Beware Bulgaria

JONJO THE MISER

On Liveline now, lots and lots of horror stories about people going on holidays in Bulgaria, one woman said that on her plane back nearly everyone had been robbed while there, not one person on said they will go back, apparently its Mafia run ****hole where cops turn a blind eye, a young Irish guy got kidnapped there last week at Gunpoint. And this backward country is in the E.U.
Anyone here have exeprience of Bulgaria?

NothingMan

Went Skiing there a few years ago. Everyone was lovely and I had a great time.

prinz

Beware all the Wombles!

marco_polo

On Liveline now ... TL;DR


Seriously though been there twice without any incident whatsoever.

Celly Smunt

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

On Liveline now, lots and lots of horror stories about people going on holidays in Bulgaria, one woman said that on her plane back nearly everyone had been robbed while there, not one person on said they will go back, apparently is Mafia run ****hole where cops turn a blind eye, a young Irish guy got kidnapped there last week at Gunpoint. And this backward country is in the E.U.
Anyone here have exeprience of Bulgaria?

sounds a lot like dublin to be honest

starbelgrade

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

On Liveline now, lots and lots of horror stories about people going on holidays in Bulgaria, one woman said that on her plane back nearly everyone had been robbed while there, not one person on said they will go back, apparently is Mafia run ****hole where cops turn a blind eye, a young Irish guy got kidnapped there last week at Gunpoint. And this backward country is in the E.U.
Anyone here have exeprience of Bulgaria?

Tourists regularly get robbed in Ireland, lots of them say they will never come back, Gardai here often turn a blind eye to criminal gang activities & tiger kidnappings are not an unheard of occurance.

And this backward country is also in the E.U.

Executive Steve

starbelgrade wrote: »

Tourists regularly get robbed in Ireland, lots of them say they will never come back, Gardai here often turn a blind eye to criminal gang activities & tiger kidnappings are not an unheard of occurance.

And this backward country is also in the E.U.

:rolleyes:

Mr Benevolent

Liveline = AH.

I've been to non-tourist parts of Bulgaria (and Sofia) and I've felt safer then walking in Dublin city. Women are better looking too. The most dangerous cities I've seen are Limerick and Dublin, and I've been to plenty of cities in Europe. Both cities are manky by European standards.

Zombienosh

pmcmahon wrote: »

sounds a lot like dublin to be honest

THEY TOOK R JOBS!

Thirdfox

Just back from a holiday in Bulgaria. Stayed in Sofia and Lovech for a week... had an absolutely amazing time.

Corruption is a problem. But you've got delicious cheap food/beer, nice girls and the scenary is pretty cool too (think mountain-y Ireland).

Of course I was there to meet a Bulgarian friend of mine and there were two guys travelling together. Single girls travelling by themselves may find their experience to be different.

Oh and there are almost no Asians there lol - it felt interesting to be stared at in public...I finally know what it's like to be the white guy in China

Activites included gun shooting, horse-riding, go-karting, clubbing, visiting their monasteries...and did I mention the food/beer? :P Of course, I'm not saying that you probably couldn't do any of these in other countries but it certainly wasn't any dangerous than other countries I've backpacked by myself (Costa Rica comes to mind - bank security guards had shotguns.)

Run_to_da_hills

Romania is worse than Bulgaria, you cant go anywhere without tripping over Gypsies.

Celly Smunt

AlcoholicA wrote: »

THEY TOOK R JOBS!

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE

alwaysadub

Wouldn't have made a great Liveline if they'd had people on praising it. It is Liveline after all!

Tourists get robbed in nearly every country!

Celly Smunt

alwaysadub wrote: »

Wouldn't have made a great Liveline if they'd had people on praising it. It is Liveline after all!

Tourists get robbed in nearly every country!

go on! go on!

JONJO THE MISER

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

a young Irish guy got kidnapped there last week at Gunpoint.

Maybe he shouldn't have gone to Gunpoint then

PeterIanStaker

How dare ye say anythin bad about any other country shure we all know Ireland is terrble and bad and should be bombed out of existence rabble rabble


*goes back to reading opinion pieces in the Indo*

GampDub

Was in Sunny Beach just over two weeks ago and cannot confirm any of the complaints mentioned in your post... like any resort or any other area with a high percentage of tourists you must have you wits about you...

The one time we got done it was our own fault, we got a taxi from nearby Nessebar, the taximan agreed a price of 30 lev (about €15) we thought he was trying to do us so told him to put it on the meter... meter price ended up being nearly 60 lev!!! We checked with our hotel after and they told us that is usually a better agree taxi prices before hand...

There are a fair share of scammers about trying to flog you rubbish our counterfeit good, again none more than I have encountered in any other tourist destination around the world and they usually left you alone after a firm no...!

I'm sure anyone looking for trouble or acting the eejit could find trouble easy enough, but then again I could go out in Dublin on any given night and find trouble if I wanted.

I won't be rushing back to bulgaria in a hurry, its just not that great of a holiday destination. Cheapest place I've ever been though (€1 beers) and if I fancied a cheap break in the sun for a few days I wouldn't be too digruntled to have to go back!

Celly Smunt

GampDub wrote: »

Was in Sunny Beach just over two weeks ago and cannot confirm any of the complaints mentioned in your post... like any resort or any other area with a high percentage of tourists you must have you wits about you...

The one time we got done it was our own fault, we got a taxi from nearby Nessebar, the taximan agreed a price of 30 lev (about €15) we thought he was trying to do us so told him to put it on the meter... meter price ended up being nearly 60 lev!!! We checked with our hotel after and they told us that is usually a better agree taxi prices before hand...

There are a fair share of scammers about trying to flog you rubbish our counterfeit good, again none more than I have encountered in any other tourist destination around the world and they usually left you alone after a firm no...!

I'm sure anyone looking for trouble or acting the eejit could find trouble easy enough, but then again I could go out in Dublin on any given night and find trouble if I wanted.

I won't be rushing back to bulgaria in a hurry, its just not that great of a holiday destination. Cheapest place I've ever been though (€1 beers) and if I fancied a cheap break in the sun for a few days I wouldn't be too digruntled to have to go back!

but..you scammed yourself...

Jet Black

Me and my granddad went over there on holidays, couple of guys broke into the hotel and 'messed' with him. Dresses him up like a woman and put make up on him.
Thats what he told me when I walked into the room anyway.

GampDub

GampDub wrote: »

The one time we got done it was our own fault,

I did mention it was our own fault...!

Dravokivich

alwaysadub wrote: »

Tourists get robbed in nearly every country!

I can't hear you over my lack of common sense!

biko

The bouncers in Sunny Beach killed a guy a few years ago.
Also the cops there have beaten up tourists.
I prefer Galway tbh.

Celly Smunt

biko wrote: »

The bouncers in Sunny Beach killed a guy a few years ago.
Also the cops there have beaten up tourists.
I prefer Galway tbh.

Galway is a hell hole,as they say,to hell or connaught

alwaysadub

biko wrote: »

The bouncers in Sunny Beach killed a guy a few years ago.
Also the cops there have beaten up tourists.
I prefer Galway tbh.

Yeah me too!
You wouldn't see a cop nearly getting pushed into the canal by a fella in his boxers happening rounds these parts! :pac:

alan4cult

pmcmahon wrote: »

Galway is a hell hole,as they say,to hell or connaught

Better than some parts of Dublin tbh :rolleyes:

bonerm

Never trusted those Wombles tbh. Beady eyes and always nicking stuff. :mad:

Celly Smunt

alan4cult wrote: »

Better than some parts of Dublin tbh :rolleyes:

to hell or connaught :mad:

PeterIanStaker

Jet Black wrote: »

Me and my granddad went over there on holidays, couple of guys broke into the hotel and 'messed' with him. Dresses him up like a woman and put make up on him.
Thats what he told me when I walked into the room anyway.

I spat my tea out laughin'
nowhere near the laptop luckily.
Actually, ring up liveline and tell them that little anecdote!

bonerm

pmcmahon wrote: »

to hell or connaught :mad:

What's the difference?

Celly Smunt

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

I spat my tea out laughin'
nowhere near the laptop luckily.
Actually, ring up liveline and tell them that little anecdote!

that'd be genius

Ash.J.Williams

Confab wrote: »

Liveline = AH.

I've been to non-tourist parts of Bulgaria (and Sofia) and I've felt safer then walking in Dublin city. Women are better looking too. The most dangerous cities I've seen are Limerick and Dublin, and I've been to plenty of cities in Europe. Both cities are manky by European standards.

Have you had an experience in limerick or are you resorting to sterotype?

Celly Smunt

bonerm wrote: »

What's the difference?

there is none,even the arann islands couldn't stay near the place

Jordonvito

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

On Liveline now, lots and lots of horror stories about people going on holidays in Bulgaria, one woman said that on her plane back nearly everyone had been robbed while there, not one person on said they will go back, apparently its Mafia run ****hole where cops turn a blind eye, a young Irish guy got kidnapped there last week at Gunpoint. And this backward country is in the E.U.
Anyone here have exeprience of Bulgaria?

Stopped reading here

Pace2008

I always find you get a fair and balanced discussion of affairs on Liveline. I certainly won't be going to Bulgaria after hearing that horrific anecdote of this one dude who got kidknapped there.

rebel10

Jet Black wrote: »

Me and my granddad went over there on holidays, couple of guys broke into the hotel and 'messed' with him. Dresses him up like a woman and put make up on him.
Thats what he told me when I walked into the room anyway.

Oh that had me laughing!:D

johngalway

bonerm wrote: »

What's the difference?

Cromwell is in hell while we still have Connaught.

rebel10

Jet Black wrote: »

Me and my granddad went over there on holidays, couple of guys broke into the hotel and 'messed' with him. Dresses him up like a woman and put make up on him.
Thats what he told me when I walked into the room anyway.

Those bloody Bulgarians!!!!

vibe666

can't say I've been there but it looks like an absolutely lovely place to get robbed, much better than alot of places you could visit. the last thing you need when you're being held at gunpoint is drab scenery and a lack of atmosphere.

monkeyfudge

Jet Black wrote: »

Me and my granddad went over there on holidays, couple of guys broke into the hotel and 'messed' with him. Dresses him up like a woman and put make up on him.
Thats what he told me when I walked into the room anyway.

In fact there have been over 200 cases of forced transvestism involving your grand dad in the last year.

Celly Smunt

monkeyfudge wrote: »

In fact there have been over 200 cases of forced transvestism involving your grand dad in the last year.

200 cases?!...lucky man

pawrick

My previous house mate was 1/2 Bulgarian

One time while visiting family there he was returning and carrying his laptop as hand luggage, security at the airport on the Bulgarian side told him that he could not carry it on board and so he arrived in Dublin minus laptop after it went missing once it was put in the hold.

He said he heard afterwards that this was a well known scam over there.

Other then that I've never heard any unusually bad things about the country and he would recommend it for a holiday while admitting crime/bribes is an issue.

ScumLord

I've heard the same thing said about just about every eastern European country.

In Latvia we where told all sorts of stories about beatings/muggings/corrupt cops, had a lovely time, someone through a glass at our group but he missed another lad in the hostel was beaten up by the police allegedly but I could tell he was an ass anyway.

danbohan

johngalway wrote: »

Cromwell is in hell while we still have Connaught.

the only reason cromwell sent our ancesteors to connaught was he did not have tallaght as an option at that time !

Azureus

ScumLord wrote: »

I've heard the same thing said about just about every eastern European country. .

Same here, and having been to many of them, it just seemed to be a really really negatively exagerated version of what I experienced, and I wasnt in the 'posh' parts. Yeah crime happens. It happens here too!

Never been to Bulgaria as it happens, but a friend holidays there on the cheao every year and swears by it

ScumLord

Azureus wrote: »

Never been to Bulgaria as it happens, but a friend holidays there on the cheao every year and swears by it

Haven't been there either but everyone says it's a must see city.

DarkJager

Who wouldn't rob or threathen a liveline listener at gunpoint if they had a chance? Bottom of the barrel hysteric clowns who probably have never been outside Ireland for a holiday.

El Siglo

I was backpacking with two college friend of mine across Europe. We were thrown out of a disco in Amsterdam, and decided to visit a brothel, where one of the lads chickened out of having sex with a very attractive prostitute. When we returned to our hostel, we meet a Russian man named Alexei who told us of an undocumented hostel in Slovakia, it was meant to be filled with beautiful, women. Let's just say things start getting really weird... from here on in.

stovelid

bonerm wrote: »

What's the difference?

A Cromwellian rapier up one's peasant arse.

ScumLord

El Siglo wrote: »

I was backpacking with two college friend of mine across Europe. We were thrown out of a disco in Amsterdam, and decided to visit a brothel, where one of the lads chickened out of having sex with a very attractive prostitute. When we returned to our hostel, we meet a Russian man named Alexei who told us of an undocumented hostel in Slovakia, it was meant to be filled with beautiful, women. Let's just say things start getting really weird... from here on in.

And isn't it strange Slovakia looks just like Cesky Krumlov in the Czech republic? When I was watching that film in the presence of a Slovak she did some awful complaining but it's not like I'm going to listen to some foreigner over Hollywood.

Misty Chaos

I was in Bulgaria a few years with family, I got on fine, nothing happened to me because I kept to myself and stayed in the main areas. As long as you don't act like an idiot ( like falling asleep in a pub after spending the whole day drinking ) you won't be getting robbed!

There's plenty of fake stuff over there, of course. Not that anybody cared.

ejmaztec

DarkJager wrote: »

Who wouldn't rob or threathen a liveline listener at gunpoint if they had a chance? Bottom of the barrel hysteric clowns who probably have never been outside Ireland for a holiday.

They can't go far, not with their electronic tags.