1.. Bulgarian
2.. egg and chips
3..lager
4..dont try to go thru without a passport
5.. in town..T shirts
6..beach..nightclubs

sorry i could not resist ive not been either yet.........

Hi John & Michaela,

1. What is the common language there? български (Bulgarian)
2. Food, what's the local dishes? Many & varied, some examples here.
3. Drinks, what's the local tipple? Rakia and, to a lesser extent Mastika.
4. Customs, any we should be aware of? See here
5. Shopping, where's best? What's the local bargains? The larger cities tend to best best for bargains, Varna or Bourgas in the coastal region.
6. Places to visit - best to visit? Best to avoid? Depends what you like/your interests.

off topic

Hi Baldur,

do you speak Bulgarian? Говориш ли български?

Many greetings/много поздрави

Bulgarienfan

Hi Baldur.

Thank you for your speedy replies, we like to explore local culture and the like, any suggestions?

Also thinking of hiring a car and travelling to Turkey, is this recommended?

What is Nessebur like? Most people seem to head for Sunny Beach.

Thanks again.

John & Michaela

Здравей Bulgarienfan,

Аз говоря малко български език.

I struggle along, just have a very small vocabulary at the moment - barely enough to get by in my village when in Bulgaria.

Много поздрави,

Baldur

-------------
@ John & Michaela

My knowledge is more of the Northern coastline but you will certainly find many historical sites, monasteries, wonderful countryside and friendly locals wherever you go. I would suggest doing some reseach on the 'net via Google or one of the other search engines.

Old Nessebar itself is, currently, a World Heritage site and Veliko Tarnovo is well worth a visit.

I think that you will find that you cannot take a Bulgarian hire-car out of the country - the road border-crossings can also be a nightmare, both in terms of bureaucracy and the time taken to negotiate them. You will find that the tour operators (multi-national & local) have organised tours to Turkey and there are local coach/rail services into Turkey.

Nessebar (especially Old Nessebar) is lovely but has, in *my* opinion been ruined by the influx of traders, stalls, etc., during the tourist season - Sunny Beach is, by comparison, a little like a delapidated version of any seaside resort, from Blackpool to Benidorm.

Regards,

Baldur

We have resort reports here for Nessebur.

Do not get in any taxi without agreeing a price or else they will rip you off rotten.

Stuart

and the excellent Bulgarian red and white wines, many Bulgarians have some English but may not be fluent out of the resorts we went for the first time last June

wizard

edit
sorry post deleted. I let the others stand but one of our T&Cs is to post in English
Fiona ht mod

Sorry Fiona,

I thought, it is allowed to post Bugarian in a bulgarian forum. Please excuse me!

I said to Baldur, that I would like to talk with him bulgarian language. Because I`m happy, to speak with other people Bulgarian. You know, my nick is "Bulgarienfan". I love Bulgaria.

May be, that we'll see us in Bulgaria. And there we will speak Bulgarian, ok?

Regards

Bulgarienfan

thanks for translating!

We loved Bulgaria, but just a bit worried you are going two weeks in september. Lots of places start to close in september.

The old town of Nessebar is lovely but you wouldn't believe how many shops and stalls they can cram into a very small area. Most of them 'in my opinion' selling junk. But you can buy some very good pottery if that's what you like.
I felt that the number of stalls made it very difficult to see the beautiful buildings in this area.

i agree with lesley jane
each time we visit nessebar there seems to be more and more stalls crammed in any corner available.

1. What is the common language there?
Depends on where you go, but in SB and GS they "all" speak a bit english. This is getting better every year. Many of them also speak german and I think they all have learned russian in School.

2. Food, what's the local dishes?
Bulgarian makes good salads. Most common is Shopska sallad, which is like greek sallad. Im many of their dishes they use goat cheese and that gives it a special taste
Have a look at
http://www.bulgariatravel.org/etis/article.php?aID=162 for more info.

3. Drinks, what's the local tipple?
Hm.. not really sure what local tipple means, but if you meen beer there is several locals. Zagorka is a light beer that in my opinion is the best one.
Kamenitza is another one. Also very good!

4. Customs, any we should be aware of?
If you go by your self to Bulgaria, you have to register. If you go by charter, the hotel will fix that for you. Your passport must be valid for more than six months from the date you arrive. If you plan to bring more money than the value of 8000 Leva you have to registrer with the customs.

5. Shopping, where's best? What's the local bargains?
Bourgas and Varna has lots of possibilitys for shopping. They also have cheaper prices than GS/SB, but again, prices are low enough in GS/SB.

6. Places to visit - best to visit? Best to avoid?
Varna and Bourgas is a "must" in my opinoin. Nessebar is beautiful also.
Avoid changing money on the street, and watch your things in local busses and crowded places.

Edited to provide link- unfortunately you can't copy directly from another website without permission
Fiona ht mod

A big thank you, for all the replies, it seems, we may have made a wise decision to book this holiday, at £800 for 2 weeks in a 3 bed villa, it was to good to turn down.

Any other advice, on anything would be appreciated, such as day drips to Romania/Turkey? Driving in Bulgaria? Apart from the 'street' money changing, are there any other cons/tricks to watch out for?

Looking forward to this trip, more than my one to Orlando in 2 weeks time

Thanks again

John & Michaela

Quality on the roads in Bulgaria is varied. Some are good, some are not.
I have never driven by myself, but hired taxi`s for days.
Every taxi driver has followed the speed limit, and kept their seatbelt on. They vere conserned about getting tickets.
Every now and then there is a car standing along the way who seems to have trouble. Be aware, and dont stop. Carjacking and robberies happends.
When you leave your car, make sure you have all the registration papers with you, because if its stolen the police wont help you if you dont have it.

Some signs along the road may also be written with cyrillic letters, but most of them also have "normal" letters.