Attractions Bulgaria

Archive for 2009

Pirin is not only known for hosting Bulgaria’a most modern ski resort in Bulgaria, but also for being the steepest mountain of all, with sharp peaks and difficult tracks. Vihren is the steepest of all.

Bulgaria has for some time been laughed upon by experienced Ski-ers as the Piste take, it has the shortest Piste lengths in Europe, so where exactly to apprentice skiers learn.

Dont listen to them folks.

Its ideal not only for the learner/novice its also appeals to those skiers who are approaching middle age management like me who are not as daring as they used to be and leap a mountain in one single bound.

• North Pirin is the largest of the subdivisions and the mountain’s downright part. It takes up 74% of the whole range’s territory, being about 42 km long and ranging from Predel to the north to the Todorova Polyana Saddle (1,883 m) to the south. North Pirin is the most often visited part of the mountain, featuring many lakes, resthouses and shelters, and also the one where the highest peak, Vihren is located. It is further subdivided into several parts due to its size: Mramor Part, North Central Part, South Central Part, Polezhan Part, Kamenitsa Part, Sinanitsa Part and Debeli Rid Part.
• Central Pirin extends between the Todorova Polyana Saddle and the Popovi Livadi Saddle. It constitutes the smallest (7%) and shortest part, being only 7 km long. The highest peak is Orelyak (2,099 m), while the other peaks are under 2,000 m and heavily forested, usually deciduous. There are only two resthouses, Popovi Livadi and Malina.
• South Pirin is the lowest and most round part, the highest peak being Svesthnik at 1,975 m. It occupies 17% of Pirin and is about 11 km long and wide. Well forested with coniferous and deciduous trees, it is the most rarely visited part of the mountains and thus lacks any resthouses.

Attraction Lifestyles

Gary Woollard

Tel: 01793-330083

SKYPE ADDRESS: attractlife

garykw@attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

www.attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

Above is the Popinolashki waterfall featured amongst the Pirin

Mountain range.

Baikushev’s Pine (Featured right) Is in fact the country’s oldest

tree planted over 1.300 years ago.

Kraft Foods has poured 40 million leva into the Svoge chocolate factory, north of Sofia, making Bulgaria a “regional production centre”, a company press statement from the Bulgarian branch has said, quoted by Dnevnik daily on September 15 2009.

Photo: John Gress

Kraft Foods was initially undecided whether to make the investment in Bulgaria or Romania, but in the end the management agreed that Bulgaria provides superior conditions because the Romanian Brasov factory is in the town centre and therefore gridlocked, making it virtually impossible to expand.

The Svoge factory has received the financial package earmarked for the purchasing and installation of new technological production lines, of which two are already in operation, while the third installation will be activated by the end of December.

Furthermore, in 2008, Kraft Food invested 1.6 million leva for new technology in the company’s Kostinbrod factory.

The investment has been achieved, according to the statement, exclusively through the company’s own capital. Kraft Foods Bulgaria envisages increase of exports for Greece, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Hungary. With new production lines, the factory will reach a capacity of 100 000 chocolate units a day.

Meanwhile, Kraft Foods Bulgaria have announced a drop in sales for the first half of 2009, as opposed to corresponding figures for 2008. The company envisages that the current trend, in light of the economic crisis, is unlikely to improve by the end of December 2009.

Article derived from Sofia Echo

British Airways, the worlds most cherished airline flys into VARNA BULGARIA FROM ONLY £104. I Personally flew with them when I went to Cyprus and out of 5 of their major competitors they were not only the least expensive they were the most comfortable with leather seats and plenty of leg room.

Visit our site, free advertsing.

This place is spectacular and absolutely stunning, the gorge walls start off in the south about 1.2km from the village of Trigrad and continue north, the walls are 300m high and at the start of the gorge are 300m apart. As you continue northwards they narrow down to just 100km apart forcing the road into just one lane only. Not a road for joy riders.

We can take you there, we work very closely with Hostel Bookers dot com, you can book a hostel from either of our sites www.attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

Once you have chosen your ideal holiday home in Bulgaria, its time to get it furnished.

We offer class one quality Bulgarian furniture, can be compared to the U.K. Ikea style, click on our PDF, Either below or on our main property site www.attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

Attraction Lifestyles Furniture Package

Get it furnished and then advertise it for free on our site.

Please note our change of Phone number and web address

is now

01793-330083

and the new site is www.attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

VantageHeights%20Brochure%20Unbranded

This beautiful Black sea coast developement is a must see.

Attraction Lifestyles

Gary Woollard

Tel: 01793-330083

SKYPE ADDRESS: attractlife

garykw@attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

garyattractionlifestyles@yahoo.co.uk

www.attractionlifestylesworldwide.com

www.attractionsbulgaria.com

If you are visiting the Bulgarian capital Sofia a great alternative to a hotel is the many private serviced apartments available for rent in the city. There are literally hundreds of such apartments available in Sofia, and they can be an interesting and cost effective alternative.

The rise of property prices over recent years in the city have coincided with increased tourism, and Bulgarians who bought apartments when prices were low as investments have taken to renting out their properties.
Initially often rented out to travelling business people and others working in the city, increasingly these apartments are rented out to tourists and travellers.

Standards and prices vary greatly, but on the whole apartments offer excellent value for money if you want self-catering accommodation. Many apartments are right in the centre of the city so you don’t have to travel far to see the wide range of shops and attractions Sofia has to offer.

There are many sites on the Internet where you can select apartments a good example of which is Hostelbookers. And, as you will see many are decorated and equipped to a very high standard, such as the one shown in the photograph here.

It’s worth checking that the apartments have satellite TV in English – if that’s your thing of course. Also ask about air conditioning in the summer months, and if there is a heater in the colder months as the central heating is state run and you won’t have control in some cases as to when it comes on and goes off.

Something to remember is not to panic when you see the building as in many older building the hallways and entrances are poorly maintained. If you’ve selected well once you open the door to your apartment you’ll find an attractive and welcoming place to stay.

Hostelbookers offer a wide range of apartments, hosts and hotels throughout Bulgaria, and worldwide.

Visit the ALW Site and advertise for free

New flights to Bulgaria have been announced by Hungarian carrier, Wizz Air… starting in the winter season of 2009.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, Wizz Air will fly from Varna to Luton (London), departing at 6pm Bulgarian local time. This runs from September 19th 2009, and will continue until May 2010. After that… flights from Varna to Luton will switch to Sundays and depart at 1pm London time.

Wednesdays and Sundays from October 25th 2009 will see flights from Sofia to Eindhoven – leaving at 5:20pm Sofia time, and returning at 8:40 from Eindhoven.

To book hotels or hostel accommodation during your trip, we wholeheartedly recommend our partners Hostelbookers

Visit the ALW Site and advertise for free today!

Good news for Bulgaria, is the rapid rise in the number of new shopping centres in Bulgaria. This is happening despite the global downturn in business… and once again points towards Bulgaria as a strong contender for overseas investment.

Bulgaria is still almost at the bottom of the charts for shopping centres – but this is not surprising, considering the average Bulgarian has less shopping power than the average Western European. However, with all the changes in Europe, and with Bulgaria soon to join the euro… growth is assured… and backers are seeing Bulgaria as potential shopping heaven.

However, should construction levels in Bulgaria maintain the same level, by the end of 2011, Bulgaria will have progressed from the current 25 sq m per 1000 people to levels currently enjoyed by Belgium, Malta and Croatia, who have anything from 100 to 75 sq m per 1000 people, provided of course that the aforementioned countries do not construct additional shopping malls.

Furthermore, a recent Cushman & Wakefield report indicated that construction levels in Bulgaria are actually considerably slower than they would have been had it not been for the global economic downturn. This saw the number of proposed projects slashed by 20 per cent.

More than 500 000 sq m of new retail area are expected to be completed in Bulgaria, which is more than the proposed construction in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and the Ukraine.

In western Europe the crisis, lack of financing and crediting, the deteriorating global recession and many other interrelated factors have contributed to the sharp decline of total volume of proposed construction for 2011, which in comparison to corresponding figures during the peak of the sector in 2007 has marked a 45 per cent decline. According to the Cushman & Wakefield report, however, the industry expects a rise in business in the following two to three years.

In a report by the international consultant firm, Jones Lang LaSalle, it is revealed that the total volume of investments in shopping malls in Europe has risen by as much as 85 per cent in Q2 of 2009, reaching two billion euro.

Derived from an article in Sofia Echo.

French retail chain Carrefour will open a store in Mall Pleven, developer Aladin Investment said on May 27, as quoted by Dnevnik daily. The hypermarket chain would rent 2 400 sq m on the shopping centre’s ground floor, Aladin Harfan, owner of Aladin Investment, was quoted as saying.

Mall Pleven, a 80 million leva development, is still under construction but is expected to be completed by the end of the year. “Construction is progressing according to schedule,” Harfan was quoted as saying.

The shopping centre is expected to open in early 2010 and has generated “heightened interest” from retailers, according to Colliers International, contracted to rent out the 100 stores that will spread over 17 500 sq m in the finished mall.

Currently, there are eight Carrefour projects under construction nationwide. The first hypermarket of the French group opened for business at the end of March 2009 in Bourgas, Bulgaria’s second largest Black Sea city.

The first Carrefour hypermarket in Sofia is expected to open in February 2010 on the Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard.

Derived from an article in Sofia Echo.

During the second quarter of 2009, newly built apartment blocks across Bulgaria increased by 24.1% according to data from the National Statistics Institute.

Reports showed that the number of new apartments had soared by a whopping 30.2% on an annual basis, whilst the growth shown by completed accounts for new buildings grew by 6.9%.  In just May to July almost 700 properties were built, encompassing almost 7000 apartments. Just in that timescale we saw an increase of over 50% in new apartments across Bulgaria.

Varna was top of the pops with the most new buildings being completed, closely followed by Bourges, and then Sofia. However, the same report showed that no new construction took place in Razgrad, Montana or Haskovo during those months.

This is a healthy trend, and one that we wish to see continuing. Long may Bulgaria fly in the face of the economic downturn, and global decrease in demand on the property market.

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