Located in the heart of the Balkans, Bulgaria offers a highly diverse landscape; the north is dominated by the vast lowlands of the Danube and the south by the highlands and elevated plains. Bulgaria is a land of contrasts from being near the sea, too being an hour drive away from large mountain ranges, with some of the best walks in all of Europe. It comprises of the three ancient kingdoms of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia and has a wealth of history and is famous for its golden artifacts, the oldest in the world. History is all around you, from the many burial mounds dotted around the land, to the vast range of churches, monasteries and castles. This gives you many options for long weekend trips, you will never run out of things too see and do here.

Today Bulgaria is a country to live or visit in with something for everyone. If you enjoy the sea there is a large Black Sea coast with many resorts, especially Golden Sands and Sunny Beach. We have skiing at very affordable prices and some of the best countryside for walking, with a many animals and birds not seen in most of Europe. Bulgaria has a range of animals rarely if ever seen in Europe, bears, wolves and the largest concentration of Wild Boars. In recent years Bulgaria has begun to cater for these new visitors with companies offering trips and great photo opportunities.

As a place to live it has much going for it, less crowded, much cheaper, the people are very welcoming and it does not suffer the political correctness that the rest of Europe has to endure. It has the odd downside especially the roads and Bulgarian drivers, but overall these things pale against the good things here. There is an ever increasing West European ex pat community, with many British now living here permanently, so always plenty of help in your own language as you settle in (Bulgarian is a hard language to learn). These are all part of what has made it an increasingly popular option to move or retire too, a good place to live allowing you easy access to many other countries for cheap affordable holidays. This also explains the growing number of people buying holiday homes before the rest of Europe catches on and prices rocket, great for investments or to retire too. Though with the lovely hot summers we get maybe the village bar is as far as many want to venture, with great local Bulgarian beers and friendly locals.

Thomas Wolf
[http://www.wolfheadtraining.co.uk]