News

The largest shopping and entertainment centre Mall of Sofia has turned also into a silent witness of love offering space for a weekend wedding ceremony.

Happy newly weds Milena Ivanova and Petko Georgiev chose the shelter of the mall to tie the knot and speak out oath of love and fidelity.

The marketing management of Mall of Sofia evoked the pleased surprise of the young family by donating them a honey-weekend in Bansko.

Mall of Sofia opened doors in early June amid hectic interest by hundreds of thousands. In their first weekend alone, the Mall's boutiques, restaurants, cafes and various other services attracted 135,000.

Bulgaria will join the European Union on Jan 1, 2007, and is on the verge of becoming the Riviera on the Balkans. The improved economic conditions, political and social stability in Bulgaria over the last 3 years have culminated in a real boom of the prices of property in Bulgaria.

Other important factor for the rising property market is the huge tourism potential in the country. Incredibly, Bulgaria is now the third most popular holiday destination after Spain and France for British holidaymakers.

Caroline Carr, from Lancashire in the north of England, a Cardiff University graduate and newly-qualified teacher, shares her first experiences of Bulgaria.

An avid lover of mountains, Caroline moved to Bulgaria only last July with her husband Lewis.

“We both love the mountains, in summer we go biking or hiking, and in winter we hit the snowboarding slopes. I’m impressed with the Bulgarian mountains, they’re fantastic!”

The English thrill-seeker has sought adventure in many countries around the world, having visited places like south-east Asia and Canada, and lived for short periods of time in the Alps and Norway. An ongoing search for new cultural experiences has been the definitive factor in an interesting and at times really thrilling life for Caroline. Combined with her love of the mountains, she claims that she has found a truly unique environment here in Bulgaria.

“I’m happy living here, and enjoying every moment of it! I’ve not been here for long, and everything for me is still new and interesting.”
Caroline has grown to adore the feel, the essence of the Bulgarian Lifestyle, although she is not a city person. What she finds most attractive in this country are the little villages, the quaint, subtle atmosphere that you can only find here, in Bulgaria.

“I really like the atmosphere in these villages, it’s something you can’t find in England, everything is home-grown and cooked, here you can see a genuine friendship, which people in Western Europe have forgotten. It’s a fantastic experience for me to be able to be part of something like this.”

There is new evidence today of Bulgaria's continued progress as it cements its reputation as a European property hotspot.

Bulgaria is set to join the EU early next year and it is a prospect that has hugely enhanced the country's status as a strong option for property investment. Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo have proved particularly popular with investors, largely as the ski properties are still exceptionally cheap despite huge levels of investment in recent years.

There is also a chance that Bulgaria will host the 2014 Winter Olympics, which has again stirred interest from investors across the world.

But EU accession is of course the real attraction for many, with experts suggesting that it will bring about huge house price growth as links with Europe are notably enhanced.

There is already evidence of these links being improved, particularly in the world of transportation. The Sofia News Agency reports that new flights have been launched from Sofia to Alicante, for instance, operating every Wednesday. A new flight path has also opened between the Black Sea city of Varna and Italy's Milan, while there are now also flights going between Burgas and Dublin as well as Burgas and Madrid.

British company Future Asset Management began advertising Bulgaria as a profitable property investment destination.

Over the past few years Bulgaria has developed as an attractive tourist destination for summer, mountain and specialised tourism, icwales.co.uk reported.

David Wingar, founder of Future Asset Management, said that the country's progress towards EU accession and euro zone entry added to its the economic stability.

An article named The Bulgarian Property Renaissance, published on 999 Today website presents Bulgaria as an increasingly appealing destination for Western European property seekers.
Previously known as communist country, Bulgaria is now making moves westward with its NATO membership and expected EU entry in the beginning of 2007, 999 Today reported.
This ‘opening’ to the Western world enabled property investors discover the potential of the country. 999 Today reported Bulgaria has rich cultural heritage, good climate and beautiful nature. The relatively low costs of living further the appeal of the country, the website said.

If cheap fares are the key to filling domestic flights, the scorching heat wave in Great Britain seems enough to ensure full planes on the routes to Bulgaria's Black sea.
A group of 130 Irishmen has landed at the Southern Black Sea coast aboard a charter flight of European Air company, 24 Hours Daily reported. The tourists are to remain in the country for no more than two days and will head home aboard the same plane.

I've become a big fan of Explore trips since my recent Icelandic volcano trek with the budget adventure outfitter. One of my fellow hikers on that trip, Robert Metcalf, put me on the trail of this other Explore gem: a five-day guided snowshoeing adventure in Bulgaria.

With Bulgaria's trackless Rila Mountains as a backdrop, this trip allows you to visit traditional Bulgarian houses, stop at the painted monastery of Rila — a UNESCO World Heritage site — and eases you into snowshoeing with instruction that should take "just a few minutes to master."

The combined tab of the golf projects in various stages of development across Bulgaria is around 700 mln levs, said the InvestBulgaria Agency, the local investment promotion authority.
Golf tourism is now considered a priority for InvestBulgaria which has put together a task force to review local legislation and come up with changes to bolster golf investment.
InvestBulgaria is expected over the next two weeks to hand a First Class Investor certificate to the Cabland Golf Complex near Pomorie, on the Black Sea. The 370 mln lev project is the third local golf development to earn a First Class certificate after the golf course project of Spain's Ferry Group and Golf Club Ibar.

Bulgaria will be one of the top three countries for overseas mortgage distribution by 2020 according to a study by Alliance & Leicester Mortgages.
The other two countries are Spain and France. The three countries look like being the hotspots of the future in the European mortgage market, the study showed.
The Broker World in 2020 study reveals that two-thirds of brokers (68%) think they will do more business in the overseas mortgage market in the future. Nine out of ten (90%) of them think Europe will see the biggest impact and nearly half (45%) expect to expand into Europe by 2020.