In love with Bulgaria since 2004
It occurred to me today that I have been obsessed with Bulgaria for six years now. It all started at my cousins wedding in London, when he happened to mention that a lot of his 'city friends' were investing there bonuses in the Bulgarian Black Sea coastal resorts, and also the Ski resorts.
This knowledge impressed me, after all if city bankers were investing, they are the people who are the experts :)
After about six months of slightly obsessional internet research I booked a ticket for 5th January 2005 from Gatwick to Sofia on Bulgaria Air.
Touching down in a snowy Sofia the mainly Bulgarian passengers cheered and applauded the captain and crew (should I have been concerned as the plane started to land? :)
After a night at a nice travellers hostel called 'the rooms' I arranged to view property near the ski resort of Borovets, which is south from Sofia. What I saw was stunning countryside and breathtaking snow capped mountains.
From Sofia I took a coach to the former Medieval capital of Veliko Tarnovo (Turnovo) in central north Bulgaria. There I found a lovely historic town which is every bit as good as I had read about. After looking at some town properties I took another coach to Varna on the black sea coast. Arriving on a cold snow covered morning at 3 am might have jaded my opinion of the City, but after a few days I headed off, this time by Bulgarian Railways to the second city of Plovdiv, where I met with another property agent, and spent a few hours travelling in a very old, and very uncomfortable taxi towards the Rodopi Mountains near Smolyan on the Bulgarian / Greek border.
The Rodopi (Rhodopi) Mountains are stunning, and the village houses that I viewed were enchanting. So much in fact that I agreed to buy one of the cheaper ones for 7000 euros.
This was visit one of many trips to Bulgaria.
