Upsides to living in Bulgaria....

Seconded!

Only been here for 2 years now but still loving it.

Today we took a 160 km trip to Burgas then down the coast all the way to the Turkish Border at Rezovo. A pleasant small uncrowded beach. A river separates the two countries. Back up the coast to Silistar beach, where the surf had kicked up enough to red flag the swimming, though some surfers were doing their best to ride the metre high waves. Here the beach was more crowded, but empty compared to Bournemouth on a Saturday (when sunny). Next stop was Ahtopol and the beach, not my cup of tea, but as getting closer to Burgas and civilisation was crowded.

Had a freshly "caught this morning" fish lunch in Tsarevo, then visited the small but (imho) fascinating museum, with gold treasures and a hoard of silver coins with all sorts of kings and despots passing through some 2,000 years ago.

Back home via a top up shop at Kaufland. Raided the garden and returned to the kitchen with a full 10 litre bucket of all sorted courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies, plus a couple of beetroot and some basil. 

Just checked the temperature, it's a wonderfully cool 26 degrees C outside! at 9pm.

To cap it all, I've just sat down to yesterday's cold roast chicken and home grown salad, and opened a cracking Bulgarian 2018 Chardonnay Viognier, 10 lev.

As close to heaven as I'll ever get

And here in the UK we had a cracking high of 17 today, with cloud all day. My husband came back from Bulgaria late on Thursday, and has done nothing but mope since his return.

Thankfully our lovely neighbour loaded him down with about 5kg worth of shopska salad ingredients, so at least we can eat Bulgarian produce for a few days!

I see many upsides to our life in Bulgaria, and I'm very pleased we found it. I still have my residence permits in Cyprus and Spain, but despite the many delights of these countries, I spend most (90% +) of my time here.

Today, it's high 30s in Plovdiv, it's like an oven out there. But we have all our ACs on at 25, so it's very soothing inside. Bulgaria is the only place where I've been able to enjoy the extravagance of running my air conditioning 24/7 without having a heart attack when the leccy bill arrives. :-)

Talking of bills, the water company (VIK) tracked me down today, and informed me that I had NEVER paid the water bill! She was correct, I didn't know the subscriber number, and hadn't even noticed. 3 years of water (although only a year living here) for 170 leva. I'm guessing one could spend that in 2 or 3 months in the UK! And pretty sure the UK wouldn't wait 3 years to remind me.

Last weekend, we stayed in our new holiday studio in Bansko. The drive through the mountains to Velingrad and on to Bansko is spectacular. Bansko is at least 5 (ish) degrees cooler than Plovdiv which is very soothing, and we didn't need AC at all (thankfully, as we don't have one in the studio). The complex is very well-kept with a beautiful garden and a lovely (summer) pool. We spent a very relaxing weekend there with no issues at all. OK... it's not perfect, as there isn't a TV or internet, and the mattress is a bit thin... but the flat and the complex are way beyond our expectations. And I'm confident that in any other European ski resort I'd have to find WAY more than 20-odd grand for a fully-furnished, move-in-ready studio.

Today (back in Plovdiv), early, I was out before 5:30 pretty much with the dawn. It's beautifully cool at this time, I walked through the woods, and then along the Regatta (less than 1km from our apartment). The dawn chorus here is huge from the woods/Maritsa River, so it's a delightful start the day. And it's free, another plus.

At lunchtime, I went swimming at my local pool. They recognize me and give me the pensioner ticket price, thank you very much. They have lanes for lap swimming, it's very civilized. They are building a brand new 50m pool next to this one, and I noticed that it's very far along. It looks very, very fancy, I'm guessing it's an international standard competition pool, so that's something to look forward to (probably next year).

After my swim, I grabbed a treat (Lidl bacon) for my dad, as I thought he might enjoy an English Breakfast this week. He's in our old flat, which is about 5 minutes walk from our new place. He has a very nice live-in carer who makes all his meals, cleans the apartment, and looks after him like he's the King of Hristo Smirnenski. He also has a geriatric physiotherapist who visits twice a week. This is all thanks to Bulgaria and the low cost of property, living, and workers. It has been an absolute revelation.

Dealing with my dad's medical issues has reminded how awesome the medical system is (or can be) here. He has an S1 so I got the appropriate NHIF certificate so that he's entitled to free public health care. His meds are cheap (and they don't seem bothered if I don't have the prescription). His new GP and the blood test folks (Ramus Labs) both made a house call. I don't have an S1, instead I pay 20 euros per month as unemployed. I too get free public healthcare, and my EHIC for use elsewhere in the EU. As private hospitals are affiliated with NHIF and also get reimbursed, we can both get private care, whenever we want it, for a minimal surcharge. This is not typical elsewhere in the EU.