Monika Kostera (urbanlegend)
Sofia, the wise city
Another perfectly lovely place on Earth is Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria. It's lively, green, very social, a city where they don't destroy their old buildings in order to construct new office high rises but the office buildings have to adapt and coexist with the old. They turn out smaller and more modest crammed between two appartment houses from the beginning of the last century.
It's an organic city, where things and places grow up as they come. The traffic is also organic. I cannot drive in Sofia but my husband enjoys the experience - it's all about negotations between the drivers (who drive very slowly) and the pedestrians. Nobody yells or honks and drivers usually smile at each other. The formal rules don't apply (well, maybe red and green light does but not much more else) but people seem to be able to move around.
Sofia, the wise city
Another perfectly lovely place on Earth is Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria. It's lively, green, very social, a city where they don't destroy their old buildings in order to construct new office high rises but the office buildings have to adapt and coexist with the old. They turn out smaller and more modest crammed between two appartment houses from the beginning of the last century.
It's an organic city, where things and places grow up as they come. The traffic is also organic. I cannot drive in Sofia but my husband enjoys the experience - it's all about negotations between the drivers (who drive very slowly) and the pedestrians. Nobody yells or honks and drivers usually smile at each other. The formal rules don't apply (well, maybe red and green light does but not much more else) but people seem to be able to move around.