Want to see how the average Bulgarian lives? Take the metro towards Obelya and get off at Lyulin – Sofia’s largest district, with nearly 130,000 residents, more than enough to easily qualify as the country’s seventh-largest city. The vast labyrinths of identical prefabricated blocks in typical socialist-era style span a full ten micro-districts. The characteristic, uniform architectural lines of socialist-era housing come to life through the residents’ desire to transform their terraces, balconies, façades and windows using all manner of permitted and unauthorised means and ideas, which have nothing to do with the architects’ original vision, but lend an exotic flavour to most of the buildings. A familiar sight in most Bulgarian towns.