Like a lot of Brits here facing the prospect of no-deal Brexit tomfuckery, I had to drag my arse to the KAT office in Sofia last week to do battle with Bulgarian bureaucracy. But, on the plus side, it was all over within 30 minutes (my personal best for a KAT visit).
Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, we then spent the rest of the morning loafing around Sofia, eating at the Made in Home restaurant on ul. Angel Kanchev, and buying fancy craft beers to take home. Much as I love village love life, I need regular outings to Sofia to keep my sanity in check. But we’re always so glad to come home after a day in the capital.
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| Lovely Made in Home. We were famished by 11.30am, hence the completely empty restaurant. It was rammed an hour later, honestly. |
Speaking of home, the kittens are no longer cute little kittles – they’re now just annoying small cats who still spend their days rolling around fighting.
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| Merlin (The Grey) tries his best, but Baxter’s basically the boss. |
At least they’ve started taking their fights outside like dignified gentlemen. Watching them conduct a fight up in the old apple tree is hilarious, like watching the cat version of Gladiators. I’m quite tempted to make them tiny little pugil sticks.
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| I love the close-up of Merlin, clinging on for dear life, ears back, preparing to be papped in the face by an approaching Baxter. |
And in the latest instalment of my ongoing Gardening Bore photo essay…
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| Plum blossom is still stonking. |
Our wild garlic patch is coming along nicely, although we’ve got a long way to go before it’s as thick and luscious as the neighbour’s patch.
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| Our establishing wild garlic patch. |
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| Cheeky, over-the-fence shot of the neighbour’s wild garlic patch. |
And finally, gladioli watch – just look at how much these suckers have grown over the last week. They’ll be massive by the time we plant them out.
You're so lucky (good planning?) to be close enough to enjoy the luxury of city life along with chilling out in the village. You've found some great places in Sofia.
Like your cat photos!!
Hooray! Great photos and of course great FOOD at Made in Home.
Yeah, we originally thought about moving to the Stara Zagora region or the coast, but we decided closer to Sofia was much better for us. Glad we did!
Thanks, yes, it's great there. Amazing cheesecakes.
Hi, I just found this page as we have a house just outside of Sofia but live in the UK and are looking into the possibility of Bulgarian residency, so wondered if you have any useful info on the process. My name is Rachel and my main email is schwartzyholf@yahoo.co.uk
Where is your village? Ours is in the Pernik region, just the other side of Radomir. Thanks.
Hi Rachel, thanks for reading. Our closest town is Etropole, which is about 80km from Sofia, kind of half way between Sofia and Lovech.
It's been so long since we did our residency cards at KAT (10 years almost), so I don't know how the process has changed. Last time I went to KAT for anything, it was just to switch over my driving licence, which was fairly simple. For residency, I definitely recommend taking a Bulgarian friend or translator along with you. And I guess you should do it before the end of December 2020, when the Brexit transition period ends. I mean, I'm sure you could do it after, but I'd imagine it'll get more complicated after the transition…