Brains in Butter - No Thanks :( (Bulgaria)

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Product:	Bulgaria
Date:	26/06/01 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Yucky food, Cockroaches and other nasty beasties

It was a typical British Summertime a couple of years back, well to be more precise, a typical Scottish Summertime - rain, and plenty of it. As June faded fast and July approached, with seemingly no end to the miserable weather, I started to regret the mid-winter decision to buy a new car and get a new kitchen fitted. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, after all Summer was a long way away and we didn't REALLY need a foreign holiday that year - did we? As July approached I began to realise that although the car was excellent, and the kitchen was a vast improvement on the previous shambles, I would gladly have given both up for that fortnight in the sun that I had dismissed so readily just a few months previously.

So out came the bank statements, credit card balances and so on - hey, we weren't TOO skint. In fact if I really juggled the figures we could just about afford a holiday after all (if you want something badly enough you'll believe anything!!). So off I went in search of that bargain break.

"Hmm, Bulgaria, dunno about that" - but it was all they could offer me. "I'll get back to you" says I. So I ran home and started looking up Bulgaria everywhere I could. I had the atlas out to ascertain exactly where I would be going (quite near Turkey, so the weather should be hot enough), I looked up the resort on the 'net - it looked fine. Long sandy beaches, blazing sunshine and all that usual holiday stuff. The one thing that did really catch my eye was the prices, I mean who wouldn't be tempted by £2 for a bottle of voddie? A quick convincing of hubby ensued, and off I went and booked it.

There is a saying that goes "marry in haste, repent at leisure", or something like that, well I would like to add my own variation - "book a holiday in haste, repent at leisure" - especially if it's a holiday to Bulgaria!

I suppose I should have known what to expect whe
n I seen the plane we were going on. Calling this thing a rust-bucket would be rather unfair to rust-buckets, I'm really amazed that it didn't actually disintegrate on take-off. The inside of the plane was the most uncomfortable thing imaginable with rows of tightly packed upright seats. Even the in-flight meal was some unidentifiable congealed stuff that remained untouched by most of the passengers around me. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the Bulgarian airline - my therapist has helped me to block it from my memory!

Upon arriving at Varna airport we were subjected to a rather tedious bit of passport checking with every passport being scrutinised. It took at least two hours to get everyone through. I am still wondering to this day why they think anyone would want to sneak INTO Bulgaria??

Anyway, what hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience so far was only made worse by the fact that it was pouring with rain when we go out of the airport. Perhaps I had made up my mind at this stage that I hated Bulgaria and my feelings about the rest of my time there were prejudiced, possibly so, but I do know I hated every minute of it.

The resort that we went to was situated on the coast of the black Sea and was called 'Golden Sands'. Apparently it had been a custom built resort for the Russian communists who were slightly more 'equal' than everyone else.

When we arrived at our hotel we were greeted by hordes of people offering to carry luggage for a tip. That was fair enough, but little did we know that it was just the start of unbelievable harassment (but more of that later). The hotel itself was a bit dire, but not TOO bad, anyway what could we expect for a last minute cheapy? I don't really have any complaints about the hotel (accommodation-wise), but it was certainly a bit more basic than anywhere I have stayed before. I did have a complaint about the way they allowed their guests to be harassed
by black market money changers at every opportunity though. We were woken very early on the first morning by someone knocking on the door, when we answered we found that it was one of these people asking if we wanted to change any money, Grrr.

So up we got and went down to breakfast. I can't remember exactly what was on offer for breakfast but it certainly wasn't very appetising - a glass of orange and a slice of toast was all I would tackle. Even while eating breakfast we were asked about five times if we wanted to change money.

After breakfast we headed down the town and were asked at least once every twenty yards if we wanted to ch... (you can finish that bit, I'm getting sick of it again!!). In the town centre the money changers were seriously competing with photographers, taxi drivers, horse and cart men, caricature artists, fruit sellers... yadda yadda. I know they have to earn a living, but it got SO annoying after a while - no No NO!! That is really the one thing that sticks in my mind the most, the constant harassment. I use the word harassment deliberately because it wasn't a case of them simply asking. Once you had said no the followed you for 500 yards asking repeatedly, tugging on your arm and all that stuff - it was really in-your-face stuff and not at all nice.

The resort itself was actually rather pleasant and well named since it was fronted by a long golden beach. A few newly built hotels made it look like a Mediterranean resort, but you only need to wander into a bar or restaurant to know this isn't the med! Even in the busiest restaurants and bars the walls, and floors, were crawling with cockroaches {{{shiver}}} - I hate those things!! The toilets were mainly contained in separate toilet blocks and shared between a couple of establishments. Before going in to the toilet you had to pay a couple of pence to the attendant who then gave you a couple of sheets of loo paper and (more importantly) went in
an shooed the cockroaches away. Unfortunately I found out that it was impossible to, err, complete my business, before the roaches scuttled back out. Arghh - I REALLY hate those things :(

While we were there the weather didn't exactly help to endear the place to me either. Each day started off with blazing sunshine and remained excellent until around 3.00pm. This was really strange, but at 3.00pm(ish) EVERY day the clouds rolled in over the mountains and the rain started pelting down - really torrential downpours that lasted a couple of hours.

But for me the place really came into its own when it came to the food. I know when we go abroad we should expect that the local cuisine will be different to that which we are used to, and that is fair enough. The thing was though that I couldn't eat any of it. That is more to do with me and my own fickle tastes (well actually I am not usually a fussy eater), and it's certainly not Bulgaria's fault that *I* couldn't eat their food - but the fact remains that I couldn't, and that fact added to me not having a very enjoyable time. One thing that was certain to put me off before I even thought about trying a local dish was that just about every menu was headed off with 'Brains in Butter'. Yurghh, how unappetising is that?? Thankfully they had a KFC, so cheers Colonel Sanders - you stopped me from starving!!

Before I sound TOO moany here I better finish up. Personally I hated my stay in Bulgaria with a passion - I will NEVER set foot in it again. Much of that is down to *me* though, my expectations, what I am used to, my idea of a holiday. Bulgaria is an interesting country, and in many ways I am glad I went - just for the experience! I know many people who really love Bulgaria and return year after year, so please don't be put of entirely by this opinion. One really good point is that the prices really are cheap, on alcohol in particular - I must have swallied at le
ast nine bottles of voddie while I was there! I did get a rather nifty wee Russian Doll when I was there too, it is five Soviet Leaders stacked inside one another - so it wasn't an entirely wasted trip ;)

In other opinions I have admitted to being a 'book snob' and a 'razor snob'. Add 'holiday snob' to that list and I see a pattern developing! Oh, I better be off actually - the thought of brains in butter is making me ill again.

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