Montenegro or Bulgaria?

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Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:09 am

Only have ten or so days...Montenegro or Bulgaria or...?
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby ReptilianKittenEater » Fri Nov 02, 2012 2:53 am

Ony been to Bulgaria. It is cheap, has incredibly hot women, and Veliko Tarnovo is good to check out for a couple of days.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:29 am

Thanks for the tip; I'll toss it on the scale...
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:51 pm

Yup, what RKE said.

Montenegro might be a bit more expensive as Former Yugoslav countries seems to be pricier than the rest of the region. It looks really beautiful though and tiny enough for a short trip.

Bulgaria is a lot of fun, depending on what you want to do, the food is good and the people are pretty chill. I liked Sophia a lot, Plovdiv was cool for walking past Roman ruins exposed at street-level, Veliko Tarnovo is nice to hang in for few days (though it was building up quite the Brit expat community at the time I was there), and there's stuff to do outside the cities (skiing in winter, hiking, etc). And all relatively cheap.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby rickshaw92 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:22 pm

Ony been to Bulgaria. It is cheap, has incredibly hot women, and Veliko Tarnovo is good to check out for a couple of days.


Yep, though I don't think it's as cheap as it was.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Sat Nov 03, 2012 5:23 am

rickshaw92 wrote:
Ony been to Bulgaria. It is cheap, has incredibly hot women, and Veliko Tarnovo is good to check out for a couple of days.


Yep, though I don't think it's as cheap as it was.


Prob not though I think there's someone on the board that's been more recently than me that could detail that. I've kept an eye on the area since it'd be nice to go back and it doesn't seem like it's lost its bargain destination status. Maybe Veliko Tarnovo due to the aforementioned Brit influx. At the time, they seemed set on buying up the place (mostly the coast and ski houses in Bansko) but that might've stopped after '08.

I still have a feeling Montenegro would be pricier, esp since it uses the euro. I thought Macedonia was going to be cheap but still recall spending around 30-35 euro/day (in '05) vs the US$10-15/day in Albania or US$10-20/day in Bulgaria.

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I just came across this site which might help you make some good flight decisions: http://en.skypicker.com/
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Sat Nov 03, 2012 6:24 am

I'm looking at the last part of April, so I've got a bit of time to think it over...Bulgaria sounds good, but then Montenegro sounds a bit more unknown...I've got a feeling I can't go wrong either way.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Sat Nov 03, 2012 1:48 pm

Michael wrote:I'm looking at the last part of April, so I've got a bit of time to think it over...Bulgaria sounds good, but then Montenegro sounds a bit more unknown...I've got a feeling I can't go wrong either way.


Oh nice. Thought this might be a quick winter trip. April would probably be perfect for either plus give you some time to research.

If you do the guidebook thing, Bradts are the way to go for the area, either for research or to have along.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Sat Nov 03, 2012 4:22 pm

Thanks, Vagabond. I'll see if I can find a Bradt. A quick winter trip would be nice, but being conventionally employed and conventionally married, I've got to work within certain limits.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Sat Nov 03, 2012 5:06 pm

Michael wrote:Thanks, Vagabond. I'll see if I can find a Bradt.


Las Vegas Amazon Fulfillment Center is a good bet! ;-)

Michael wrote:A quick winter trip would be nice, but being conventionally employed and conventionally married, I've got to work within certain limits.


"You should work on that. Being unemployed and single is great!", he says from his dark, dirty cave surrounded by computer equipment and pizza box furniture.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Sat Nov 03, 2012 6:56 pm

vagabond wrote: "You should work on that. Being unemployed and single is great!", he says from his dark, dirty cave surrounded by computer equipment and pizza box furniture.


I remember that phase. It lasted about three years.
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Sun Nov 04, 2012 3:59 am

Michael wrote:
vagabond wrote: "You should work on that. Being unemployed and single is great!", he says from his dark, dirty cave surrounded by computer equipment and pizza box furniture.


I remember that phase. It lasted about three years.


I'm glad there's hope yet.

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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Kurt » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:06 pm

Montenegro has the best Rakia and it has an Albanian population that digs the Serbs...but that is about it I think. (might be better now)

Bulgaria is good. Check out Melnik. Great wine, and mountains shaped like sandstone pyramids. Veliko Turnavo has about the best tasting tap water in the world and the scenery is good too but the tap water....my god...tons better than perrier or any bottled water you can buy.

But I have not been there in years but I suspect Bulgaria is easier to travel to than when I lived there years ago. I also suspect English is more widely spoken but it can never hurt to learn a few words or teach yourself Cyrillic (you can teach yourself cyrillic in one day)
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby vagabond » Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:24 pm

Kurt wrote:But I have not been there in years but I suspect Bulgaria is easier to travel to than when I lived there years ago. I also suspect English is more widely spoken but it can never hurt to learn a few words or teach yourself Cyrillic (you can teach yourself cyrillic in one day)


I found that a lot of the young people (like many place) spoke good English. I only had to revert to using my Russian a few times w/ middle-aged and older folks but for the most part had no trouble. This was in the major cities so ymmv.

Bulgarian (regular Cyrillic)

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/bulgarian.htm

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/bulgarian.php

Montenegro it seems uses both Latin and the Serbo-Croat version of Cyrillic

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/montenegrin.htm
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Re: Montenegro or Bulgaria?

Postby Michael » Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:56 am

I was originally leaning towards Montenegro, but you guy's are selling me on Bulgaria. Besides, it'd give me an excuse to swing by Istanbul and then head north (or vice versa.) Cyrillic's not a problem, but I do need a phrasebook to get by.
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