protests showed the soul of the city and the strength of the Bulgarian people. This is not the first time Bulgarian’s are faced with political challenges; the buildings in the capital reflect the history and challenges that define Bulgaria. Architecture reflecting the Ottoman Empire conquest of Bulgaria, massive concrete communist structures, beautiful Orthodox churches – the city is like an open history book.

Story time: For years an old man by the name of Dobry begged for money outside Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It was then discovered that all the money that people gave him, he in turn donated to the church. He lives a humble life off of a pension from the government and spends all his days outside the cathedral – he was even there the day we visited!

Cami and the founding brothers of the cyrillic alphabet. They were Bulgarians!

New buildings surrounding ancient ruins – makes me wonder when does the old cease to have precedence over the land? At what point should innovation overpower history? leave a comment with your thoughts

Yet of all the structural beauty in Sofia, the people are still the best sites. Snapshot of a delightful moment in the city park:

Dilyana outside her university

Diliyana was an incredible host. She took us to the best places in the city, and SPOILED us with amazing Bulgarian food. Her mother is a fantastic cook, so we enjoyed homemade tootmanik s gotovo testo (Bulgarian cheese bread) amazing cakes, сърмички which is stuffed grape leafs and many, many other treats. Our visits to restaurants always ended up being hour long ordeals, as the three of us feasted, laughed, enjoyed rakia and each other’s company.

Bulgarian Summer Soup, Tarator, has turned into one of my favorite meals that I now frequently prepare at home! See the recipe and try it out! 

 

READ ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES ON THE BULGARIAN COAST HERE