By Noreen Lucey, Community Editor & Property Investment Analyst

I first came to Sofia in 2002 as a backpacker and despite the culture the city offered, it was still very underdeveloped and didn't make any huge impressions on me.

Accommodation was not that plentiful in the city and my strongest memories of the city was a lack of amenities, an unfriendly abrupt service, power cuts in the hostel I was staying in and the danger of falling into one of the many potholes in the city's unlit streets at night.

I went back to Bulgaria during the summer of 2004 and in January 2005 and there had been obvious changes in the country. In particular, there was an increase in the number of estate agents targeting foreign buyers and marketing properties on the Black Sea Coast. Road infrastructure and the level of services were still very poor in the city and the countryside was still very under-developed. A few cranes had appeared in Bansko but nothing compared to the levels that I saw when I returned in January 2005. The changes in Sofia however had not been as pronounced as Bansko and the Black Sea but this had changed when I visited the city last week.

The first thing I noticed when I landed was the new terminal and redevelopment of Sofia Airport. I always dreaded flying into Sofia Airport; it was decrepit and run down with taxi drivers hassling you the minute you landed in arrivals. Instead, I arrived into a new terminal, renovated with an extended arrivals area complete with proper taxi rank outside!