#353 Bargaining With the Lace Ladies for Handicrafts in Sofia, Bulgaria
Just outside the towering Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria, about a dozen little old ladies sit at folding tables laden with piles of handcrafted lace and embroidered napkins and tablecloths. The lace is made by hand-knotting cotton and silk threads into intricate patterns and is quite different from the lace made in Western Europe. You don’t have to know any Bulgarian to bargain with the ladies for their wares, they’re armed with calculators and a handful of phrases in Russian, French, and sometimes even English, and they’re ready to make a deal.
