Destination: Uncategorized

When ideologies change so do the statues on the square. And with the end of the Cold War about 25 years ago, statues from Vilnius to Varna came tumbling down. Bulgaria, so subservient to Mother Russia throughout its 45-year-long communist nightmare, had more than its share of these propaganda statues. And many of them fill the backyard of the art museum in its capital city, Sofia.

I remember visiting the tomb of Georgi Dimitrov (the father of the Bulgarian Communist Party) here in Sofia back in the day. It was like going to a mini-wannabe Lenin’s Tomb. Today, no one even thinks of him. And his statue is just another face in this stony junkyard of propaganda.

I love to visit places like this and think of politics — compromise, diversity, respect, democracy, pluralism — and the treasure we have in our freedom. Here’s a quick tour.

This is Day 46 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.

When filming in Europe we very rarely accept invitations for fancy gatherings or meals from local officials or VIPs. (In Tehran, working on our Iran special a few years ago, we even said no thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who invited us to meet with him.) It just gets in the way of our work. But I love Bulgaria, so we made an exception when the US ambassador to Bulgaria, Eric Rubin, invited us for dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful evening in Sofia (Bulgaria’s capital) with Ambassador Rubin, his wife Nicole, and his staff. It was a more casual dinner than their norm, and we (especially my East Europe co-author, Cameron Hewitt, who’s joined us for this shoot) enjoyed a fascinating evening “wonking out” with Eastern Europe experts.

While so many Americans are cynical these days about our civil servants, we came away thankful that we have smart, experienced, and hard-working people like Ambassador Rubin and his staff. They are dedicated to maintaining stability in this complicated corner of our shaky world. The thought that someone as experienced as Rubin could be replaced by a new president with a political appointment (a crony or fund-raiser) who had no previous experience or interest in that country (as often happens) is heartbreaking. Ambassador Rubin assured me that it generally happens in the nicer posts (Norway or Ireland, for example) where the cronies would enjoy living — rather than the tougher, more challenging posts like Somalia or Pakistan. (Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, for example, was sent to Japan rather than Kuwait.)

I felt funny shooting a video in his living room. But I wanted to share with you a quick look at the evening and the lovely place where the USA entertains in Bulgaria. By the way, Ambassador Rubin is the gregarious guy with the brown shirt gesturing at the end of this clip.

This is Day 45 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.

Hello Bulgaria. I have an affinity for Bulgaria — so overlooked and underappreciated…and so charming in a Slavic way. In my student days I spent lots of time exploring Bulgaria and its capital city Sofia: playing chess in the park, watching paranoid people huddled on street corners talking sports and wishing they could talk politics, seeing locals dutifully lining up to visit waxy figures in public mausoleums. Today, I’m back in Sofia in those same parks where people still gather and the old guys still play chess. But, while it’s still one of Europe’s poorest countries, Bulgaria is free and, step-by-step, building a new prosperity.

I finished this video with a bandstand in the distance where little schoolgirls were dancing to the latest pop tune. Only later was I reminded that this is the exact spot where the mausoleum of Bulgaria’s first communist dictator, Georgi Dimitrov, once stood. This is where the grandparents of those little dancers spent a good part of their rare vacations lining up to view Dimitrov’s embalmed body — the Bulgarian version of Lenin’s Tomb.

(Hold on — this clip is as smooth as a piggyback ride. We’re just kicking off a wild ride through Bulgaria and Romania.)

This is Day 44 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, and beyond. Find more at blog.ricksteves.com.