TOP 10 MISTAKES

It is natural for people arriving in a completely unknown culture to err left, right and centre, but if you abide by the precepts of this brief, yet helpful guide, you will at least not make a complete fool of yourself. Girdle up your loins and prepare for a tough negotiation with Bulgaria's habits, whims, quirks and body language.

1. Plenty of "spaghetti sauce"?

The number of "Italian" restaurants – or at least restaurants bearing Italian names – sprouting all over Bulgaria may suggest otherwise, but no, Bulgarian cuisine has nothing to do with Italy. At its very core, it is quintessentially Balkan – read Ottoman – and the spaghetti, the pizzas, the antipasti and the tiramisus are just latterday additions. Why then, you may be forgiven for thinking, do Bulgarian supermarkets stock so many varieties of pasta sauce, all – inevitably – in various shades of red?

If you want to find the answer to the above the hard way, buy half a dozens jars of the "pasta sauce" you see at Lidl and put it on your tortellini. Ouch! What to the uninitiated does appear like pasta sauce is in fact that delicious Bulgarian relish called Lyutenitsa. The best one is of course homemade, but unless you know someone who has an aunt who subscribes to the habit of baking peppers and aubergines and boiling tomatoes, the core ingredients of Lyutenitsa, do try  some of the commercially available varieties. Best eaten as a spread on fresh bread or as a side dip for Kebapcheta. Never on pasta!

2. Simple headache

You want some Paracetamol or Alka Seltzer, something really simple to take away those morning blues? Do not go to DM or the like. In Bulgaria all medicines, including the most mundane ones, are sold at pharmacists. Any antibiotics will require a doctor's prescription which these days comes exclusively in e-form. If you are seriously sick and you need an antibiotic, your doctor will write one for you and you will just run to the nearest pharmacist, who will know an e-prescription has been given to you. You will touch no paper in the process.

3. Whose letters are those anyway?

One of the worst things to do when you touch down in Bulgaria is to ask the locals why they are still using the Russian alphabet... This will infuriate them surefire. What in the wide world has gained notoriety as "Russian" alphabet has a long and complicated history, which Bulgarians are taught from the Day 1 at school to be proud of. The "Cyrillic" alphabet was devised by two Byzantine monks at the behest of the emperor in Constantinople, in the 9th century, in order to impose more through control on the various Slavic tribes within his realm. Trouble is, though it is being referred to as "Cyrillic," after the brothers Cyril and Methodius, who contrapted it, strictly speaking it isn't. It is Glagolitic, on the basis of which, a century later, medieval Bulgarian scholars working mainly in Preslav (then Bulgarian capital) and Ohrid (now in the Republic of North Macedonia) forged the Cyrillic.

Confused already? Just forget about the Glagolitic and never imply the Cyrillic is anything but 100 percent Bulgarian.

4. Who are the Gypsies?

The overwhelming majority of Bulgarians will refer to a large group of other Bulgarians as "Gypsies." Obviously, Gypsies are ethnically and culturally different from the mainstream Bulgarians, but to claim they are not Bulgarians is like trying to tell the Welsh they do not belong in London. The Gypsies as an ethnic group originated in northern India in the 14th-15th centuries and moved on within the Ottoman Empire to what is today Bulgaria. Owing to their distinct appearance, tradition and so on they never fully integrated – or were never allowed to integrate fully. In all but the most open-minded local company some very nasty conversations will ensue the moment you opine that Gypsies are not subhuman. You'd be much better off if you don't.

5. Tripe stories

Scots, especially, will appreciate that Bulgaria proudly joins the commonwealth of all other tripe-eating nations in Europe. Haggis may be seen as a bit outlandish here, but the hearty Bulgar tripe soup is something both lorry drivers and university professors swear by. Under Communism, tripe was usually served in special restaurants called shkembedzhiynitsa. 

You may endear yourself beyond measure to any Bulgarian the moment you try to pronounce that. But with democracy attitudes to tripe soup became more, well, democratic, and now most restaurants will have tripe soup for lunch. Some hardcore traditionalists insist on eating it for breakfast as well. The classic way to imbibe Bulgarian tripe soup is with plenty of crushed garlic floating in red wine vinegar and ground hot chilly peppers.

6. Crossing streets

The horror stories of Bulgarian traffic, like so many other things in modern Bulgaria, are hugely exaggerated. You don't need to duck and run whenever you attempt to cross a Bulgarian street. In actual fact drivers will almost inevitably, at least in Sofia and the big cities, stop and give you way at ped x's. Some common sense will of course help, but crossing streets in Bulgaria is a lot less suicidal than in southern Italy.

7. Corrupt cops

One of those persistent myths. Traffic cops used to be extremely corrupt in the 2000s. Motorists had to cough up 20, 50 and even 100 euro notes for real and imaginary infractions, and the cash would inevitably end in some cops' pocket. 

Not any more. Bulgarian cops have improved beyond recognition. If they do flag you down, they will never ask for cash. If they do, don't give it to them. Ask for a ticket instead. In most cases that will conclude the conversation.

8. Football. What football?

One of Bulgaria's great points of pride is its football. While it is true there are great Bulgarian players who play for teams across the globe the Bulgarian national team rarely wins matches. The last major victory it scored was in... 1994, when the Bulgarians beat the Germans at the World Cup in the United States. This explains why Stoytchkov continues to be the most readily recognizable Bulgarian name abroad.

9. Family relations

Speakers of English are blessed because all you have to remember is the difference between a nephew and a niece. Aunts, uncles and their husbands and wives, are pretty straightforward, and if you want to keep things plain you can always resort to the tried-and-tested in-law. Not in Bulgaria. Bulgarian family relations are extremely complicated. There are hundreds of words denominating complex family relations like the wife of your brother, as opposed to the husband of your sister, and their parents and children. To make this even more complicated, the different words for the different family relations differ in the different parts of the country (pun unintended). Stick to the in-law structure and you'll be safe.

10. Shake me baby, nod me baby

Everyone coming to Bulgaria for the first time has been instructed that Bulgarians (like Greeks) are unique in Europe in that shaking their head means yes and nodding means no.  Some people diligently try to comply with the local habits and start shaking and nodding their heads when they have to say yes and no respectively. With post-Communist modernisation, however, plenty of Bulgarians travelled abroad and picked up the "correct" way of signifying yes and no with head movement. Consequently, whenever they encounter a foreigner they will try to shake and nod the Western way, thus increasing the chance for misunderstanding. If you want to be absolutely sure whether it is an yes or a no, ask for a verbalised rather than body language answer.