The building on the corner was once the headquarters of the Bulgarian tourist agency. During the Communist Era, the only way to visit Bulgaria was on a tour run by this agency.
According to our guide, the "famous" Bulgarian Shopska salad (and the other "traditional" and regional Bulgarian salads, too) owes its existence to this agency. In the 1960s, the agency, interested in feeding tourists something that would be appetizing and not make them ill, while giving tourists a Bulgarian experience, created several salads that it associated with different regions of the country. The salads consisted of simple, readily available ingredients so that they could be served by any restaurant and passed off to tourists as traditional dishes.
The Shopska salad, supposedly from the Shopluk region, consists of red tomatoes, green peppers, and white cheese -- the colors of the Bulgarian flag -- is by far the best known. It is available everywhere, and Bulgarians believe it is a traditional part of their country's heritage.