Sofia is one of Europe’s small capital cities situated at the foot of a high and beautiful mountain like Vitosha. The ancient history of the town dates from the 8th century BC, when the Thracians founded a neolithic settlement around the many thermal springs. The town has changed its name through the years, from Serdika through Triaditsa and Sredets to Sofia, which name it acquired in the 18th century. It was chosen as the capital of Bulgaria in 1879, and all governmental powers are centred there – executive, legislative and judicial.

The dozens of historic monuments and cultural buildings are evidence of the region’s rich, historic past. The Alexander Nevski Cathedral is the most impressive orthodox church in Sofia, and the most valuable Bulgarian icons are exhibited in the crypt. The Russian church, St. Nikola Letni, is the most beautiful of its kind in Bulgaria. Its five small domes are of gold, and its bells were a gift from the Russian Czar Nicholas II. The St. Sofia Basilica (the symbol of the city,) the St. George rotunda (built in the 4th century AD,) the antique fortress of Serdika, and the multitude of outstanding churches, mosques and monuments of distinguished historical personages enhance the appearance of the ancient city. The first amusement park in Bulgaria, ‘Sofia Land’, was built in the capital.

In the recently published annual table of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, Sofia’s Boulevard Vitosha ranks in 22nd place. (The undoubted leader is Fifth Avenue in New York.) Rents of €130 per square metre are average for the central zone of Vitosha Boulevard. Companies prefer to rent space in this part of the city, not only to advertise their wares, but also to maintain a good image.

One of the greatest of the historical remains on the outskirts of Sofia is the Boyana Church. The mediaeval spiritual cloister has been transformed into a museum, where wall-paintings from as early as 1259 are preserved. It is located at the foot of Vitosha Mountain, in one of the most colourful districts of Sofia – Boyana. The biggest cinema centre in Bulgaria, Boyana Film, 75% of which has been bought recently by the American film company New Image, is located on this part of the mountain also. Also in the neighbourhood is the ‘rich district’, Dragalevtsi. Many politicians, social figures, artists and media stars live there, and their homes are a conglomeration of stylish, eccentric and tasteless buildings. The price per square metre for buildings in this area varies from €600 to €1,300. At the moment, investors are offering apartments in 4- and 5-storey buildings, where shops, parks, children’s playgrounds and pools will be built. Here, in these two rich man’s districts, as in the whole of Sofia, the streets are narrow, torn up and buried under building materials and the detritus of life. New, modern homes are being built also at a distance from the central areas of the city. Among the fastest developing quarters of Sofia are Levski–G, Ovcha Kupel, Obelya and Borovo, with construction going on apace throughout the year.

A special programme for improving the infrastructure and the rehabilitation of the many thousands of housing block apartments is being developed, to be executed under the aegis of Bulgarian and foreign investors during the period 2005–2007.

Infrastructure projects
A park with an artificial lake, lilies, flowers, bushes, exotic trees and attractive lighting is the latest project that will be realised on 4,000 sq.m. of land near the new terminal at Sofia airport. According to the preliminary calculations, the project will cost 6 million Euros, already allocated as a grant by the ISPA programme.

The new terminal at Sofia airport will be ready by the end of August 2006. By then a 1,280 m-long road from the new airport to Brussels Boulevard will be constructed. The government has already announced the road section as an item of national importance, for which the budget will grant 12 million Leva, covering the construction of a two-lane dual carriageway.

The largest project to do with the construction of office buildings is the Sofia Business Park. The construction of the so-called ‘city within a city’ started in 2001, and will be completed by the end of 2008. It has already become a preferred place of business, and many large companies have hurried to reserve office space long before the park is completed and officially opened. A large proportion of it is already open and working. More than 220,000 sq.m. of land are being built on, with 300,000 square metres of building space. 19 of the total 35 planned buildings have already been fully completed. 90 million of the 150 million Leva provision has been invested in these buildings already. A total of 165 companies have already rented offices, and more than 4,200 employees are already working there. The rents are 12 Euros per square metre, and a management fee is to be paid at the rate of 8% of the rent. It is expected that, in 2008, 10,000 people will use the business park daily, with an equivalent number of workers also.

At the beginning of November 2005 the inhabitants of the capital elected Boyko Borisov as Mayor of Sofia. According to the manifesto of the newly elected mayor, there will be mechanisms during his government for compensating every honest investor who makes an investment in public utilities or for renovation of the infrastructure, especially in the outskirts of the city. Already during the first few days after taking office, the new mayor began to fulfil some of his pre-election promises, by filling the holes in the central boulevards of Sofia, and pre-asphalting dozens of streets around schools and kindergartens. They were in a miserable condition, and used to make the traffic and the life of the children in this area difficult.

Information courtesy of "Tourism & Property" magazine, Plovdiv - November 2005.

Details about price madness in Bansko, golf developments in Bulgaria, and new apartments in Bansko and Borovets can be seen at the Bulgaria Properties Ltd web site www.BulgariaProperties.net. You can e-mail questions to advice@BulgariaProperties.net, or, if you have no Internet connection, call the company (in UK) at 0871 226 2296 to order a free 30-page hand-out, or just for a chat, if you prefer. They always have time for you.

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Regional map, showing Sofia,
Borovets, Dolna Banya and Bansko

New golf course at Dolna Banya

Typical apartment floor plan

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