Bulgaria on Expat.com vs reality

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Agree with your post, wonder if its a case of 'back in uk' where life is in my opinion one long  gossip about others way of living, even notice it between expats I know over here,  whilst here the Bulgarians where I live just get on with their own lives without questioning others lifestyle.

My neighbours are inquisitive what we do but are always helpful to guide us especially in the garden where we have numerous fruit trees.

@mickeyhart yes Mick I agree. I enjoy living here but will need to pull my socks up because the women ag least are so into housework.

Mind you as far as I'm aware I'm the only Brit in the village. Maybe that helps because I'm not one of the " vodka o clock club" but manage not to go into the village bars at night but do take my neighbour for a coffee during the day every now and then.

@mickeyhart

Let me answer your question this way: It all depends on what you are focusing on. And we human from a more western world are focusing on problems and things that are going not that way, we are used to be.

Yes, in Bulgaria, there are dozens of stray dogs and dogs that need to be rescued. Facebook is full of such dogs. Dogs, that are found by someone, who abandoned the dog. And it's the bulgarian way to live, that on every corner you have a homeless street dog.

Let me also say something about poverty. Yes, you can see, that Bulgaria is a poor country and that the people are poor, when you look closer or dig a little bit more under the surface. People are buying things, that are cheap. And these things tends to break very fast, so they had to buy again. Well, the quote "i'm not rich enough to buy cheap things" doesn't work for bulgarian people. They buy cheap things.

But there is also a cut in the society. What do you think, how much does an apartment cost in Varna - Briz, next to a 6-8 Lane road, 230sqm, Akt 16, but naked walls, with a parking space. As far as I can remember around 12th floor. It's on the market for 890.000 EUR! It's insane. And people are buying this apartments!

@LL0rd

But have you noticed that despite the amount of homeless dogs,  you can't find one homeless person.

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Oh Davvyx your just too liberal and understanding a homophobic, racist not you surely.

Kath, perfectly summed up. But maybe better not to feed the trolls?

True Jane

1000% true. we now live here. never met such lovely people. they have it right here.

the atray dogs ive seen (which is a fair few) are in great condition. i thought id move here and bring in strays left rigy and center. not a need.

the strat pony i knew wasnt really.  I was hoping haha

ive seen what looks like gypsys. they just seem to be working hard. not stealing and being awful

    Scrolling through the forum last few days its all natter about Gypsies and scams? Stray dogs needing rescued? poverty? But get this most people slinging muck at the country have hardly stepped foot here.
I just spent a cracking couple of days there. Popped down for a chinwag in my broken Bulgarsky with the locals on the bench outside the shop. Had a beer last night with the old boy next door and all I can say is God bless him hes a top bloke.
So the sun comes out and all I see is Bulgarians pottering about in their gardens. I got invited to a barbeque from a couple down the street and the mayor asks how im doing.
Proper scratching my head here where is all the poverty and crime? Even the gypsy gaffs are all done up and its me whats feeling like the poor one.
Anyone else living in Bulgaria noticing this? You get all this paranoid rubbish on the internet but blimey step away from your computer and its nothing like that?
   

    -@mickeyhart

Mickey, everyone's experience of Bulgaria will be different. Some villages are better to live in than others, just like some British towns are better than others, and even "nice" British towns and cities may have areas it's wisest to avoid.

Bulgaria's not all gloom, doom, and rampant crime by any means. But it's not all sunshine and roses for everyone, either. It's important to be realistic. So far, my experience has been wonderful. But if I'd had my house broken into and everything stolen, as quite a few forum members have had happen, I might change my mind!

    Scrolling through the forum last few days its all natter about Gypsies and scams? Stray dogs needing rescued? poverty? But get this most people slinging muck at the country have hardly stepped foot here.I just spent a cracking couple of days there. Popped down for a chinwag in my broken Bulgarsky with the locals on the bench outside the shop. Had a beer last night with the old boy next door and all I can say is God bless him hes a top bloke.So the sun comes out and all I see is Bulgarians pottering about in their gardens. I got invited to a barbeque from a couple down the street and the mayor asks how im doing.Proper scratching my head here where is all the poverty and crime? Even the gypsy gaffs are all done up and its me whats feeling like the poor one.Anyone else living in Bulgaria noticing this? You get all this paranoid rubbish on the internet but blimey step away from your computer and its nothing like that?        -@mickeyhart

So if I'm following your reasoning correctly: you've "just spent a cracking couple of days there" and enjoyed "a chinwag in your broken Bulgarsky" and you feel that that qualifies you to pontificate on what constitutes "reality in Bulgaria" better than people who've been living here full-time for many years, and who can speak to their neighbours in unbroken Bulgarian, discuss the political and social situation in the country with their in-laws, follow the news on TV and online, and read the newspapers - have I got that right?  I'm aware of you describing yourself as a "Bulgarian boomerang" but you don't seem to have learned too much about the country in your time of pulling out and coming back - you apparently still haven't even discovered the major difference between a Residence Permit and a Lichna Karta, and I'd be prepared to wager that you think it's correct to say "one leva" and "two levs/levas".

You have a rather strange idea of what constitutes "reality" if you wander around learning little or nothing about a foreign country and then generously decide to share your belief that that nothing qualifies you to deny information that's freely available in the media and other people's lived experience.  My wife's been violently mugged by gypsies three times in Bulgaria - do you think that I should tell her that she simply hallucinated it every time, or perhaps that she's just a racist and fascist, and should have welcomed the opportunity to hand over her hard-earned money to less fortunate but equally hard-working criminals in our society?

I've lived in a number of countries in my time, and it's been fascinating to see how many Brits washed up in those countries and lived there for many years without having much of a clue about their history and culture, and without bothering to learn to speak the language properly, or at all.  The one thing that all of them had in common was their habit of sounding off about what "the people" of that country, with whom they could barely even communicate about the weather, thought about any conceivable topic; apparently having a couple of bevvies in the local bar and half understanding what some uneducated villager there might have said qualified them to speak for the entire population of the country.

Just in case you haven't followed my thread, I think you're living in some imaginary version of Bulgaria: there are very many Bulgarians, perhaps more educated and informed than your no doubt friendly and good-hearted neighbours, who are very concerned about the widespread corruption, crime, poverty, rocketing property prices - and even stray street-dogs, although in our discussions, if you've followed them, we've already talked about how the situation with the dogs is vastly improved from what pertained a couple of decades ago, and that most of the ones in the cities have been neutered and turned into almost communally-funded pets.

I wish you a good evening, wherever you happen to be - and hope that next time you're here you manage to learn a little more about the place.

    Mickey, everyone's experience of Bulgaria will be different. Some villages are better to live in than others, just like some British towns are better than others, and even "nice" British towns and cities may have areas it's wisest to avoid.
Bulgaria's not all gloom, doom, and rampant crime by any means. But it's not all sunshine and roses for everyone, either. It's important to be realistic. So far, my experience has been wonderful. But if I'd had my house broken into and everything stolen, as quite a few forum members have had happen, I might change my mind!
   

    -@janemulberry

Jane, I imagine that none of us is being held against our will but here we all are nonetheless, so my suspicion is that that's what we want.

Just as with most other countries, there's plenty of doom and gloom to go round - and crime and corruption are certainly rampant; the good news is that most of the major crims here aren't concerned with small fry like us and even appear to take care not to turn us into collateral damage.  In no particular order:

Last year former politician, "national security expert" and owner of the largest insurance company in the country, Alexei Petrov, was killed by a sniper in the suburb adjoining ours - you may recall that some time ago he survived two other assassination attempts, one on the steps of the main courthouse while he was being taken in by a large group of policemen to face trial (which miraculously was adjourned and then somehow forgotten about); he was badly wounded but survived - just how the sniper knew the supposedly-secret details about his movements remains a mystery.

A few months ago a prominent businessman was shot and killed by an assassin waiting at the very busy traffic lights further along our street - the killer calmly walked away after ascertaining that the hit was indeed successful but "no-one saw anything" even though it was rush-hour and the road was packed with stationary traffic.

A similar time ago, a roadside bomb failed to detonate properly in the course of an attempt to kill the country's Chief Prosecutor; it still left a sizeable crater beside the road, which is the one which my wife and I regularly take when going to and from her parents. 

There are regular media reports of attacks on medical staff at hospital A&E departments by members of the ethnic minority who don't see why they should have to join a queue to see a doctor or who don't think that they or their friends are receiving the correct treatment for wounds received during the regular knife fights they like to participate in.  Again, a while back there was a case where the inhabitants of a Roma mahala were demanding that the local municipality repair a watercourse which regularly got blocked and flooded their houses - they were even being egged on by a couple of virtue-signalling NGOs to take the case to Brussels.  The problem arose because the village was built on top of the site of an old open-cast coal mine which had been filled in when it became unprofitable; the villagers were digging quite deep mines - from the cellars underneath their own houses - to get coal and then dumping the soil in the nearest convenient spot, in true Bulgarian spirit in the watercourse.  It gets better: all the houses had been illegally connected to electricity with cables daisy-chained from the supply to two old, condemned and abandoned houses, while water was generously supplied for nothing because they were all connected to the pipes before the meters in the same two ancient houses.  To cap it all, the NGOs were demanding to know why the municipality had permitted houses to be built on such a dangerous site; as you've probably guessed the answer was that they hadn't - the only houses which had been legally built there were....the two old ones, which had been condemned because the site was so dangerous!  There was a happy ending, depending on your point of view - the municipality subsequently bulldozed all the buildings

Some years back, a tonne of gold was stolen from a secure Customs facility at Sofia Airport: there were no signs of a break-in and the security cameras were mysteriously not working that day; 53million euros worth is still missing and no-one has been arrested. There is a wry joke in Bulgaria which goes like this: "What do Customs Officers give their colleagues on their birthday?" Answer: "Nothing - but they stay at home that day."  In case it's not obvious, when the birthday-boy is the only one at work that day, he gets to pocket all the bribes.. 

Talking of which, you may have heard of Arda, a "vacation village", better known as "The Customs Agents' Village" - this is composed of 45 illegally-built villas on a nature reserve beside a dam, all owned by Customs Officers.  It's illegal in Bulgaria for buildings without "Act 16" to be connected to water and electricity, but these were, despite having no Act of any number; the utility companies were unable to explain how and by whom these connections were approved.  Even more miraculously, they were all connected to mains sewage, the pipes for which had to be specially, and illegally, laid for several kilometres - again, no-one could remember how or by whom this was authorised by the Municipality.

I could go on, and on (and already have) but I think you get the picture: Bulgaria sure as shooting (if you'll excuse the pun ) ain't Shangri-la! Stuff happens here that beggars belief, but unfortunately it's all too true.

  It sounds as if living anywhere near politicians, members of the judiciary, and "prominent businessmen" might not be a wise idea! But almost any country could tell similar stories, I suspect.  I'm not under any illusions of Bulgaria being nothing but sunshine and roses. I just said it wasn't all doom, gloom, and rampant crime.

@mickeyhart enjoying life to the full.  Married to a Bulgarian lady, two step kids, embraced by her family, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. Embraced by my local community (in Varna).  Living a life I can afford and that I feel I'm entitled to after working my butt off for years.

As for crime, I've never actually witnessed anything in the 3+ years I've been in Varna!  I'm told pickpocketing happens on certain bus routes, but never experienced it. A far cry from the UK, where I lived in South West London and watched as numerous stabbings and shootings occurred in my area - i didn't feel at all safe.  Here in Varna, my family and I can walk the streets at night without the fear.

@mickg agreed, it's a talking point.  I think because the quality of life in the UK has become so shockingly bad - That's what my 89 year old aunt and friends tell me and what I experienced in the final 6 years living there - a stabbing happened right outside my front door (December 2019). I felt unsafe for those 6 years and it stays in your mind. I suffered violence from customers at work twice, thankfully, I was unharmed but a number of my colleagues weren't so lucky - there's only so much you can take, before you pack your bags. May be I should have left sooner. 

By contrast, I love going out of my front door now, I see people I recognise every day, we say hello, we help each other and our area is part of the city of Varna.

My daughter worked in Sunny Beach for a couple of years; she has some amazing stories that I'm not going to repeat on here.  Suffice to say, she had a great time.

@LL0rd some of the property prices here in Varna are highly unrealistic, but it's reality. It pays to shop around.  Varna has it's fair share of poor people, particularly the elderly and, when we can, my family helps with clothing and products, by giving our, used, unwanted, but good condition items away to those that need them. We don't give to charities, because we feel we can't trust them, instead we have a local network of people, with knowledge of who needs what.

@JimJ Its about people sat on computers slinging muck at places they never stepped foot in.

    @mickeyhart enjoying life to the full.  Married to a Bulgarian lady, two step kids, embraced by her family, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. Embraced by my local community (in Varna).  Living a life I can afford and that I feel I'm entitled to after working my butt off for years.
As for crime, I've never actually witnessed anything in the 3+ years I've been in Varna!  I'm told pickpocketing happens on certain bus routes, but never experienced it. A far cry from the UK, where I lived in South West London and watched as numerous stabbings and shootings occurred in my area - i didn't feel at all safe.  Here in Varna, my family and I can walk the streets at night without the fear.
   

    -@cyberescue

Good on you mate. That was my point its not like all the paranoid rubbish on here.

    @JimJ Its about people sat on computers slinging muck at places they never stepped foot in.
   

    -@mickeyhart

I'm with you there, of course: maybe I haven't been reading all the posts but I've not really noticed anyone who isn't already living, or in the process of buying/moving, here commenting on the country and what is/isn't going on. To be fair, even people who know (next to) nothing about BG can learn a lot by doing some serious digging on the internet...

I hope you're having a enjoyable/productive day - I'm up to the armpits trying to clean up the most disgusting apartment you could imagine, and then some!

    My daughter worked in Sunny Beach for a couple of years; she has some amazing stories that I'm not going to repeat on here.  Suffice to say, she had a great time.
   

    -@Cynic

You'll find the TV series about the shenanigans that, mostly British, "holidaymakers" get up to in SB on YouTube - it might be better to watch them with a large G&T in your hand, just in case your daughter puts in a cameo appearance!

@cyberescue1

We're reasonably happy strolling the streets of Sofia at night, although one has to avoid certain districts, such as the once-fairly classy Lions' Bridge - which is now a hang-out of Crims who arrived in Europe fairly recently in rubber boats, and of course the Roma areas, where strangers aren't welcome anyway.

Of course our streets are also a little safer now the "Ozzy Caped Crusader" is out of prison and safely deported Down-under - I believe that's something of a tradition in those parts.....

Mickey, I don't think most posters asking about crime and good/bad villages were deliberately slinging mud at Bulgaria. What I saw was people who seriously want to buy property and/or live in Bulgaria, doing their best to ensure they make a wise decision by avoiding specific areas known to have higher crime problems. Maybe some of the questions could have been better phrased, but asking the questions is a sensible approach to take to a new country. Crime does exist in Bulgaria as every country in the world, like it or not. Taking the ostrich position doesn't make it go away.

Personally I feel just as safe if not safer in my Bulgarian house than I do in the UK, but I'm sensible enough to realise that not every village or every part of every town is as safe.

Jim, the "Ozzy Caped Crusader"? That's a story I need to hear! I'm sad that Lavov Most isn't safe any more. That was where we stayed the first time we visited Bulgaria in 2013. We'd been warned to avoid the bus station area at night, but felt safe walking around near the hotel. Well, safe with hubby, a solid ex-military type who doesn't look an easy target. I probably wouldn't have gone wandering around on my own.

No matter where you live there's good and bad areas , when my parents marriage broke up I was moved from a maybe lower middle class house to a two up two down with no hot water or bathroom with a toilet across the back yard.  It was supposed to be a very rough part of Manchester but I never found it so. I think it's the same where ever you choose to settle in the world, yes there's corruption here in Bulgaria but there's corruption in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. The one thing I know is that I can afford to live off my UK state pension here in Bulgaria back in the UK that would be touch and go to say the least.

I tend to find an expat experience in any country is commonly about the expats attitude rather than about the country they are in.

@Kath948381 totally agree with you Kath.  I lived in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, for 7 years. The town had its problems, the fishing industry had collapsed and shops were begining to be boarded up. However, it was mostly peaceful, despite the odd drunken brawl, that the police sat in their cars and watched, instead of taking any action. I also lived on a farm in Fraserburgh for a time. In a region like that you hear about most of the crime going on, but having come from London, my experience level of what's bad was a different league to that of Aberdeenshire.  I guess it's what you know.   I moved back to London in 2010, spent a year and a half with my brother,, in his house in Kew - one of the most upmarket areas of London. Then, was forced to move, due to the aircraft noise, of the Heathrow flight path.   I could afford precious little, as London was so expensive, so ended up renting a room in Norbury, in a house owned by a Caribbean lady.  Norbury was a wake up call - the streets around Norbury and Thornton Heath were filthy and, to say the least, dangerous, I bordered Streatham, that I had to go through, to get to work (Sainsbury's Supermarket in Balham) which was deemed one of the most dangerous places in London, due to the amount of stabbings.  I stomached Norbury for four years, but gave up, when the rail service became so bad, I was consistently late for work (as were many).  Another factor that made me move, was that i had to use buses too and, more often than not, I was the only white person on a full bus, which, as you may appreciate, made me feel extremely uncomfortable, particularly with the glaring stares I received.   I moved to Balham, to a bedsit in a multiple occupancy house, run by a kindly Maltese guy - a God send, compared to Norbury.  Not only did i have a huge room, with kitchenette, I could walk to work in 4 minutes and save £160 per month on transport fares, at least the side streets of Balham were clean and tidy.  But even Balham deteriorated.  During 2018, stabbings in Streatham, filtered their way into Balham they became regular events.  Theft in our Sainsbury's store became a four to five times daily occurrence, customer violence in the store increased.

My saving grace, if you can call it that, came on the evening of Sunday, 25th November, 2018, when I was at work hanging advertising in the ceiling areas.  The industrial steps I was on, overturned and I slammed down onto a stone floor, smashing my left hip in four places.    I never went back to work and as I lay at, what was, home recovering (14 months) things outside were getting worse.

You know things are bad, when the police ring your doorbell to advise you a teenager was stabbed outside your door.

At the time of breaking my hip, all I could concentrate on was getting better and the goal was, to make a fourth trip to Bulgaria. 2019 saw a second operation, giving me a full hip replacement and that was a big turning point - I'd waited 9 months for it to happen. But then Covid came.  I made my trip to Bulgaria in January 2020, which served to highlight just how bad things were in London.

I returned from Bulgaria 10 days later, knowing I had to make firm plans and dates to leave the UK.

So many violent events from London have stuck in my mind - seeing your colleagues injured, affects you and experiencing violence yourself becomes ingrained.

Varna, for me is a God send and, yes, I know crime goes on here, but it's not on the level of my personal experiences and so I don't perceive it as a danger to me or my family.

If I was to compare my life now to a time when I had similar qualities in the UK, I would argue it would have been the sixties and seventies.

I've not seen any crime in Varna, for the three years and three months I've been here. One thing that's very noticeable, is the lack of emergency vehicle sirens - in London, they were literally every 5 minutes, here you might here them a maximum of four times a day. That says a lot about people's safety.

I wouldn't say that my ingrained memories of London are PTSD, as I don't get nightmares over them, but they do haunt me and sometimes I shed tears, remembering when there were good times in the UK and seeing what's been lost throughout the last three to four decades. 

@mickeyhart

It's good to hear you're enjoying your life in Bulgaria. My experience is extremely positive too, there's not much I can complain about.

If we're lucky enough to pick nice villages with welcoming neighbours (and buy houses that aren't about to fall down) then we probably get a much rosier view of life here. :-)

@gwynj

Amen to that! I'm certainly not complaining about life here either - if I didn't like it I wouldn't be here. My posts were simply to illustrate the fact that corruption and criminality is completely endemic here, from the light-fingered neighbours half-inching building materials to the judges/politicians/cops/civil servants etc taking bribes and the "ex-Commie businessmen" who basically stole the whole country overnight. Luckily it's only the first ones who directly affect most of us, and only if we're careless or naive. The others have a knock-on effect that contribute to Bulgaria's parlous social and financial condition, but that's the silver lining that brought many of us here. I just wish it would similarly affect Herr Lidl and his ever-increasing prices....

@Cynic

Aw... c'mon... do tell... :-)

    @Cynic
Aw... c'mon... do tell... :-)
   

    -@gwynj

Nope.  Ever heard of the saying that you don't sh1t on your own doorstep?

@mickeyhart

Totally agree! Being here in Bulgaria has been such a blast for me too. Don't let what you read online get you down, the vibe here is seriously awesome.

@mickeyhart

Hi Mickey..I agree with you mate..in fact I just replied to a report about sunny beach.every comment was negative...lol

But all doom n gloom for them..and they're only there for two weeks..😂 personally I hate the place

Only go for a bus ride and a breakfast at Harry's..

I've live in Pomorie ( pomski ) 15 yrs..and love it..

My wife of 30 yrs is Bulgarian..and we have 5 girls

All grown and flown the nest..sadly..since our youngest ( 30 yrs ) has flown the nest..got a boyfriend now..we have separate holidays because we have 2 cats..don't laugh..they are getting older now..have health issues..so catteries won't take them..

However we are getting together...she is coming out in May for 3 weeks.. I am coming over in July and August and she will join me..so looking good this year...we live in the old town..so all is good.

@JimJ.you sound like a most horrible person..I would hate to meet you ol' boy..with your Aires n graces..and positive language skills..so what..

I have also travelled to many countries..the whole of Europe..Scandinavia..Baltic states and to Russia..then down to Iran. Iraq..Saudi arabia..Syria.Jordan etc and learned bits of every language .enough to get by.

In BG..I speak enough to get by..can understand a little..can read a menu..and order...but call me what you like..I couldn't care less..I love everything about BG..and accept for what it is.

In the early days..1975 onwards BG was oh so different under Communist Rule...so think yourself lucky mate.

I,ve also met the quick killers too...buy a property then sell it to the unsuspecting..I hate those types..you sound like one of them..

Me..I am a south Londoner..no Aires n Graces

Say it how it is....truth hurts..you bet it does..

@wtruckyboy

I'm not sure what half of that last post actually means - but whatever it does, no doubt you're right. "Aires and graces", eh?  It's been a while since I've heard that phrase in the wild, but I've always liked it, and it seems that I've gone up in the world to be on the receiving end of it - thank goodness you've never heard me speak, or you'd probably blow a gasket.   I wonder if you fantasise about everyone you haven't met, or am I a member of a very select club who "sound like" various things that apparently get your goat and hence are subjected to the "truth" conjured up by your imagination?

Who knows, maybe we've met already without realising it? I tend to be adventurous and take people as I find them, rather than allowing my prejudices - or a chip on the shoulder - to colour my judgement, but it takes all sorts, or so I'm told.

And, no - I don't "flip" properties on the unsuspecting, or anyone else - but no doubt the Diabolical Jim of your imagination does, the scoundrel!

You went all the way to Bulgaria from UK for 2 days?

    You went all the way to Bulgaria from UK for 2 days?
   

    -@European360

Why not?  At one time I was commuting between Sofia and London every day....