Sofia is an interesting city in its layout. It is almost like three different cities in one. One section of the city is the old, pre-commie Sofia with its old cathedrals, museums, parks and theaters. Section two is the commie area with brutalist architecture and huge government buildings. The last section is the Islam area with the mosques and shops that cater to Muslims. Each part of the city gives off different vibes and maybe it was just me, but I could physically feel a difference in each section of the city.
It’s a good city to walk around and you will get your steps in. The boulevards are extremely wide and trams service large portions of the city so jaywalking is not recommended. Therefore, you will spend a lot of time going up and down stairs and walking underground.
Another very noticeable presence in the city is the number of homeless. Every park has homeless living on the benches, drinking from huge bottles of beer or some kind of rotgut booze. For the most part, they seem harmless and keep to themselves, but not all. I had an incident with one lunatic in the National Palace of Culture Park. I had my tripod out and was taking some long-exposure shots of the fountains in the park. I was just about finished when I noticed a guy shouting and ranting at people and trees. He was about 100 meters away, so I didn’t pay him much mind. That is until he spotted me and started coming towards me. Ranting and raving, arms waving wildly, he seemed totally insane.
My brain was working overtime as it tried to decide what to do with this loon. I got my camera off the tripod and used it to keep some distance between us. As he closed the distance between us, I retreated and used the extended legs of the tripod to keep some distance between us. I poked him in the belly with my tripod and this really got him going. He was raging. He started to do some kind of bizarre kicking motion. There wasn’t much power behind the kicks, but I didn’t really feel like being assaulted. I shouted a few choice expletives at him, mostly to attract some attention from the locals. I was hoping that maybe someone local would intervene. No luck. I folded up the legs of the tripod and now I had a four-pound metal cudgel.
I had two thoughts running through my mind. Run, or bash him in the head. I decided to retreat. I really wasn’t in the mood for dealing with the Bulgarian police and justice system. I believe it was the right choice. After I had put some distance between us, I ended up near a couple of Sofian ladies out in the park with their babies. They apologized for the lunatic and I accepted. But then, the loon spotted us talking and decided he couldn’t have that. He charged toward us and instead of coming at me again, he started chasing one of the women. Well, that got the locals involved. Some park workers and another homeless guy intervened and got in the lunatic’s face. After being shouted at, he slunk away and went back to his bench where he started harassing a couple of young guys. They just laughed at him. I half expected them to put the lunatic to sleep.
So that was great. But I did have lots of positive experiences with many Sofians. My Airbnb host was one of them. She was a very kind older lady that was very eager to meet people from all over the world. I could see that when she was younger, she was an avid traveler, but now her health is failing her so now she is housebound and relegated to hearing tales from others. We got along right away as one of her first suggestions was for me to check out the older part of the city. Not the ugly commie side. She didn’t have kind words for the commies. Well, neither do I.
Other than fending off one nutjob, I enjoyed my time in Sofia. The cobblestone streets, old buildings, and parks create quite a beautiful city. Walking the city is easy and if you do want to use public transportation, it is cheap and easy to use. Sofia is an excellent city to visit. I would also recommend exploring the countryside of Bulgaria as well. The country is beautiful and filled with mostly lovely people. Just avoid using tripods in the park, I guess.
Rolling Tsuchinoko 
Great city. So was the drunk in the park or the old Chinese Thai lady that threw her shoe at you more of a lunatic?
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I’d have to go with the Thai woman. The guy in Sofia was a homeless drunk with obvious mental health problems. The Thai was just an entitled bitch.
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