10 Best things...
1. Beautiful lakes and mountains - especially Mt Vitosha near to Sofia
2. Nice coast and beaches, especially Sozopol and just south from there
3. Easy access to skiing
4. Generally that most things are relatively cheap, especially eating out and beer in restaurants
5. People that know you being very hospitable and generous
6. The beautiful (I had to say it) women
7. Amazing mayonnaise-y, pepper-y, aubergine-y, etc. based salads
8. The proximity to Greece
9. The fact that the country is in transition and will obviously look and feel quite different in 20 years
10. The way that Bulgarians sometimes seem genuinely pleased to learn I am foreign, and especially so if I've made an effort to speak Bulgarian!
10 Worst things...
1. On the roads - no one letting you in from side roads
2. On the roads - too many drivers overtaking on blind corners and the brows of hills
3. On the roads - too many drivers queue jumping and blocking traffic from other directions at junctions when roads are busy and so guaranteeing gridlock
4. On the roads - too many drivers flashing their lights in outside lane of motorway to make you move aside even when you are travelling faster than the slow lane and are being held up by slower cars in front of you as well
5. On the roads - not obeying lane discipline and parking space common sense - even in multi-story car parks, so that sometimes the resulting gridlock (I promise you this happened!) leads to waiting for up to an hour to queue out of such car parks...you only have to combine 'people parking where they want', 'getting flustered about waiting and so driving up the oncoming lane' and 'concrete walls on all sides' to guarantee such gridlock...
6. On the roads - lack of acknowledgement of other drivers being on the road generally - i.e. stopping suddenly for no apparent reason and wherever you want; crawling by the side of the road at about 10 km/h; doing u-turns wherever you want and without checking behind; people in parked cars opening car doors without looking (a personal favourite of mine!); and despite the other mayhem cyclists riding at night, without lights, the wrong way up the road towards oncoming traffic
7. On the roads - the general condition of the roads, and that it is 'alleged' that much of the allocated money does not make it to 'the roads'... and that ironically some of the drivers of cars that are upsetting you and behaving like they own the road may be among the same people that have ensured that funds have been directed away from investment in the roads in order to purchase their cars...actually if that is the case (as some have 'alleged') they have even 'less' right to behave like they own the road!
8. Taxis - drivers being rude, always smoking (yes - and would you believe it - frequently in cabs with no window handles!?!), not moving their chair forward for you if you have long legs (why would I want to be comfortable if I'm the one paying???), and frequently turning you down if they don't like the sound of the journey you want to take...yes, 'service' is literally oozing from their pores...!
9. Customer service - indifference and/or rudeness (and especially the audible 'huffing'). I enjoy bored, smoking shop girls, slouched back on stools, staring daggers at me because I contemplated entering their shop
10. Being stared at...when it becomes evident I am not Bulgarian in a shop queue, usually because I am asked about the dimensions of the carrier bag I would prefer (although it's surprising how often you can get away with saying 'da'...and if you see they look confused... ' ne'... or 'gulyam', but if it reaches the 3rd of these I am normally asking it more like a question than stating it positively like I know... but also being stared at when stationary in your car at the traffic lights - this has made me physically 'jump' whilst saying 'uhhh!' - on more than one occasion
But I do love it here! Please don't wonder 'well, why don't you just bugger off home then!'
1. Beautiful lakes and mountains - especially Mt Vitosha near to Sofia
2. Nice coast and beaches, especially Sozopol and just south from there
3. Easy access to skiing
4. Generally that most things are relatively cheap, especially eating out and beer in restaurants
5. People that know you being very hospitable and generous
6. The beautiful (I had to say it) women
7. Amazing mayonnaise-y, pepper-y, aubergine-y, etc. based salads
8. The proximity to Greece
9. The fact that the country is in transition and will obviously look and feel quite different in 20 years
10. The way that Bulgarians sometimes seem genuinely pleased to learn I am foreign, and especially so if I've made an effort to speak Bulgarian!
10 Worst things...
1. On the roads - no one letting you in from side roads
2. On the roads - too many drivers overtaking on blind corners and the brows of hills
3. On the roads - too many drivers queue jumping and blocking traffic from other directions at junctions when roads are busy and so guaranteeing gridlock
4. On the roads - too many drivers flashing their lights in outside lane of motorway to make you move aside even when you are travelling faster than the slow lane and are being held up by slower cars in front of you as well
5. On the roads - not obeying lane discipline and parking space common sense - even in multi-story car parks, so that sometimes the resulting gridlock (I promise you this happened!) leads to waiting for up to an hour to queue out of such car parks...you only have to combine 'people parking where they want', 'getting flustered about waiting and so driving up the oncoming lane' and 'concrete walls on all sides' to guarantee such gridlock...
6. On the roads - lack of acknowledgement of other drivers being on the road generally - i.e. stopping suddenly for no apparent reason and wherever you want; crawling by the side of the road at about 10 km/h; doing u-turns wherever you want and without checking behind; people in parked cars opening car doors without looking (a personal favourite of mine!); and despite the other mayhem cyclists riding at night, without lights, the wrong way up the road towards oncoming traffic
7. On the roads - the general condition of the roads, and that it is 'alleged' that much of the allocated money does not make it to 'the roads'... and that ironically some of the drivers of cars that are upsetting you and behaving like they own the road may be among the same people that have ensured that funds have been directed away from investment in the roads in order to purchase their cars...actually if that is the case (as some have 'alleged') they have even 'less' right to behave like they own the road!
8. Taxis - drivers being rude, always smoking (yes - and would you believe it - frequently in cabs with no window handles!?!), not moving their chair forward for you if you have long legs (why would I want to be comfortable if I'm the one paying???), and frequently turning you down if they don't like the sound of the journey you want to take...yes, 'service' is literally oozing from their pores...!
9. Customer service - indifference and/or rudeness (and especially the audible 'huffing'). I enjoy bored, smoking shop girls, slouched back on stools, staring daggers at me because I contemplated entering their shop
10. Being stared at...when it becomes evident I am not Bulgarian in a shop queue, usually because I am asked about the dimensions of the carrier bag I would prefer (although it's surprising how often you can get away with saying 'da'...and if you see they look confused... ' ne'... or 'gulyam', but if it reaches the 3rd of these I am normally asking it more like a question than stating it positively like I know... but also being stared at when stationary in your car at the traffic lights - this has made me physically 'jump' whilst saying 'uhhh!' - on more than one occasion
But I do love it here! Please don't wonder 'well, why don't you just bugger off home then!'
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2 comments:
but is there anything about the roads that annoys you?
Alex, funnily enough I did think of a few things about the roads that annoy me, which I don't believe I've mentioned before:
- Drivers forcing their way at high speed up the middle of single carriageway roads, forcing you into the verge to avoid a huge head on collision
- Drivers getting frustrated whilst in the outside lane of motorway flashing their lights like crazy and so deciding to overtake up the hard shoulder inside two lanes of fast moving traffic - at night, on blind corners (I saw it I promise!)
- Bulgarian pedestrians not crossing roads quickly - perhaps with a little skip (like they might in UK) - and forcing approaching cars to slow down, I think because they are too focussed on looking cool, and despite the otherwise maniacal driving
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