Just for a change of pace, my wife and I are thinking about spending a couple of weeks this summer on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, maybe Nesebaror thereabouts. When we visit a country, we also like to rent a car and do some day trips, so we will get out and about and not just hang out in the resort. Anybody done any travel in Bulgaria? (I know **Kyla **actually worked there for a time.) Tips? Advice?
I spent a week in that area last year, where I found the weather warm, the beer cold, and the locals friendly (all cliches, but true). We didn’t rent a car so our trips were all organised by tour operators in the resort. We went to a “Bulgarian Night” which was entertaining, though it was somewhat difficult to decide whether we were somehow exploiting their local way of life, or they were making money out of us quite happily (probably a bit of both).
If you search for “Bulgaria” in thread title you will probably find the thread I started on the subject about a year ago, where Kyla and others did indeed give some helpful advice.
Thanks, Dead Cat. That thread was mostly about converting currency in Bulgaria, but I did notice that in that thread Kyla said:
So we’re at least somewhat on the right track.
I’m here! Ask me anything!
I lived in the dead center of Bulgaria (check out the map and you’ll see what I mean), so I wasn’t particularly close to the sea and only ever went once, to Varna for a weekend. I had a rockin’ time, though. So I can’t give any great advice on what to do near the sea. But if you have any questions about Bulgaria or Bulgarians in general, shoot.
Thanks for offering to help! I dunno if I have any specific questions. More general things like, is it a good idea to spend a two-week summer vacation in Bulgaria in the first place? 
My wife and I are fairly seasoned travelers (I’d say we’ve been to 30+ countries, mostly in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East), and are fairly resourceful, but do like a comfortable place to come home to at night (the curse of the adult traveller). We plan, as I said, to rent a car and do some driving around–any recommendations for where to go? I know the Cyrillic alphabet from the semester of Russian I had in college (before our school’s only Russian professor dropped dead), so should be able to follow road signs, more or less, if I have a decent guide book. Or am I delusional?
ETA–We have a daughter, who will be 5 when we go. She’s a good traveller, but it somewhat limits the amount of aimless wandering/sightseeing we can do; she will get tired and bored eventually.
If you can read Cyrillic, you should be okay. It always killed me to see travelers who couldn’t read Cyrillic wandering around in a daze. It takes like half an hour to learn, people! And then you’re not illiterate!
If you plan to do some driving around, the nicest cities to visit are Plovdiv and Veliko Turnavo. Plovdiv is the second city of Bulgaria and has a lovely center with a beautiful old town and a Roman coliseum. Veliko Turnavo is the old capital of Bulgaria and has a castle and an old town with cobblestone streets and a really fantastic setting on either side of a high gorge. Mmm…the most pleasant museum town is Koprivshtitsa, which is really significant in Bulgarian history, and is about 100 km east of Sofia. This may not be meaningful to you, but the Bulgarian Renaissance architecture is neat and if you’re at all interested in Balkan history it’s definitely worth checking out. I also liked Melnik, but it has a similar vibe to Koprivshtitsa and it’s not necessary to visit them both. I recommend these places because you’ll get a good idea of what life was like under the Turkish Yoke. I cannot emphasize how much the Ottoman period has influenced Bulgarian and Balkan culture, so it’s a good thing to learn about if you’re going to be visiting.
Of course the most popular destination away from the sea is Rila Monastery, south of Sofia. It’s pretty cool, and the mountain setting is spectacular. If you have a mind to go down there, let me know and I will get you an introduction to go na gosti (as a guest) to my host family’s house in Boboshevo, a village in the area. They would be happy to ply you with lots and lots of homemade rakia. My host sister speaks okay English, even, and you can see a picture of rural Europe that’s pretty much disappeared from most of the continent.
Sofia itself is not terribly thrilling and will probably never be a major tourist attraction, but it has its pleasant points. If you expect to be there are all, I can make some restaurant recommendations.
IMHO, there is definitely enough stuff to do in Bulgaria for two weeks, but you have to keep realistic expectations. It’s a poor, rural, country with lousy roads and not a lot of people outside of the cities speak English. It was the backwater of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years and has been the backwater of Europe ever since. If you go, just be patient and have a sense of humor about the lack of functioning…everything. Learn a few phrases of Bulgarian and people will be delighted and invite you na gosti. If you do get invited na gosti, btw, bring some chocolates or an odd numbers of flowers. (Even numbers are for funerals.) There aren’t a lot of…I don’t know, really amazing things that everyone around the world wants to see, but it’s pretty and quiet and low-key (well, the last not so much Sofia and rush hour). It’s a “small pleasures” kind of place.
Bulgarian food is similar to Turkish and Greek food: lots of cucumbers and tomatoes and peppers and yogurt and cirene (feta, but don’t call it that).
I have a wonderful memory of Plovdiv. We were in a tour group visiting the cathedral at the same time as a wedding was taking place. As we came out of the church we were offered little tit-bits of food by the wedding guests, even though we were strangers and sort of getting in the way of the marriage ceremony. This little act of kindness was very touching.