OT - Bulgaria

She's looking at Bulgaria.

Whose been and what's it like?

How much is a beer and dinning out ?

Your views will be most welcome.

Berbatov got kidnapped there when he was a youngster so he could play for the rival team.

Berbatov's brother got kidnapped a few years back.

Nice place. Lots of kidnapping.

went 2 years ago to sunny beach . nice weather , nice beach , beer and food cheap as chips . loads to do in the day and night but make sure you get a decent hotel . on the way back on the plane loads were complaining about food and conditions but we got lucky with digs .i'd go again if the chance arose

Ive only ever been once and that was skiing, i hated the place

She's looking at Bulgaria.

Whose been and what's it like?

How much is a beer and dinning out ?

Your views will be most welcome.

I wouldnt go near bulgaria mate. Massive organised crime in alot of areas, i.e prostitution, robbery etc. So the TV says,

The Bulgarian waiters and hotel staff were unsmiling and there was a strange, oppressive feel to my holiday. On the positive side: the weather was good, food and drink ok and relatively cheap if you used black market exchange rates. Varna was a an interesting city nearby but not much to buy.... thinking about it, this was 8 years ago, might have changed for the better now?

Stayed in the Majestic in Sunny Beach,
Had a superb time, hotel was on of the best i have stayed in if not the best, and my Mrs is fussy as fack, and she would go back tomorrow,
Was getting a pint for about £0.40

The game may be at Sofia, Ive been there twice.
The main area in Sofia is the Boulevard, just a long strip of bars and restaurants.
I went to 2 good Irish bars there, but you have to book a seat on weekends to get in, they didnt allow standing.
The SAS radisson is at one end and is very expensive, although normal prices in bars and restaurants are quite cheap.
Hope the game is not at Bourgas as the holiday season flights finish and Sunny Beach closes at the start of October.
I like Sofia personally but apart from the main centre of Sofia, its quite drab really.
Im going and hope its at Sofia and not near Sunny Beach.

I lived there for nine months came back in May last year although you wouldn't really want to go where I was, Targovishte, unless you like nice scenary or normally take your holidays in say Merthyr! Not dissing Merthyr just there are simialr places in some ways.

The coast, Black Sea, is nice although I'd be a tad concerned about swimming although they are in the process of cleaning everything up but years of socialist rule have left the countries infrastructure in dire need of investment.

It is cheap, a descent meal for two with beers or wine will set you back around 15 quid, the do decent beer as well e.g. Schumensko, etc and the dark beers are good as well prices vary from less than a quid to about two quid depending on where you are. Sofia's OK some reasonable architecture if your into that but as Malaga says outside of the main cetral areas and shopping streets its pretty grim. The game is likely to played in Bourgas for security reasons, huge hooligan problem over there especially in Sofia and these guys aren't spotty Stone Island wearing youth but evil looking big bastards. The last I heard the Bulgarian FA were wondering whether to play the Wales and England games outside of Sofia as it is likely to be carnage especially with England. They do move the Internationals outside of Sofia especially the smaller games which Wales will be regarded as and generally to Bourgas although thats OK as the direct flights run all year round not as before when it was largely charter lfights or change in Sofia, Istanbul, Budapest, etc.

Again as has been mentioned, huge crime problem as the country really is in a state economically (there's just been as advert for "Magic Bulgaria" on the TV here so probably an omen!!), I got burgled when I was there! In general though they are very friendly people but you have to appreciate that they were under socialist rule for so long that tend to be suspicious of people.

I quited liked it there to be honest and will be going over in October for the game.