New EU art

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Czech art sparks controversy

Is Bulgaria really that bad? [:D]

[Pierre ZFP]

Actually I thought it was very funny but I can see the Eurocrats not seeing the humour and slapping a ban on such things.

Only been to one small part of Bulgaria and that as a tourist.  Impressions of grindingly poor and suffering from the legacy of Russian communism and yes, in the built up areas it did pong more than a bit. Even so, a nice country judging from the little I saw of it.

[Dog]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Czech art sparks controversy

Is Bulgaria really that bad? [:D]
[/quote]

 

Bulgaria was a great place when I visited. We did a two week fly drive.

We had pre-arranged hotels every two days. Map reading was like solving a puzzle. The map was in roman letters and the signs were in cyrillic. (Now the 3rd official language of the EU).

Trouble was it wasn't a straight swop letter for letter. Some letters were the same as roman so you had to see how many S's for instance were in a place name. It was confusing on occasions.

Only two minutes after picking up the hire car we got guided into a police stop. They cone off the road and make you turn in, while the police sit at the edge of the road and do what policemen do. I haven't the slightest idea what they said to me but after looking at my paper work. We got waived on.

We then headed for our first stop. The road went through a very forested area, much cutting of wood and lots of overloaded lorries carrying logs. TherThe lorries would fling fairly large branches and logs over the road and it was great fun avoiding them. Not so amusing were the enormous holes in the roads some over a foot deep. But if you kept the pedal to the metal you just jumped them.

Just about every hotel we stayed at had self styled, self appointed security guards who would demand money to park. I didn't pay any of them and they were not amused. One did speak broken English - he said if he didn't look after my car it wouldn't be there in the morning. I told him I didn't care it wasn't mine.

Stayed in some amazing hotels like being in pre-WW2 times. You kept expecting men in uniforms to enter.

One hotel had a stone built outdoor tiered dining area and a stage and where the pits would be, it flooded with water during the night. About 20 musicians turned up and played music. Food and drink were very cheap and it took the poor old waiters ages to get to you on the tiered dining area. So after dinner I asked for a plum brandy - thinking they may be small and not wanting to make the waiter do a second trip, I ordered two. When they arrived they were half pints!

Went all over the place - didn't like Sofia our hotel overlooked an old fashioned lunatic asylum with various inmates in a state of undress some enjoying themselves in an onanistic fashion. The restaurant in the modern hotel was on about the 7th floor. It was 1970s decour.All shiney black and chrome. A local wideboy gangster came in with his young floozy and slapped a giant wodge of cash on his table. He then prec eeded to by each course one by one, counting out the cash and pressing it into the waiters palm.

After Sofia we met two Brits the only ones all holiday, he asked how I got on with the roads - fine I said I do motorcycling offroading for fun and these roads keep you nicely awake. He was not so amused by the roads. He had also got stopped in a police road block in his first hour. When waived on he didn't notice the homemade stinger they have to stop you driving straight through. This plank had lots of 4 inch nails in it and he managed to drive over it fully and flatten all four tyres.

A taxi driver stopped and said you have a problem - The Brit said ****** ******. Taxi driver was very kind and helped him remove two tyres at a time and ferried him to get them repaired. Mr Brit was well happy. Cost lest than ten quid for multiple punctures to be repaired and that included the taxi driver!

He then recounted how they then managed to find the same road we did - he managed to drop both front wheels in a large hole and flattened both rims again puncturing both front tyres. Again less than a tenner to hammer the rims straight and mend the punctures. By this time he was not so happy.

Only saw one jap motorcycle a GSX 1000 wheeling through the centre of Sophia! Did see a man proudly riding his shopping bike with a chainsaw engine crudely attached as it screamed along.

Even when I went over 10 years ago there were many brand new roads paid for by the EEC. The roads were just about empty encouraging a speedy journey - though had one worrying one- crested a hill only to find a donkey pulling a Moskvich. OK - overtake but there was a Nissan 3000 going at well into three figure mph coming in other direction - it wasn't just the closing speed that was the problem - but that these cars were the favourite transport of the local gangsters. I am glad to say the donkey and everyone escaped unharmed.

Great place - beautiful girls - cheap food and drink - lovely countryside - great historic buildings, even the Russiam airplane we travelled in was fun - again it had a 1970s interior with reclining seats - all broken with the backs waiving around. Nearly as much fun as travelling in India.

Give Bulgaria a go it's great - property very cheap indeed.