Alexander Nevski Cathedral is one of the stops included on every sightseeing tour of Sofia.

Once you have sated your curiosity as a tourist within the biggest cathedral on the Balkans, it is likely that the nearby outdoor market will attract your attention.

The market is on the northern side of the church. When the weather is fine, there are usually about 20 stands. Although the market is small, it looks like a typical Balkan bazaar - some wooden drop tables suitable for selling, and chairs for the comfort of the sellers, mostly women.

The exotic appearance of the market, as part of the local colour of the Bulgarian capital, is not its only charm. The goods, original hand-made pieces of national traditional embroidery and lace-knitting, are what most attract both foreign and Bulgarian customers.

Most of the vendors at this market are not just selling the goods, they produce them themselves. One of them is 56-year-old Elena Angelova.

She introduces herself as a producer of Bulgarian traditional embroidery. She has been doing this for more than 15 years. You can see all kinds of knitted art - tablecloths, table napkins, wall panels, on her colourful stand.

"This is what I do best," is Elena's simple answer to my question why she has chosen embroidery. "Now it's my job and my favourite hobby at the same time."

However, this has not been so all here life. Until 1991, Elena worked as a nurse in a local factory in her hometown of Smolyan. Like many other industrial enterprises, her factory was shut down during the first years of the post-communist political and economic changes in the country.

Without a job and without money, she had to learn quickly how to cope with the lack of opportunities on the labour market and the difficulties of the transitional period. She decided to take the drastic step of moving to Sofia and started selling pieces of embroidery.

"Maybe it was risky," she says, looking back at her first steps as a professional embroideress, and remembering her first work, a small napkin. "But I had no other choice. With a lot of hard work and effort I overcame the obstacles."

Despite the difficult times, Elena has remained optimistic. Reflecting on her current situation, she says that she is happy and grateful: "I love my job and I earn enough money to pay my bills and to have a decent life. Nobody has become rich by hand-made products."

She says that she can always count on her colleagues at the market. However, there is competition among them. She says that competition only helps the embroiderers improve their work and offer the clients more beautiful and better products.

"It's important to me to sell quality, nice pieces of Bulgarian embroidery. That's why I always keep looking for new and interesting models which I can develop and to decorate my stall the best I can," said Elena. "Nice goods and attitude bring customers back."

Unfortunately, few people are keeping alive the tradition of Bulgarian embroidery. "It's a difficult handicraft, especially nowadays when original Bulgarian materials like linen canvas and silk threads are expensive and difficult to find."

With some sadness in her voice, she says: "Not a single new embroiderer has come here since I have been at this market. Young people are not interested in such labour-intensive craft and maybe it will die when we die."

Still, Elena cherishes a plausible dream. She hopes that one day a special street of handicrafts will be established in Sofia, where people like her will have better conditions to sell their work.

"I just want a special place where all the people who want to buy hand-made goods may come, and a booth where I can show my embroidery in the way that it should be shown."