Raid to Sofia

I reached Sofia by train in '90 as a stop on a long journey in which I had touched Switzerland, West Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, European Turkey and of course Bulgaria. The communist regime had just fallen and I found the whole thing very bleak. The station stood a little away from the old town, reachable after a long walk on foot. The Bulgarian dictatorship had left this country on its knees and the poverty of the people was tangible. I changed some money and phoned home from the lobby of a large hotel, one of those reserved for foreigners, of which there were many in the socialist bloc, that in no way reflect the real economy of the nation. At the edges of the streets a little timid trade was attempted, such as that of elderly women selling sunflower seeds wrapped in paper cones made from newspaper pages.

After a brief tour of the old town, overrun with misery, and a stroll through the humble little market, I decided to return to the station to catch the train again; I had arrived from Belgrade only a few hours earlier and I set off again for Istanbul. Many banknotes were left in my pocket, so faded and so worn that they almost disintegrated in my hand. During the stop I could not eat anything, not even a sort of ice cream much more like a toffee than a sorbet. I returned to Bulgaria some years later and found it much changed (see "Tour in Bulgaria").