SOFIA'S HIDDEN FLEA MARKET

SOFIA'S HIDDEN FLEA MARKET

Tue, 04/04/2017 - 08:03

London has Camden Passage (Portobello is so upmarket nowadays), Paris has the Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen, Rome has Porta Portese, Athens has Monastiraki and Tbilisi has the Dry Bridge Flea Market: local flea markets are one of the most delightful experiences in capitals across Europe.

flea market sofia.jpg

Once they were the haunt of those who did not have enough disposable income to buy new stuff. They also attracted collectors, fringe cultures, and optimists believing that they would find a lost Rembrandt among all the knick-knacks. With the advent of cheap, disposable fashion (thanks, China), mass travel and mass hipsterisation, however, those with little cash moved to the malls, and the joy of finding some vintage clothing, or a 1960s piece of furniture that would look great in the living room went mainstream. This trend ruined Portobello, and put all the other flea markets solidly on the tourist map.

In this regard, Sofia is a big exception.

The capital has had its own Bitak, or flea market, for decades but, bar the odd hipster, blogger or journalist, it is an event largely undisturbed by outsiders. Few tourists know about it, and there is not a single craft sandwich or artsy pastries vendor around. For the foreign visitor, antique and curio shopping begins and ends with the specialised shops in central Sofia, which does have craft sandwiches and artsy pastries venues.

Sofia's flea market is on the city's fringes, at a location surreally fit for the purpose of selling items that were left for dead by their owners in rubbish bins, or were lost, or stolen. The Bitak is near the cemetery in the Malashevtsi neighbourhood, and the Sofia Central Cemetery is in close proximity. The Bitak operates on weekends only and has two parts: the official and the guerrilla one. It is best to visit early in the morning, as the good stuff sells quickly.

The official part of the flea market is a large, concrete area with proper stalls which, under Communism, used to sell "surplus goods" like A3 batteries and spare parts for cars. Today the goods are more mainstream, mainly new, and made in China. The prices are a bargain; the quality – not so much. The entrance fee is 2 leva.

The guerrilla part of the Bitak is free and stretches along Lavandula Street, which leads to the official part of the market. Goods are displayed directly on the ground, and most of them are at least secondhand. After the obligatory bargaining most items can be bought for 50 stotinki to 2 leva.

Unlike the flea markets in London, Paris, Athens and even Tbilisi, in Sofia's Bitak you will be hard pressed to find something old and rare. Even silver spoons are hard to come by here nowadays. If something is newer and seemingly in good condition, such as a camera or a wristwatch, chances are it was stolen. The general junk on sale includes old clothes and shoes misshapen by wear, cheap chipped china, mass produced utensils, chargers for mobile phones from the pre-Nokia 3310 era, one-eyed dolls and so on, scavenged from rubbish bins and old houses demolished to make room for the next block of apartments. Few of these predate 1944. The general impression given is a rather depressing portrayal of the poor lifestyle the majority of Bulgarians "enjoyed" during both Communism and after 1989.

Only the most desperate of consumers and the most devoted of hipsters find anything useful in the Bitak, but with perseverance and good luck one still can find small treasures in the Malashevtsi flea market: an old vinyl record, a well preserved piece of china, an old radio that with proper care could become a pièce de résistance in the living room, a collection of faded black-and-white photographs preserving the faces of a long gone family. Value, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and the Sofia flea market is no exception: enjoy the people watching in case you fail to find anything to buy.

Sofia flea market

 

Sofia flea market

 

Sofia flea market

 

Sofia flea market

 

 

Sofia flea market

 

Sofia flea market

 

Sofia flea market

America for Bulgaria FoundationHigh Beam is a series of articles, initiated by Vagabond Magazine, with the generous support of the America for Bulgaria Foundation, that aims to provide details and background of places, cultural entities, events, personalities and facts of life that are sometimes difficult to understand for the outsider in the Balkans. The ultimate aim is the preservation of Bulgaria's cultural heritage – including but not limited to archaeological, cultural and ethnic diversity. The statements and opinionsexpressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the America for Bulgaria Foundation and its partners.

Issue 126 America for Bulgaria Foundation Sofia

Commenting on www.vagabond.bg

Vagabond Media Ltd requires you to submit a valid email to comment on www.vagabond.bg to secure that you are not a bot or a spammer. Learn more on how the company manages your personal information on our Privacy Policy. By filling the comment form you declare that you will not use www.vagabond.bg for the purpose of violating the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria. When commenting on www.vagabond.bg please observe some simple rules. You must avoid sexually explicit language and racist, vulgar, religiously intolerant or obscene comments aiming to insult Vagabond Media Ltd, other companies, countries, nationalities, confessions or authors of postings and/or other comments. Do not post spam. Write in English. Unsolicited commercial messages, obscene postings and personal attacks will be removed without notice. The comments will be moderated and may take some time to appear on www.vagabond.bg.

0 comments

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

Discover More

lyudmila-zhivkova-mural.jpg
WHO WAS LYUDMILA ZHIVKOVA?
Her father's daughter who imposed her own mediocrity on Bulgaria's culture? Or a forbearing politician who revived interest in Bulgaria's past and placed the country on the world map? Or a quirky mystic? Or a benefactor to the arts?

68dbb6f574e242b2efdd826937d384dd_XL.jpg
CATHOLIC BULGARIA
In 1199, Pope Innocent III wrote a letter to Bulgarian King Kaloyan to offer an union.

8f4f3ce603e0a9c7daf6b5c891a6b7b3_XL.jpg
RHODOPE IN FULL BLOSSOM
The Rhodope mountains have an aura of an enchanted place no matter whether you visit in summer, autumn or winter. But in springtime there is something in the Bulgarian south that makes you feel more relaxed, almost above the ground.

76a362b0e635f2bd7b84d5e7290d087b_XL.jpg
BIZARRE BULGARIA
There are many ways to categorise and promote Bulgaria's heritage: traditional towns and villages, Thracian rock sanctuaries, nature, sun and fun on the seaside, and so on and so forth.

8972e86d8b8aa9ca49225ef0904974cc_XL.jpg
KARLOVO
Karlovo is one of those places where size does not equal importance.

cba2911ca1c40028fa90545f6470ee1a_XL.jpg
SILENCE OF SHARDS
Pavlikeni, a town in north-central Bulgaria, is hardly famous for its attractions, and yet this small, quiet place is the home of one of the most interesting ancient Roman sites in Bulgaria: a villa rustica, or a rural villa, with an incredibly well-preserv

d888bb3ac0932627f0b18f6b52f06d68_XL.jpg
BULGARIAN EASTER
How to celebrate like locals without getting lost in complex traditions

tryavna.jpg
BULGARIA'S TOP 10 SMALL TOWNS
Small-town Bulgaria is a diverse place. Some of the towns are well known to tourists while others are largely neglected by outsiders.

matochina fotress.jpg
BORDER ZONE VILLAGE
Of the many villages in Bulgaria that can be labeled "a hidden treasure," few can compete with Matochina. Its old houses are scattered on the rolling hills of Bulgaria's southeast, overlooked by a mediaeval fortress.

342d45fc5f9732a0c3c741db143757a7_L_0.jpg
WHO WAS GEO MILEV?
Poet who lost an eye in the Great War, changed Bulgarian literature - and was assassinated for his beliefs

devils bridge.jpg
SEEING DEVIL IN DEVIL'S BRIDGE
In previous times, when information signs of who had built what were yet to appear on buildings of interest, people liberally filled the gaps with their imagination.

Kremikovtsi Metallurgy Plant.jpg
URBEX BG, PART 2
If anything defines the modern Bulgarian landscape, it is the abundance of recent ruins left from the time when Communism collapsed and the free market filled the void left by planned economy.