Blog
12. Claire dresses native
Clothing in Bulgaria is a funny thing. Something really rather special. For women, there are two main styles of dressing: village style (crocs, sweats or skirt, jumper, maybe a headscarf) or Russian footballer’s wife. The former is simple and makes perfect sense. I...
11. Our first ‘meeting’ as company directors
Some cheeky sightseeing. We are now back in Sofia to set up our business. Boris the lawyer is unfortunately stuck travelling back from Burgas so we instead deal with his colleague Petya, who looks after us very well. So we go to their office where a mountain...
10. Me man. Me make fire.
What is it about fire that fascinates man? By man I mean specifically the male of the species, not mankind in general. Women (or is it just me?) want to keep warm but aren’t too fussed on how. For men, tending a good fire is a symbol of their masculinity. In...
9. Insect sightings and beastly rumours
I wake up at 6am in our guesthouse bedroom to go for a pee. When back at the bed I notice something on the wall about a foot away from where my head had been. I’m a bit sleepy at this stage and not too sure if my eyes deceive me. Is that? Is it? Yes, it is. It is a...
8. Claire and Rob name their Bulgarian limited company
Our view, while we deliberated. So, we have to come up with a name for our Bulgarian company (as foreigners, we have to register a company to purchase the house and its land). We have been advised to make the name pretty obscure to ensure it is not in use...
7. The road to hell, part 2 (and an aside on goats)
Excuse me, coming through. Driving in Bulgaria is a life-affirming experience: that is, you’re always thankful to make it out of the car alive. Bulgarians drive fast and overtaking is common. There are, to add to the fun, horses and carts sharing the road....
6. The road to hell, part 1
It was very lovely once we got up there... Before we head back to Sofia to start the paperwork, we spend a couple of days exploring the area around the village. This afternoon we visited a monastery, perched almost at the top of a mountain up a long, windy...
5. Making an offer on our house
After three visits, a full and detailed structural appraisal (!) by Nachko Nachko man, and two days of deliberation, we are ready to make an offer on our beautiful pink house. The asking price is €13,500 – a snip you would think but it is €3,000 more than we...
4. Introducing our village
A quick tour of the village that, we hope, will become our new home... We had already taken a brief drive through when first viewing the house but, after seeing off Nachko Nachko Man and the-one-who-doesn’t speak, we decide to take a long stroll through the...
3. The builders come to see Mush Muli house
Eeesh. So today we meet Nachko the builder. He speaks no English so our estate agent’s assistant translates for us. We want Nachko to give the house the once over and particularly look at a couple of cracks in the internal walls before we make an offer....
2. Introducing our house
We know from the outside that we’re going to love this house. We pull up opposite the house and our estate agent, Max, says “Well you said you always wanted a pink house”. And I have. It’s a girly cliché but I don’t care. My dream house would be pink....
1. Relocation, relocation, relocation
We have travelled to Bulgaria for 8 days to see some houses. We’ve found a great estate agent (www.offbeatbulgaria.eu) – Max is an English guy who has been living in Bulgaria for five years. He has bought and renovated his own house and has also converted...