THE BULGARIAN ALPHABET

a crash course in learning Cyrillic and Bulgarian

As with most tourist destinations around the globe, many locals will have a firm grasp of English and be able to talk to you in our tongue. However, not all Bulgarian waiters and taxi drivers have a firm grip on English, as their secondary language until recently was Russian. Also, you'll find people are always more friendlier towards you if you show you've at least tried to learn a wee bit of their native language...  just by learning simple phrases such as '              ' 'please' and

'                ' 'thank you' will give you a head start over other tourists.

Luckily for us, the Bulgarian alphabet is very phonetic...  once you've learnt how to pronounce letters, you can read just about anything (even if you haven't got a clue what you're actually saying!), for example, the word '                         ' 'cappuccino' is spoken the same way in both English and Bulgarian although it is written completely differently.

Remembering this can especially come in handy if you take a trip off the beaten track where menus will only be printed in Bulgarian and Russian, and you have to rely on phonetics to get yourself understood.

Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet. Most people consider this to be Russian but in fact it was invented in Bulgaria, and was then taken to other countries. They are the only country in the world to hold a Bank Holiday in memory of the two brothers who invented their alphabet.

So, here's our quick guide to the 29 letters of Bulgarian Cyrillic plus a few words to get you started, so you can impress your fellow holidaymakers with a bit of native speak:

DO'S and DONT'S

The first thing we would recommend to people visiting Bulgaria on a package holiday is to take all the money you need with you, and convert before you leave. Everywhere you look on the main streets there are plenty of Foreign Exchange booths, all of which are promising you the best deal for your sterling. Some of these places will rip you off by either charging high commission rates, not giving you the correct amount of money or giving you forged cash. Hotels will be able to provide you with a security box to store your money until you need it... most charge just a couple of pounds a day to use them. If you do need to change more money while you're there, hotels are your best and safest bet. There are ATM's (cashpoints) at the main resorts, but don't count on them working, or having an English speaking option. Just to give you some idea of how much you can expect to spend, our accommodation was bed and breakfast so we had to pay for dinner, an evening meal, drinks and snacks, we went on two day-trip excursions and spent one day exploring by ourselves. There were the two of us, for a fortnight, and we spent around £550.

Places such as Sunny Beach and Golden Sands have been especially designed as tourist traps. Balkan Holidays organise a trip to the Blue Mountains which allows you to see the decaying city streets, the countless farm buildings with caved-in roofs and the miles and miles of unspoilt, arid land. The Blue Mountain trip is a three hour bus ride into more-or-less the centre of Bulgaria. As well as scaling the mountain on a chairlift for 20 minutes, you also get to stop at a crystal making factory, do some shopping in one of the country's larger towns and stop at an authentic highway café... each one an experience to itself.

When you're eating in a restaurant, you are expected to leave a tip of around ten per cent. Don't be put off by the percentage figure; food is so cheap in Bulgaria, that you'll find you're only leaving two or three pounds at a time. A few restaurants include the ten per cent fee on the final bill so always check your receipt before paying.

You don't want to be caught short when you're out shopping, eating or on the beach. This can happen very easily in Bulgaria unless you remember to carry a pocketful of 50 stotinka coins at all times. You'll find this is the usual charge to use the toilets of pubs, restaurants and restrooms. Hotels will rarely charge you for using the lavs, some redneck looking places will only charge you 30 stotinka. You'll find that some eateries don't actually have toilets, and you'll be sent to the bar across the road. The moral of this story is, always go before you leave your room.

If you're in the fortunate position to have pulled while in Bulgaria, giving flowers to locals can be more troublesome than you'd first think. Giving a bouquet of flowers with an odd number symbolises funerals and bad fortune. So remember to always make sure you give an even number of flowers to that lucky somebody.

Taxis operate differently in Bulgaria, and unless you're aware of this you can be caught out. There's no statutory toll that taxi drivers have to follow. Each and every driver is self employed, looking to make as much money as he can, so you'll find that travelling by taxi is expensive and unnecessary. Some drivers show a tariff card in their window, so you know their prices. You should always agree a price before you get into a taxi, and make sure you haggle for the best price. One day we took a bus to the nearby town of Nessebar. The 15 minute bus ride cost us 50 stotinka each way (about 17p per person). If we took a taxi, it would have cost us about 15 leva (so even if three people shared a taxi, it would still cost approximately  £1.80 per person, each way.)

There were two big disappointments about Bulgaria  and both were down to our fellow English tourists. The first was the sight of how many Brits were using the McDonalds restaurants. There were three in the resort, we never used them and we never saw the locals using them either. When you go to places like Bulgaria, what on Earth can possibly possess you to go to a burger bar? Bulgaria's national dishes are the skewered kebab or dishes such as goulash. It's because of our fast-food eating reputation that waiters automatically ask you if you would like chips, even if you're ordering a rice-based meal. It's not often you feel ashamed to be a Brit.

The second disappointment was as soon as we got off the aeroplane, half the passengers reached into their bags, and pulled out their mobiles as if they were lifelines. Once again, we didn't feel the need to take our mobiles. Some networks consider Bulgaria to be a worldwide destination and therefore charge you vast amounts of cash, even if people call or text you. There are plenty of public phonebooths in the resort, and there are plenty of supermarkets which sell phonecards. This works out far cheaper than most mobile rates so why not leave the Nokia's at home? You'll only end up getting it nicked anyway!

When you're on the beach, do be extra vigilant for jellyfish. There are thousands of them on the Black Sea coastline. Because of this, we didn't venture out into the sea...  mind you, we went in October... at this time of year the weather starts to get rough at sea and washes them inland. Locals will quite happily go swimming in amongst the creatures, we even saw some people pick them up and throw them out into deeper waters. In the end, we decided the swimming pool was our best bet for hassle-free swimming.

Just because the sun is free in Bulgaria, doesn't mean you can sunbathe for free as well. There are plenty of sunbeds on the beach, although you will be approached and asked to pay-up for using them. The same goes for swimming pools, even the one connected to your hotel. Most accommodation sites in the resort charge a small fee for using the sunbeds and pool, so find out prices before you dive in.

WEATHER (Eastern coastline)

Average temperature for Sunny Beach (C)

Jan: 6 Feb: 6 Mar: 11 Apr: 16 May: 21 Jun: 25 Jly: 30 Aug: 29 Spt: 27 Oct: 21 Nov: 12 Dec: 8

Average rainfall (mm)

Jan: 25 Feb: 30 Mar: 25 Apr: 30 May: 20 Jun: 65 Jly: 45 Aug: 35 Spt: 20 Oct: 60 Nov: 35 Dec: 65

CURRENCY:

Bulgaria uses it's own currency. Lev (Leva) and Stotinki (Stotinka).

This is written as              or abbreviated to lv or        .

In December 2004, One Lev came to 35p

There are 100 stotinka in a lev.

In 2004, while a large percentage of their friends made a mass exodus to Australia, JT and Ells broke away from the trend and headed to the Baltic - to spend a fortnight in Bulgaria. You may smirk at this showmanship of adventure, but this historic land is said to be THE future destination for British holidaymakers.

So, instead of plastering the internet with a sackful of our holiday snaps, we've decided to make this page into a guide of the country, so you can prepare yourself for the inevitable trip to the Black Sea Coast that you thought you would never take.

We stayed at the Hotel Regina, about a ten minute's walk south of the centre of one of the country's two main tourist resorts, Sunny Beach (the other being Golden Sands).

So below you will find a map offering restaurant reviews, a section on the Do's and Dont's when visiting Bulgaria, and a brief guide to the language, so you can learn a few phrases before going.

The smallprint: We visited Sunny Beach at the end of the 2004 season so details of restaurants and hotels are subject to change.

This is our full guide. There's a quick-reference section beneath:

Let's start at the beginning with A. Whereas we have one symbol for three separate sounds; (name, cinemä and sat) They have two symbols for two sounds.     is used, but only pronounced as in sat. There is also this symbol,    , which is used to make the softer Asound like in address. Simple!

B is the same in both languages, although it's written as      or     in Cyrillic.

When you think about it, C is a pointless letter -  take 'circuit' for example. You could swap the first C with an S and the second with a K  it wouldn't change the sound at all. The only time C is necessary is in 'Ch' such as Church. So in Bulgarian, they use S in place of soft C's, K for hard C's and for Ch they have created the letter:    .

D is pronouned the same, and is officially written as     . But I've also seen it scribbled as a      or a loosely-fitting square.

E is always pronounced as in bet as is written the same.

F is rarely used, but when it is, it's symbolised by     .

Use a harsh G, like in go, for    .

I is written as     (a back-to-front N) and is always pronounced in a short and sharp way, like in Bit.

For   , think of a French J. Rather than spitting the sound out, let it roll off your tongue. Practise with the word 'Pleasure'  by removing the 'Plea' and 'Ure'.

K is the same in both languages, there's is written slightly different:

Again, L is spoken the same... but written as      or      .

M is written and pronounced the same.

This is where things start to get confusing. N is pronounced the same, but written as    . Bulgarians have no equivalent for our version of H.

O is always spoken sharply, as we would say in pot. It's written the same.

P sounds the same, but looks like this:    . Be careful not to get it confused with L (   ) as they can look very similar when written down.

Bulgarians roll their R's more than us, like in Spain or Scotland. Contrary to popular belief, they DO NOT write them like this    . A Cyrillic R looks like a    .

Remember I said Bulgarians don't use     ? That's kind of a lie. This is how they write the letter S (Sometimes they use either). It's always pronounced as in sit.

They also have separate letters to pronounce Sh (     ) and Shd (     ) as in Pushed.

T looks and sounds the same, they also use      to pronounce Ts.

U is written as a small y, even in capitals (   ). It is always pronounced in a short way, like

put.

V is pronounced the same, although it is written as    .

   - Think of a glorified sounding X; like how the Scots pronounce loch.

Notice the difference between a Y (    ) and an I (   ). It's always pronounced as in Yes. There are, however, two other types of Y. There's       which is pronounced as Yu and the infamous    , which sounds like the first half of Yard.

Z is the same, written as   .

And now, here's an attempt at summarising the above to make it as easy to understand as possible.

      always sounds like the a in Sat.

      is the second letter of the alphabet, even though it's another A, which sounds softer.

      is a B without it's top hoop joined correctly.

      is pronounced Ch because they use K's and S's for other C noises.

      is a D, also written as a triangle.

      sounds like the e in bet.

      is F.

      is G and is always spoken as in Go; never use a soft G.

   is I and always sounds like the i in Bit.

       is a soft sounding J, like the middle part of Pleasure

      is K.

      is L, sometimes written as a triangle with no bottom line.

       is M

      is actually an N  Bulgarians don't use H's.

      is always pronounced as the o in Hot.

      is a P  also written as a square with no bottom line.

      is not a P, it's an R, and is pronounced longer, like saying Rrrain.

      is not a C, they don't have a C in their alphabet, this is an S.

       is Sh

       is Shd as in pushed

      is ts as in lets

      is T

      is a U, as in the u in Put.

      is not a B, it's a V.

      is pronounced in the same way the Scottish say Loch.

      is a Y.

       is a Yu (Try saying You really quickly)

      is a Ya.

      is a Z.

Now we've got you started, here's some words to practice on.

Remember: 'j' is always soft, 'g' is always hard, 'x' is abrupt and vowels only have one sound each apart from A, but there are two A's.

YESda

NOne

HELLOzdrast-i

GOODBYEdov-ij-dan-e

PLEASEmol-ya

THANK YOUmer-si

SORRYsa-jal-yar-va

LEFTly-av-o

RIGHTdyas-no

STRAIGHT AHEADnap-ra-vo

TOILETSto-al-et-ni

MALEmarj-e

FEMALEjen-i

POLICEpol-it-se-ys-ko

ENTRANCEvx-od

EXITiz-xod

ONEed-no

TWOd-ve

THREEtri

FOURchet-ir-i

FIVEpet

SIXshest

SEVENse-dem

EIGHTos-em

NINEde-vet

TENde-set

HUNDREDsto

THOUSANDxil-yar-da

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?gov-or-it-e li ang-li-y-ski?

WHERE IS THE...?kay-de se nam-ir-a...?

BEACHbr-yag

MUSEUMmuz-e-ya

MARKETpa-za-ra

WATERvo-da

COFFEEkaf-e

WINEvi-no

BREADxl-yarp

HAMshunk-a

CHEESEsir-en-e

To use this map, point at the coloured sections with the mouse cursor. A box will appear giving information about that particular bar or restaurant.

DAY TRIP TO SILVEN, ZHERAVNA AND BLUE MOUNTAINS

When you leave the confines of the tourist resorts, you'll see how poor a country Bulgaria actually is.

In rural areas, a large number of houses are either falling down or in disrepair. In the towns, the streets are covered with litter, overpowered by high-rise tower blocks such as those above.

When you reach the Blue Mountain range, this is the first site you'll see:

If we zoom in, you'll see how thousands choose to climb the mountain every day... on a ski-lift. (And not the safest of ski-lifts either!)

The toll for this ride is about a pound per person and it takes nearly twenty minutes to reach the top. On your way up you'll see some breathtaking views of Sliven and the Thrace plain. These pictures do it no justice at all.

The below picture of some treetops was taken on the ski-lift... and that dark blob at the top is our shadow! You travel over a 100foot deep valley as you're nearing the top. All you can hear is the gushing water below.

The day trip also gives you some brief time to explore Sliven City Centre - this was the first city in Bulgaria to industrialize... it's now famous for it's crystals and wines. It's surprising how fashionable this city is, looking at the younger folk it's as if you're walking through a Paris fashion show.

A lot of the Bulgarian countryside is completely unspoilt...

This day trip also takes you to the village of Zhervna - a quaint settlement which looks the same as it would of done 150 years ago. Here, you'll be taken down some of it's streets and shown a genuine Bulgarian church. (Many of their religious houses were destroyed during the Ottoman Rule so locals had to disguise churches as other buildings, such as farmhouses or reading rooms.) Just finally, here's a picture of a random donkey.

Cute little fella!

Translation Guide:

SLIVEN:

ZHERAVNA:

NESEBÂR

Old Nesebâr is an island just a few miles down the road from Sunny Beach. Well, we say 'island' but there's a road joining it to the mainland. You can catch a taxi from the resort centre to the island for around 15 leva. Or you could take the cheaper option and hop on a bus, which runs every half hour and costs less than 20p single.

Nesebâr can be walked around in about 90 minutes, but despie it's size it was once home to 80 churches. Most of these are either in ruins or have been knocked down completely. Only a handful survive today, and only two of them are still used as churches.

The whole island used to be heavily guarded, these are the remains of a fortress which used to stand facing the mainland. Pillars for mammoth size gates allowing entry into the island (like Olde English towns used before the Roman invasions) still stand today.

You'll find these ruins slap bang in the centre of the island. This is the Basilica, or Metropolitan Church. It was originally built in the sixth century but fell foul to Venetian looters around 1257.

Another view from the Baslicia remains. One thing worth remembering about Nesebâr is that it's a tourist trap. Visitors travel from all over the country to spend a day walking around the town's cobble streets, looking at the ruins, buying everything from hand-woven Baltic doilies to knocked off designer label clothes at the market, or sampling local cuisine... this island is one big tourist magnet. We went there in one of the last weeks of the holiday season and there were thousands of other holidaymakers there - 99% on organised day trips. There's a weird sense of upper-classness creeps in when you're in such a popular destination, and you're not being escorted around by a guide!

These ruins form part of either St Stefan Church or St John Aliturgetos Church. My memory ain't what it used to be!

Nesebâr doesn't have much in the way of beaches, but it has some fantastic views.

Just as well the island is short on beaches when you consider how many jellyfish are lurking in the waters. So we're reliably told, these particular jellyfish don't have much in the way of poison, so it's safe to go swimming in the sea. We weren't convinced so spent most of our time either on the sand or lazing by the pool.

Translation Guide:

NESEBÂR:

BASILICA:

RECOMMENDATIONS

Whether you're going to Bulgaria for the sun, the ski or for a good old-fashioned exploration, we strongly advise you cough up the £10.99 (December 2004) for a copy of Lonely Planet's guide to Bulgaria. It offers more than 300 pages of information about the country, listing places of interest, places to stay, the best ways of getting around, with maps of the more popular destinations to help you along the way. We found this book essential reading, and it came in particularly useful on our trip to Nessebâr - it helped us find churches and museums which we'd never have uncovered otherwise. Copy and paste this ISBN number into an online book shop to order online (we recommend amazon.co.uk but most online shops will have them in stock) 1864501480. Lonely Planet's

BOOZE CRUISE

Our third day trip of the holiday was on a booze cruise around Nessebâr and along part of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast. Now when you think of booze cruise, we don't want you thinking '18-to-30-style-get-smashed-on-a-boat-and-throw-up-on-the-beach-afterwards'... these wooden vessels (which carry approx 50 people each) glide out of Nessebâr port, you have a few drinks, have a laugh and go back to your hotel in a merrier state than when you left.

You start the morning by being taken to Nessebâr Harbour. For a small community they've got an impressive number of boats in dock ranging from old, rotten fishing vessels to modern luxury boats used by regular visitors to the area.

This is a view looking back to the manmade causeway linking Nessebâr with Bulgaria's mainland. Not too sure about the wooden windmill on the side.

Two boats went out on this day, it's normally three but we went at the end of the season. An advantage of going on holiday at the end of the season is that day excursions are rarely fully booked and there's plenty of room to move around on boats/buses etc.

DO'S and DONT'S continued

Whereas many Spanish destinations have adapted themselves to fit in more with their plane-loads of money-carrying visitors, you have to remember that Bulgaria hasn't. Of course, this has many advantages... you get to see an unspoilt country which has plenty of traditions and unique ways of life. There is also a bad side... When you go walking at night you will find makeshift stalls where you can have your picture taken with a snake, or a baby crocodile, there's even a man with a bear and a camera on the main promenade. You can also go on night-time beach rides with the skinniest of donkeys. During the day there are dozens of horse and carriages offering you a journey around the resort. These animals do not look in the best of health and we wouldn't recommend you pay money for attractions such as this as it will only encourage them to continue. Obviously, it isn't natural for a bear to be paraded on the beach front, and many of the horses are thin and very smelly. In fact, the most healthy looking horses we saw in our fortnight stay were those which worked on the farms and had nothing to do with the tourist resort.

Even if you've got just a couple of notes in your pocket, you'll be made to feel like a moneybags as many shops often have trouble finding enough change for a 20 leva note (£6). So save the big notes for the restaurants

Bulgaria is the only country in the world to have different head gestures for Yes and No... and this is something which takes a lot of getting use to. If you mean Yes, you have to shake your head as if you're saying No in any other language. If you mean No, you have to nod (and slightly sway) your head from side to side, as if you're saying 'Yes, but I've got a sore neck' in any other language. Now, Bulgarians realize that they're the only country on Earth to do this, so many of them will try to be accommodating by shaking and nodding in the way we're all use to. But if you're trying to be accommodating as well, you can end up confusing everyone. Likewise, if you're talking to someone who knows little or no English and you shake your head when you mean No, confusion arises again. The best course of action to take is to not make any head gestures at all. For Yes, smile and say Da. For No, don't smile and say Ne. It's much simpler and could save you from countless embarrassing situations.

Don't assume that restaurants will be catered for all your English-speaking needs... you're not in the Costas anymore. Younger Bulgarians learn English and German as secondary languages, but older inhabitants can only speak Bulgarian and Russian. Some of the restaurants, even in the main tourist resorts, will not have an English menu or English speaking staff. (We're not being picked on, there are also some places which do not cater for German tourists). You'll find these four main languages in most places you visit, but always make sure you pick an English-compliant restaurant before you go in.

Another toilet related issue  if you're heading out of the main tourist areas and taking a day-trip, always remember to take some bog roll with you, as some toilets (usually the free-to-use ones) do not come equipped with such luxuries. Some places just have a hole in the ground, so you can understand why toilet roll would be quite an extravagant luxury in some parts.

Two truly British institutions: the cup of tea, and the fry-up. These are two luxuries which you might have to live without for a couple of weeks if you're planning a trip to Bulgaria. Most places serve cups of tea with a slice of lemon instead of a jug of milk (this hits you as a very sweet, strange taste but is something you soon get used to). Some bars have cottoned on the fact that Brits like milk with their tea, but they either use goats milk or UHT, so savour that last cuppa you get at the airport before flying out. Similarly, Bulgarians can't serve a decent fry-up. For starters they don't have thin, crispy bacon. They have mini bacon steaks. They don't have banger sausages. They have flat, spicy ones. In fact, everything you know and love about a fry-up doesn't exist in this part of the world. Although, in fairness, they do there best with the materials they're given.

It isn't wise to take a vegetarian to Bulgaria. This is the home of barbecued meat, skewered kebabs and  spit roasts. Pretty much every restaurant in the resort cooks it's speciality meals in full view of the public  so there are plenty of giant ovens complete with smouldering hogs, chickens cooking over open flames, you get the picture. You'll be hard-pressed to find a vegetarian menu in many of the country's restaurants.

Likewise, don't expect to have a good time if you're anti-smoking. Of all the Bulgarians we got to know while on our hols, not one of them went for an hour without lighting up. Even waitresses and cooks regularly puff away and will not be prepared to put out a fag at the request of one or two holidaymakers.

Speaking of smoking, Yes, you can buy cheap fags in Bulgaria, but it isn't something we'd recommend. All the usual brand names are there, but they are clearly not the genuine article, so you have no guarantee of what's actually in the cigarettes (an example would be that tar levels could be at a dangerously high level). These fake fags are available in the main promenade of Sunny Beach on numerous market stalls.

Clothing is also a big seller on the streets of Bulgaria's main tourist resorts. You can get really cheap shirts and trousers brandishing big names such as No Fear and Adidas. Once again, most of these are quite clearly fake, some look to be very shoddy quality, one or two of them even had spelling mistakes on them. Buy them if you must but ddon't be disappointed when they fall apart. Football shirts and sunglasses are also readily available at a discounted price.

Goats cheese and milk are far more widespread there than they are here, so if you have severe allergies against food, be very careful when eating out.

RECOMMENDATIONS continued

guide to Eastern Europe and a Phrasebook are also available, (although, for our purposes, the language guide at the back of the Bulgarian Book was more than adequte.

We booked our vacation through Balkan Holidays, a company which specialises in flying Brits to places such as Bulgaria, Romania and Montenegro. We had a rep on hand throughout our stay in the country, as well as access to a 24 hour emergency centre, transport to and from the airport... their reps also have a list of a dozen or so different excursions and day trips you could book throuh them, which they'll discuss with you on the first morning after you arrive. Go to balkanholidays.co.uk for more details about them, or pick up a brochure which you'll find in most travel agents.

OTHER SNAPS

A view of the Regina swimming pool from our third floor balcony.

The pool bar served cups of tea, whatever the time of day (it sounds impressive, but they used UHT milk. Still, it's better than goats milk.)

JT reaches for another cocktail. The best bar for these was the Glarus. See the map above for more details.

That's it. We recommend you try this fantastic country for yourselves.

BOOZE CRUISE continued

This boat trip will take you along the side of Sunny Beach and comes to a stop next to the Emine Cape and the Elenite Beach. Here you can do a bit of fishing, (and by fishing we mean dangle a fishing wire into the sea), have a spot of lunch and even a quick swim.

This is a view of Sunny Beach with the south-east tip of Nessebâr to the left. This shot also shows the fantastic mountain range behind.

This is the best shot we could get of our hotel. The Regina isn't quite on the beach front. Still, you can get from the swimming pool to the sand in under two minutes so we weren't all that bothered!

During our return to Nesseb*r, most took advantage of the free drink offer. Once everyone was swaying with the boat, the crew challenged the joker of the pack (there's always one, isn't there!) to a spoon- bashing competition. You have to be there first hand to get the joke!