Wednesday, September 7, 2005

You say progress, I say...

This from my nostalgic Blue Guide to Bulgaria.

On the Grand Hotel (now reinvented c/o Radisson as a non-descript business hotel with a sheer face of dark glass.)

“The Grand Hotel Sofia is a fine gloomy old place that offers cavernous, dusty and slightly sinister rooms with vast armchairs and velvet plush curtains...
There is a nightclub downstairs that is much used by visiting Greek businessmen.
The bar is popular with ex-communist functionaries and is a place for connoisseurs of old party chic.”

Later, Pettifer gamely notes:

"Although the gangster's often lethal quarrels should not deter the holiday visitor, it is a good idea to have some awareness of the power of these forces on Bulgarian society."

C

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