Hi, I will start the ball rolling. I with another member of my Church visit the outlying villages some 30 miles from Varna, with a Bulgarian SundaySchool Teacher. Last June we were in a village called Kasheka Reka, some 2 miles from nearest rail station. We were offered a lift back to station in Donkey and Cart. I am game for most things. Great, little old donkey pulling cart plus 5 adults, so far so good down to main road turned left then it was turn right down track to station, Oh no the donkey said, straight down the embankment(20 feet) we all got out with little knocks, but the cart was on top of donkey, by then cars and a bus stopped to help, we had to unharness the donkey and every pulled the cart back up on to road, the donkey just stood up and more or less said whats going on. When back in village in Sept we decided to walk it, Oh by the way the donkey just had a swollen cheek. Tonyt.

Anybody else?

Memories, so many but one incident sticks in my mind.

Out on a trip and at the usual toilet stop there was no queue for the gents but a long one for the ladies.
The old grandma of an attendant was watching like a hawk and saw me put the smallest denomination note in 'her' saucer. Like a shot she pulled me out of the queue, checked the vacant gents and ushered me into the gents cubicle and stood guard like a rotweiller until I came out. Her saucer rapidly got filled and many of the ladies took advantage of the gents facility.

Patka

I really enjoy the following holiday memory:

Nadja, who is a waitress of the Lilia Bar in Sunny Beach, asked me:

"Are you from Poland or from Russia?"

I speak some Bulgarian and order all my beers in Sunny Beach in Bulgarian language.

Of course Nadja realized, that I wasn't from Bulgaria. But she didn't know, from wich country I was. And because I spook a slaw language, she asked me....

Bulgarienfan

Hi everyone,

Just a holiday memory from Bulgaria(not necessarily a favourite).

Was staying in Sunny Beach(my first time to Bulgaria)
with this lass that was an old hand at the place,
so she said that we would go to the gypsy market in Kableshkovo.
She likes to do what the locals do when she's there,
so it was straight to the local bus stop, not knowing which bus to catch
(before you think that she is an old hand)she has no idea.
Anyway we were told which one to get on,and off we went,
(firstly if you think that Sardines have no room in a tin,
you've seen nothing compared to the local transport).
Then we didn't know where to get off,but a local who could talk a little English,seemed to know what was happening and told us when we had to get off.
After about 3hours we decided to return to Sunny Beach so off we went to find the bus stop back.
We stood at the stop for about 5mins,then this bloke came from knowhere asking if we want a taxi(I found that some Bulgarians appear from knowhere)and quoted us 20lev,
she told him that it was too dear and we will get the bus.
Well we stood there and waited,about 5mins later he came back and quoted us 15lev,still she said no.
Anyway he kept looking over at us and then at his watch(by this time the bus was due)so in desperation he came over and said alright 10lev,so we said alright, as it was only 5lev more than the bus.
So a memory of us versus a taxi driver,but we did give him a 5lev tip when we got out.
So when i said to her that we could have got back 10mins earlier if we had given him 15lev straight away,
she said that he'll be more pleased thinking that we give him a 5lev tip.

So that sticks out in my memory of Bulgaria,
and would like to say that Kableshkovo market is a trip well worth doing,
but if the thought of being squashed in a bus fills you with dread,
dont worry they do an organised trip from Sunny Beach.

One year we went on a trip to Veliko Tarnova, there was a mixed group of nationalities. French,German , a Russian girl and us 2 English. The commentary was given in all 3 other languages except English, the guide refused to believe that I was English , he insisted I was Bulgarian with an English husband. It really was a mystery tour, thank God we could read Bulgarian or it would have been.
A very serious complaint was made by us to travel company(JMC) which resulted in being taken out to lunch by the head of the Bulgarian company organising it. The objectional man concerned was looking for other employment immediately afterwards.

Patka

on our first visit to golden sands my fella and son went to the water parkand as they had a great time idecided to go with them a couple of days later, we went for the bus and a taxi driver pulled over to see if we wanted to get in , mick asked how much to which the taxi driver said 10 leva, we offered him 5 instead and he accepted, so in we got and during the short drive we chatted about his visit to britain he was a nice man, so on arrival mick said i'll give you 7 levs and with that handed him the money, it wasnt til later when he went to pay for a pizza at the park when he didnt have enough to pay ,that he realised that he had handed over a 20 lev note with a 2 lev tip instead of a 5 the funny thing was that a few days later he decided yo go again only this time walk, we never realised that from the chippy it took all of about 3 minutes to get there, i bet that cheeky taxi driver had a right laugh over his attempts to barter

any more stories?

We had some funny problems with the language last year.

I went to get some postcards. I took them up to the counter and asked for some stamps. The girl had been chatting to who I assumed was her boyfriend. "for England?" she asks. I say yes, but hold up one postcard and say "but one to America". She doesn't understand. In typical English fashion, I think if I shout a bit louder, she will understand. "America", I repeat. "AMERICA". "USA". "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". "AMERICA". Still no comprehension. Then I say, "George Bush". Ahhh she says. "America". Yes I say. "I don't know" she says. And she just gives me a double lot of stamps to go on that postcard. So I get my stamps The silly thing is that as we were walking away, her boyfriend turned round to us in perfectly good english and asked us if we preferred Pepsi or Coke. He then went on to tell us that he was a rep for Pepsi and likes to know what the customers like.

But that wasn't the end of the saga. When I got back to the room, I stick all the stamps on the postcards before I lose them. I'm one stamp short - each postcard needs two stamps, execpt the America one which now has four. So the next day I go back taking one of the postcards with me and pointing to the postcard indicate that I would like just one of those stamps. It was another girl this time. She says you need two stamps. I say I have the other one, just want one of those. But she will not hear of it. I must have the other stamp. So I stick the spare stamp on the American postcard just to make sure. The postcard turned up in America about three months later. But it wasn't too much of a loss because I didn't have too much to say on it. There was so many stamps on it that I only had the room to write "wish you were here" and the address.

In a bar, my OH, who thinks he is James Bond, asked if he could have vodka instead of gin in his BOGOF martinis. No problem says the waitress. She comes back with two martinis. Plus two glasses of neat vodka, topped right up. He was happy that night

The other thing that really sticks out in my mind is the mad waiter in what I think was called the Adamis restaurant. We went there a few times, and it was inevitable that I left on the last night with one of his 10lv goat bells.

Oh - and learning from our Bulgarian guide on the coach trip back from Varna that we had got the Olympics. It just as we were leaving the service area we had stopped off at on the way back. We all had a big cheer. Our guide told us that a very disgruntled frenchwoman had told her. So we all had a good laugh too.