Bulgarian Adventure Holidays

When I first landed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia in January 2005 one of the first questions I was asked was "Are you here to buy property"?

This took me aback, and I tried to casually say maybe to the Bulgarian who worked at the Hostel I stayed at.
He went on to say that "every englishman that he had met in the last three months (January 2005) had come looking for property.

My first property inspection trips involved looking around the Borovets ski area south of Sofia. This decision was influenced by the fact that there was another english guy staying at the small hostel, who had bought a three storey house three months previously about 10 Km from the main Borovets Ski resort, which he was intending to convert into a Ski Chalet.

I also checked out Bourgas (arrived by coach at 3am) on a snowy January morning, but was not impressed.
Next stop on my first trip to Bulgaria was to take the train from Bourgas to Plovdiv, and on to the villages around Smolyan.

Tried to buy in Podvis Village near Smolyan, but it fell through.

My second trip to Bulgaria in March 2005 was straight to Veliko Tarnovo in the centre of the country. Veliko Tarnovo, and the surrounding region is very popular with Expat British people, and could be the favourite area for long term living in Bulgaria.

Other favourites are the Ski resorts (Borovets,Bansko, Pamporovo etc), and also the Black Sea coast resorts and surrounding region.

Where do you live, or reccommend?