COVER N. 419 - BULGARIA

Postmark: Sofia 1408 26.02.2024 

Posted on the 26th February; Received on the 5th March 2024

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The Phantom, that restless wanderer, was on a mission again in the Balkans, and I got word from him from the Capital of Bulgaria. Danke Sehr, Alex!

Alex is a persuasive guy, no doubt about it, (after all, who would say no to The Phantom????). I don't know how, but he always manages to convince the post offfice employees to have his stamps properly postmarked, in whatever corner of the world he goes to.

I have written here about my experience in Sofia, which was  far from easy given that I had some communication difficulties with the lady at the post office, since I did not speak a word of  Bulgarian. In the end, when I asked for a manual postmark, she just looked at me and replied "tomorrow" and I left a bit anxious, but whern I received the cover some days later, back at home, it was properly postmarked on the stamp, although not on the envelope as I had also requested.

Now Alex, this time, got  both the satmp and the envelope postmarked, but the postmark is upside dow, so I consider it a draw between my and his efforts😀.

Alex used a curious one 2 Lev stamp plus vignette souvenir sheet issued on 23AUG2021 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Bulgarian Folklore Federation. I tried to find some information regarding this organisation but sadly to no avail.

The postmark was applied in Sofia, the Capital, but not in the same Post Office I visited, given the different code.