Sofia landscape

Rainy and cloudy but still colorful :)

bul. Vitosha

Samokov has its beauty

non-SENSE in Samokov Part 2

non-senses around the city center:

the sign in the back says: "Samokov - the capital of winter sports"

Municipal Market

Municipal Market next to the Bus station - great choice!

unique advertisement. It sounds amazing in Bulgarian. 

If anyone can sujest a proper translation in English, I'd be grateful - it requires some poetry skills (which I don't have)

these blocks should be great for living!

cool alleys DISconnection

"Amazing" architecture - completely NOT in the style of the city...

ever tried to play basketball on grass???

the "charming" wall of the stadium - very "friendly and aesthetic"

non-SENSE in Samokov Part 1

"Безумици в Самоков"  част 1


I passed trough this city many times for years - mostly on the way to Borovets or Maliovitsa. But now this is my second year I do a school project with sites in Samokov. Last year we had to arrange the city center (project in urban planning), now - give some shape to the park (project in landscape). So I had to make some trips to the place. After my first visit in the spring this year and some close looks on the city I thought of Samkovo as Frankenstein city - it's all messed up functionally and aesthetically. Total chaos and misery. I'm really frustrated because this city has potential and is situated in a very beautiful place. I'll upload some photos in my "Potential of Samokov" post sometime this month. But fisrt the critic...

Urban landscape

These are a couple of block by the river, surrounded by houses.  Awful place to live in...

In Bulgaria all rivers are neglected, and the area around them too. One explanation is that at first rivers were used for city's natural sewage. So all houses in the small villages were situated with their backs to the river, because this is the place we throw our garbage. It is also something dangerous (floods) and stinky, not hygenic and ugly. In Bulgaria rivers are neglected - something negative. I can give loads of examples. And I can't understand why the city planners here don't see the rivers as something that can bring joy and pleasure and be a part of a creat recreational area. Rivers provide many activities - walks and bike rides by the river, walks with boats, games, arena for outdoor events. Or may be it's not only the city planners - the citizens themselves don't understand the need of this riverside transformation?

This was a bit off-topic but not quite - all the examples in this post are from a walk by the river.

"Great" bridge design!

great stairs - that's the way a road with lots of traffic is crossed.

old school yard.

the view is beautiful, the bridge had some design but the people themselves don't respect it. They respect their dead-ones but do they really? Is it a sign of respect to put your close-one dead memory in the public space and damage your environment? Is it useful, is it beautiful?

now.. something new - the great Samokov hall's backyard/

I've never seen such detail. Creative!

One cloudy sunday afternoon

I needed a get-away very badly to clear my head. So I hit the road to Zheleznitsa - very close to Sofia. At the same time very beautiful place. The  road is with lots of curves and pleasant for driving except for the buses that get in the way. But this time that wasn't a problem as I was taking photos while driving - speed wasn't an issue. 

Enjoy the ride

And it's the first time I'm manipulating RAW files. 

Done with Adobe PS Lightroom 3.4 :)