Street Art in Sofia

Another highlight from our Sofia, Bulgaria trip was a graffiti and street art tour. Prior to the tour, we assumed that graffiti was legal in Bulgaria, but that's not the case. With that said, there are some workarounds for street artists. 

I don't remember the stories behind all the artwork we saw, but the tour did highlight the importance of turning around. Many of the pieces we saw we would not have noticed if we did not turn around. Our guide was personable, knowledgeable and gave us ample time to snap photos of all the great street art we saw along the way. 

We made a reservation for the free tour, but you can also book a paid version through Airbnb and other websites. I am not sure how much Charles tipped our guide (who is one of the founders of the tour and a street artist himself), but I suggested he tip at least as much as it would have cost if we booked the paid tour through another site. 

This piece is a bit controversial because it shows their patron saint, George, in a different light. There are strict rules about how saints are to be depicted and this does not follow the rules. 

This was my favorite piece from the tour. I love pop art! This piece also gives a nod to where graffiti and street art started with a NY subway car. 

I asked why this piece showed a woman holding an American football helmet. The owners of the restaurant (which our guide recommended, but we did not have a chance to try it out) studied in America and grew to enjoy American football. 

At the end of the tour we were all tasked with creating our own graffiti tag. This is what we came up with!

This was our group for the evening. The lady on the end was visiting from England and the three ladies were visiting from Hungary.