Sofia is not a city you would fall in love with at the first sight. Its grey buildings that nobody had been taking care of during the communism became kind of dusty and it will certainly take years to wipe the dust away, even with the accession of Bulgaria into the European Union.
Sofia's streets are flooded with mostly old cars. A lot of them had been bought second-hand in Germany or Switzerland and still have shiny 'D' or 'CH' labels stuck at the back. Some public transportation vehicles had been imported from Western Europe as well: all over Bulgaria we even spotted some German commercials from 20 years ago still hanging in the buses and trains. Bulgarians apparently don't bother removing them. Or they might just like them.
Sofia doesn't have a lot of tourist attractions. If you are in a hurry, you can rush past all of them in a day. However, the people in Sofia are generally friendly, the food delicious and the prices low, so it is worth lingering in the city an extra day or two.
We visited Sofia twice and if an opportunity arises we would be more than happy to travel there for the third time, which proves best that first impression is not always the most important. Sofia can really be enjoyed only upon getting to know it better.