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The season changes, the weather becomes warmer, we are getting old and nothing can stop us! In case you wonder what to do, allow me to give you an old advice – go outside, talk to girls. A good way to start such activities are the parks. During the day, you can chill with mothers and children running over your feet, while in the night parks seem quite lively and full of surprises. People enjoy sitting in the open, especially when we throw behind the memories from the long winter.

Recently I have been noticing the following tendency: a humming and colorful forms  in front of the National Theatre Ivan Vazov. It has become the new Popa or even more by providing supporting evidence with the people that could be seen – many of them displaying different skills like fire spinning, hacky sack tricks and beer drinking. All the rest are interacting. Last time, it was so overcrowded that I said blah and went undisturbed to a quieter place – in the nearby Zaimov Park.

Yes, it is 14th of January, still it is not too late to wish you Happy New Year!

Let the new year brings you new friends, tons of love, lots of travels and prosperity.

Thanks to Vladimir Georgiev who provided us with this photo of Sofia’s first minutes of 2010!

I love visiting The House of Cinema because it has its distinctive traits which are long proven during the last two decades, irrespective of all the crises we went through. This is a real achievement.

When I feel like going to the cinema, I first check this one. The main reason being the movies – they are mostly from the European tradition which radically distinguishes them from the box office hits.  Nowhere else you can find such an exhaustive list of that type of movies.

However, there is an obstacle – the subtitles – they are in Bulgarian. But the problem is easily solved if you choose a movie according to your nationality or the languages you speak. Now greet me for providing easy solutions!

The House of Cinema is on 37 Ekzarh Yosiff str, close to Halite, the Mineral waters and the Central Public Spa

This year our city zoo celebrates 120 years since it first opened doors. The beginning was initiated by Tzar Ferdinand who issued a royal decree and on 1st of May 1888 the zoological garden welcomed visitors. The same year, Sofia University also was established, so you could imagine how big the excitement of the people was.

Initially, the zoo was situated in the very center of Sofia, but the space soon proved to be insufficient for the growing animal collection and it had to be moved on the place of a former botanical garden which was then situated in the outskirts of Sofia. The main reason for moving the zoo was the lack of space for a pair of bears.

The new location made our zoo the biggest in Bulgaria and provided many opportunities for new inhabitants coming from various corners of the world.

Nowadays, Zoo Sofia is more than just a park for animals. It is actively involved in environmental protection programs by taking part in various national and international projects for reproduction and breeding of endangered species like rare monkeys, tigers, and antelopes. There is also an Ecological Science Center where different educational programs are conveyed either for the youngsters or for scientists.

It is nice to visit the zoo – this is a funny way to spend half of your day. Though lots of concrete and metal surround the animals and despite that the space is not like it is in the savanna, the creatures look satisfied and curious to the visitors. The same applies to the latter too.

A suitable time to go is during the week and in the afternoons of the weekends, otherwise you risk to be run over by mothers pushing baby-carriages or flocks of children with bicycles.

Admission: 2 Leva (less than 1 Euro).

Open everyday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Naster (a.k.a Nassimo) will open his first stand-alone exhibition this Saturday, February 28th at 19:00 o’clock at 1908 Gallery on 1 Angel Kunchev Street and will last until the 8th of March, 2009. He is one of the first and most prominent Bulgarian underground artists, who started making street graffiti in the early 90s and hasn’t stopped ever since. He has taken part in numerous projects around the country, and keeps pushing and developing his extraordinary abilities and style. His first solo exhibit in Sofia will include around 50 canvases, which are also to be shown in his first exhibition in Canada later this April. Respect!

For the true fans of skiing and snowboarding, Bezbog remains a favorite destination. Literally meaning “without god” or “godless”, there are both a cabin and a nearby peak that carry the name. Normally, the drive from Sofia will take you about three hours (Sofia-Dobrinishte is about 150 kilometers), but on a Sunday we made the trip back in only a couple. It is worth it in any case. The way to get to Dobrinishte, which is the village in the foot of the mountains below Bezbog, follows the same road as to Bansko, but you pass it and keep on driving for another 6 kilometers. From Dobrinishte there is only one road up to the ticket desk.

A thirty-five minute ride on the open lift takes you from Goce Delchev cabin up to Bezbog cabin at 2236 meters above sea level. Even if you miss the winter sports season, only the view from up there is incredible and a must-see. When the snow and ice melt, there is the Bezbozhko lake just outside the cabin. If you do want to hit the powder after all, wear your warmest outfit, since the open-air ride can chill you quite a bit. This is one of the very few minuses I find about the place. On the positive side are the low lift card prices (20 leva for a whole day), long slopes and the friendly people there. When the high altitudes finally make you tired and hungry, you don’t need to be a millionaire (like in Bansko) in order to survive the rest of the afternoon. Bezbog cabin has a large dining room with a good enough variety of cooked meals at fair prices. You want to sleep over? Still won’t cost you much. A little tip for the enthusiasts – Dobrinishte has great public mineral water baths, with very healthy water and an entrance fee of only one lev. The perfect ending for a perfect winter adventure.

Going to Pamporovo ski resort is an excellent opportunity to get suntanned since the sunny days during the whole year are more than 240. So the calculations are right – you risk less to confront with bad weather conditions. However, you need to pack your bags for more than a day or to be extremely quick – the sunniest place in the winter is on 260km away from our cloudy capital, drenched with slush. But think about it – you will get even tanner while you having fun on the slope. The whole idea sounds like a vacation, doesn’t it?
The facts that Pamporovo is on 1600m above the sea level and that the Mediterranean winds have their say make it safe from avalanches and abrupt changes in the weather, so you can either enjoy skiing all day long or just hang around from bench to bench, facing the Sun.
Every skier or snowboarder can enjoy ski runs of various degrees of difficulty that merge from time to time and make a total sum of more than 29km. The innumerable tows and lifts work in a perfect synchronization, thus you find yourself on the top in no time, right against the Sun.
Find more information on the official site of Pamporovo.

Skiing at 2500m above the sea level is just great! You are literary on the top of the world as there is nothing higher, except Musala – the highest mountain peak in the Balkans. Its name has quite an interesting etymology – it comes from Turkish, meaning “Glory of Allah” and most probably it is left from the times when we were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Anyway, now that the ski season is open, you can enjoy going to Borovets every day – it is only 70 km away from our lovely capital and more importantly, the ski infrastructure is well developed. There are lifts, drags, snow guns, snow cats and many other devices that contribute to the comfort and safety of the riders. The total sum of the marked ski runs is 58km with the longest one being 12km. So be ready for a wild skiing because you will definitely love it. You choose the difficulty of the road or if your style is more extreme – just go out of the track.

For the beginners, there are lots of ski schools around and a full equipment to hire. The only thing is that you have to put on some warm clothes as you are going even above the clouds.

On the official site of Borovets ski resort, you can find all the necessary information about the weather conditions, prices, hotels, etc. The map is here.