Why Bulgaria, surely you want to go and live in Spain?

Many people we know assumed that we would just go and live in Spain after all we have a nice apartment there and my brother and his wife also live close by.
The fact is many thousands of British people head to Spain for their retirement mainly because it's sunny and virtually everybody speaks good English.
But for me it is simply "too easy" to live in Spain, I am the type of guy that will need much more of a challenge in my retirement and Spain is too British and just not as picturesque.

At first when you buy property in Spain you are under some kind of illusion that if you buy outside of the main areas that you'll be the only British people there. But the truth is in the local market or supermarket it's sometimes harder to spot a Spanish face as there are just so many Brits on the Costa's and everybody's very eager to moan about it or tell you what to do and where to go etc..

So by contrast when you buy a house in Bulgaria it is just the opposite you probably are the only Brit in the village and although there is an expat scene it's much more subdued.
The Bulgarians are reportedly very nosy and very quick to point out how to do things but there will be tried and tested methods to village life so you can either learn through mistakes or take good advice.
I will positively welcome the chance to learn the quirky ways and traditions and the fact that villagers don't speak any English is a proper challenge.
I also love the idea of make do and mend as I can turn my hand to anything, in western Europe most things now have a shelf life and are far too easily dumped and replaced so much waste.

Bulgaria also has a wealth of knowledge and traditional skills that are there to be passed on things like woodcarving and stone masonry etc, skills that are in decline in England.

So anyway we bought a small house and barn in the Lovech area in need of renovation and TLC

Before we bought we did a tremendous amount of reading and then physical research for example we haven't just read blog after blog but in fact got in the car and drove right  across Europe to see just what it's all about staying in every country we travelled through in both small guest houses and village homes alike with the help of airbnb and booking.com

We first stayed in a brand new small hotel in Lovech back in 2006 (probably the only one then as tourism felt like it was just starting out)
Since then we returned as part of our roadtrip in 2014 staying in a 1star Bulgarian hotel in Veliko Tarnovo  called the "Hotel Central" just a few minutes walk to the centre and a Bulgarian guest called "The Old Lovech" owned by a retired Bulgarian sea captain and his wife right in the middle of Lovech old town and fabulously restored in detail with a great deal of care and love, a true credit to the owner.
Because it was "research" we didn't stop there
We also stayed in a 2 bedroom house in a small village called Lovnidol with an English couple called Ian & Eve who had lived there for 7 years.
As well as putting in the mileage and driving all over the Balkan range staying in Bansko out of season in a chalet.

This did not put us off and we returned in 2015 and stayed in the village of Golets with a Russian lady and her Bulgarian man-friend in a fabulous fully renovated village complex comprising of several houses that backed onto each other. We had a fabulous experience here that we will never forget the hospitality was just excellent. We made yet  another trip over the mountains and a stay in Kalofer a very beautiful town surrounded by mountains again with a young Bulgarian family in the most clean and welcoming apartment. Setting off again we travelled East and stayed in Palitsi near Elena with an elderly couple called Krasi & Ivan what a joy and privilege that was to stay in their home with them, it was like staying with your grandparents totally unforgettable, before staying again in Veliko Tarnovo, at the 4star Hotel Panorama after all it was our 25th wedding anniversary we had a great day out walking eating and chatting before heading back to a family hotel in Sofia.

We return again now in May to start our renovations a full 5year plan. This time we will stay at Lovech,  Plovdiv, Gabrovo, Mikre,  Sofia, Golets and Veliko Tarnovo.
So it's not as though we have gone into this with our eyes shut, I always say plan and then plan some more.

Planning to leave Liverpool for an easier life, ongoing thoughts of why I want to leave Liverpool

I suppose the best way to start any kind of blog is to outline a little about ourselves and tell people why we want to make a move to Eastern Europe.

I am Ian and my wife is Sally we are a middle aged couple who both live and work in Liverpool, England.
Starting with me I am fifty years of age and originally a domestic electrician by trade and then slowly but surely a weekend property developer although I am multi skilled and competent in electrics, plumbing and joinery, this is not my current job.
I currently work as a driver for a national waste company, not an exciting or challenging job but it does actually pay the bills.

My wife Sally has enjoyed working in Customs and Excise now for very nearly 30years based mainly in Liverpool city centre.

We have now been married for just on 26 years and have two grown up children one grandson and of course two dogs. 

We live in what was two large Victorian terraced houses that have been consolidated into one property over three floors.

So for the moment we live a standard unconventional life both working and paying bills with a rather large splash of renovations added to the mix.

We are well and truly caught up in the great British rat race so it's not surprising that we have a viable plan to retire to greener less demanding pastures as soon as is practical.

We have both worked hard full time now for the thirty years we have known each other and also have a home from home apartment close to a Spanish golf course, but this is not a retirement option as that would be far too easy...

So you've probably got it now we are both driven and a little crazy.

This will hopefully become a story of our mission to move to a remote Bulgarian village locked in the past with all of its cultural challenges there will no doubt be blood, sweat and tears with lots and lots of fun.

You don't just wake up one morning and say "you know what I want out of here"  so why would I leave Liverpool?  after all Liverpool is a vibrant city with lots of work and everything you could want nice shops, restaurants, iconic buildings and heritage. A truly state of the art city with added bling,
on the other hand Liverpool like any city has more than its fair share of crime and grime.

I am only 50yrs of age but when I was a child things were very different.
Firstly nearly all children walked to and from school, there was a lot less traffic on the road but more importantly there was a greater level of respect towards everybody.

I understand that this may sound like a rant but with all the advances in technology some people have become lazy and with the increases in wealth over the last few generations some people have become greedy not a good combination.

Gone are the days when as a child if you wanted something you just had to wait and save up your pocket money, which wasn't very much anyway so if you really wanted something you had to work for it  by gardening, car washing or getting a milk round so you could save up quicker.

Good old fashioned values have also totally slipped by the wayside, now if you let discipline, respect slide your on a slippery road and this in my opinion is what has happened.

Anyway lots of water passes under the bridge and I now find myself middle aged and things have changed totally over the last 35-40years
Lots of the changes are great and make everybody's life easy and nobody wants to go back,
just take a look at food there has never been so much choice, and technology has come on in leaps and bounds.

So unfortunately I find myself now living in a beautiful city with terrible litter problems, you struggle sometimes to find a place to park your car, the children seem to be getting fatter and respect is more often than not a thing of the past.

There was a time that on a summers night in a leafy middle class area you would hear the sound of lawnmowers and children playing out on their bikes in relative safety.
Now it is still fairly quiet until you hear the sound of idiots on scrambler bikes being pursued by the police helicopter.

Lots of ignorant anti social kids join gangs and dress up in black uniforms, respect has been replaced with anti social behaviour and its just not cool to put anything in a bin or clean up after your dog.

I know this is a greatly exaggerated view but when you get up at 4am everyday to work in the service industry for 50hrs a week and still find time to be the nice guy who cleans up, says hello to passers by and makes the street cleaner a cup of tea then this in reality is how it feels and relocating to Eastern Europe becomes paradise.

Bulgaria, is our chosen destination and I will go on to explain this fully