About Bulgaria

Sitting on the south-western corner of Europe, Bulgaria is bordered by Romania in the north and Greece and Turkey in the south. Its eastern border is the Black Sea, with its miles of golden beaches. Sofia is the capital city and its airport has daily flights to and from the UK. Orpheus operates around the Black Sea portsof Bourgas and Varna. The Bourgas airport currently receives charter flights and Wizzair from the UK in the summer season whilst Varna is now served both by Wizzair and by BA.

Bulgaria is a European centre for ornithology, offers nature conservation areas, some of the cleanest air in Europe as well as mountains, rivers and a beautiful coastline. Hunting is permitted under supervision. For wine connoisseurs there is the added attraction of the oldest wine growing area in Europe, with hundreds of undiscovered producers and wine varieties which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, including your supermarket shelves!

Bulgaria has an excellent climate, with warm bright springs, hot summers and a pleasant autumn which can allow picnics on the beach as late as November. The south of the country boasts excellent winter ski resorts. For amateur historians, the country is a treasure house of Roman and Byzantine culture, from Nessebar in the east, with its fourth century cathedral, to Sofia in the West, boasting one of the earliest examples of renaissance painting in the Boyana church.

Bulgaria has two main mountain ranges. The Stara Planina runs through the centre of the country, whilst the Rhodops define the southern border. Together they contrive to moderate the heat from the south and the cold continental winds from the north, giving early springs, a delightful long autumn and bright sunny summers. In the high mountains snow is plentiful in the winter, giving some of the best family skiing in Europe.

Everyone must have seen pictures of the wonderful Black sea coast, with long sweeping beaches interspersed with rocky capes and inlets. We have been swimming here as early as April and as late as November. Winters are mild, rather similar to the south of England, whilst the summers are hot but not unbearable. In the mountain areas of the Strandzha summer evenings can get cooler (take a cardigan if sitting outdoors) and winters always have a potential for lots of snow.

The currency is the lev (plural leva), and is currently around 2.8 leva to the pound sterling, or 2 to the Euro. Incomes in Bulgaria are very low, as are prices. Work is not easy to find unless you have contacts or have a profession which is in high demand.

The Bulgarian language is almost entirely phonetic; what you hear is what is written. Writing is in the cyrillic script which can be a trifle off-putting at first but can be picked up quite quickly. Basic grammar is not difficult and generally the word order is similar to English.