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Taking the pulse of Bulgaria

Рубрика: General news Източник: Hospitable

Simon's insatiable appetite for stories on renewable energy took us to the south-west corner of Bulgaria, to a village called Katuntsi near the Greek border. This is where we got our first taste - in a literal sense - of the real Bulgaria.

After touring a hydro power plant up in the hills, our guide took us to eat in a very modest restaurant down in the village. Half way through sampling the local delicacies, a dishevelled, but very jovial little man appeared, insisting that we try his local home-made rakia and wine. He turned out to be the village mayor.

Georgii Kodsev was so hospitable and entertaining, there was no way we could refuse. The rakia (a liquor made from grapes) was more of a body warmer than something you would rush to buy in the shops, but the wine was absolutely delicious.

It was free from any kind of stabilisers and 100% natural so it had to be drunk quickly - a task none of us found difficult! Several jugs of wine later, after listening to numerous tales of the mayor chasing after wild boar, we were on our way to the mountains, to Pamporovo.

Major facelift

The drive through the Pirin and Rhodope mountains was absolutely stunning. Driving up from the fog in the valley, we were greeted by bright sunshine and beautiful snow-capped peaks. What greeted us in Pamporovo though, none of us had expected.
We'd read a lot about development happening in Bulgaria, but so far hadn't really seen much of it. Entering Pamporovo, which is one of Bulgaria's biggest ski resorts, there were literally thousands of apartments under construction.

This is something happening in many pockets of the country. All the big ski resorts are getting a major facelift. Not only are there new apartment blocks being built, there are also new restaurants and new pistes under construction.

A similar thing is happening along the Black Sea Coast and nearly all of it is being bought up by the British.

It's easy to see why. Two bedroom flats in Pamporovo with almost direct access to the slopes, are going for around £60,000. A bargain if you were to compare a similar flat in the Alps.

No frills airlines are also apparently lining up to fly to Bulgaria as soon as it opens its doors on January 1st making it even more attractive to investors.

Opportunities

Apart from the obvious ecological concern, the only real danger we could see was the possibility of over-development and the stress this would put on the infrastructure.
This was a worry for the locals but nevertheless they seemed happy with all the development. It brought thousands of jobs to the area and hopefully, joining the EU, thousands more tourists too.

After a week of travelling round Bulgaria, we were left with no impression at all that Bulgarians are queuing to come to Britain. On the contrary, they are counting down the days to January 1st and the opportunities EU membership will bring to them in their own country.

What was evident however, is that the reverse is definitely happening.
Britons have already bought up large areas of the country and come January 1st, even more of them will be trying their hand at owning a place in Bulgaria.