Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

Eurolink Investment Group joins in wishing you a Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!

• An old wives’ tale says that bread baked on Christmas Eve will never go mouldy.

• At midnight, a certain rose slowly opens and re-closes its petals to salute the birthday of Jesus.

• Also at midnight, all the sheep in the fields turn and bow towards the East.

Father Christmas once dropped some gold coins while coming down the chimney. The coins would have fallen through the ash grate and been lost if they hadn’t landed in a stocking that had been hung out to dry. Since that time children have continued to hang out stockings in hopes of finding them filled with gifts.

Congratulations to December’s Employee of the Month, Sasho Todorov, IT Assistant. Although a recent and junior member of Eurolink Investment Group, Sasho is a dedicated, hard worker and never hesitates to put in an effort to make the IT department look professional. He has shown an active willingness to gain experience and develop new skills. Congratulations, Sasho, and thanks for all your hard work.

-> Sasho Todorov

The Bulgarian cities of Sofia and Varna have been identified as potential overseas property investment hotspots by analysts PropertySecrets.net. Strong demand in recent years has allowed the country to develop a robust financial sector, making investment in Bulgaria easier than neighbouring markets.

Cheap material and labour in the Bulgarian property market allowed property to be built for a low cost, before being sold for ever increasing prices.

Buying off-plan in up-and-coming locations is a key trend in the Bulgarian property market. Most people are buying off-plan because with off-plan you know what you’re getting, more or less. This is largely due to the convenience of new property.

You can see the floor plans at home, you can see the pictures, you can see the location, whereas with the existing property you need to have it checked out a little bit more, you don’t know if the room sizes are going to be right and you need to go and visit it yourself, which is a bit difficult for a foreign investor.

There are many birthday boys and girls in December. Our dear colleague Alex Nikolov (Deputy Managing Director), our clients and good friends Steve Redfern, Wendy Sharp, Kevin Murray, Jeff Sparks, Michael Donegan and Christine Barker, have their special day this month. We would like to wish them all Many Happy Returns and the best of luck!

“We turn not older with years but newer every day”

It is not possible to stay indifferent and not to feel the Bulgarian spirit and music, while you are there, to feel the way of life and traditions from the ancient time. There’s nothing better than joining the ring dances with the Nashenci Orchestra live music and having a hearty meal, prepared like….in our memories!!! Nashenci - a rich cuisine, strong brandy, heroic spirit, haidouk songs!

Rating: 8/10

Richard Payne
BA(Hon), CEng, MIET
Director of EnergyFree Technology

While preparing for relocation from UK to Bulgaria, I considered worthwhile to include my 42” HD-Ready Plasma TV into a shipping package. This TV features SCART and HDMI interface, a standardised connection between TV equipments for the majority of the country.

On arrival, I installed the TV in my apartment with an ordinary rooftop TV aerial and hey presto, I have Bulgarian TV, about 65 channels!

But when I turn on the sound all channels came out with a hissing sound. Hmmm!? What went wrong?

My good friend Mario who worked in a TV shop in Malta and pops in for a visit suggested that the Bulgarian TV broadcast sound is not compatible with the UK’s TV and can only be fixed by a hardware modification. From my comprehensive experience with electronics, it would be a difficult job.

Rather than fixing the Plasma TV, I decided to buy a DVD-RW recorder which comes with aerial input and is compatible with the Bulgarian TV broadcast. After shopping around, I bought a Samsung DVD-RW recorder with HDMI at a special price 230 BGN (€115) with a free 10 disc set of DVD-R, from a large store.

Using an HDMI connection (dedicated connection for the HD technology), it worked like a dream and I enjoyed VH-1 pop channel, I’m very pleased to see my favourite pop video - Vienna from Ultrafox! I made a test again with a SCART connection and again it worked well including the audio. I’m very pleased with the results. I can confirm there are several English channels, including CNN, but no UK channels (i.e. BBC).

Just to let you know of our working hours during the forthcoming Christmas and New Year’s Eve Holidays. Please note that the office will be closed for the periods 24-26 December 2007 and 31 December 2007 - 01 January 2008. Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings!

The correct name of this dish in Bulgarian is actually yaitsa po panagyurski (say it, “yite-SA po pan-a-GYOOR-ski”), but learning to say the name correctly so that you can serve the dish without resorting to cue cards may take longer than the cooking time. Then again, the town for which the dish is named is the tongue-twisting Panagyurishte. If you were to cheat and call the dish “poached eggs with yogurt”, I don’t think your guests would complain, particularly after trying it.

What do you need:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup strained yogurt
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 pinch of paprika
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

How to make it:

Add the vinegar and a pinch of salt to about 1 liter (1 quart) of boiling water. Break the eggs directly into the water. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how runny you like your eggs. Strain the eggs and set them aside to cool. Stir the yogurt together with the crushed garlic and very little salt. Pour it over the eggs. Meanwhile, heat the oil and sprinkle the paprika on top, but be careful not to burn it. Immediately pour the oil over the yogurt and serve. Enjoy!

Nikulden is “The Day of Saint Nikolas” - a great winter festival celebrated by all Bulgarians on December Sixth. It is the name day for everyone named Nikola, Nikolay, Kolyo, Nikolina, Neno, Nenka, Nikolina or Nina.

Saint Nikolas is believed to help all the sailors and fishermen. Obeying Jesus’ words to “sell what you own and give the money to the poor”, Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. Not only is he the patron of sailors and voyagers, he is known as the friend and protector of all in trouble or need. St. Nicholas is also the patron and protector of children.

He is the master of the entire submarine realm - fish and water demons - as well as the sea winds. The autumn fishing season ends on this day. The day’s catch is to be offered to the saint. Fishermen eat the first fish caught right on the shore, before bringing the rest home.

The traditional Nikulden meal in each household is based upon a fish dish - “ribnik” - a carp in dough, which is traditional for the holiday. There are also two special loaves of bread. The food is blessed at church or at home before being served. After wafting incense over the food, the host raises the bread high, and breaks it in half. One half he keeps, the other is left on the table. It is on Saint Nikolas’ Day that the table is open to all guests and is not cleared before the day is over. On this holiday - relatives, sponsors and neighbours are invited and a big table is sanctified; the feast day ending up in songs and fun.