Bulgarians are friendly and hospitable

Bulgarians being really friendly and hospitable is not a myth or a long-gone feature of a Communist society. Our guests keep confirming that everywhere they go, people are really friendly and always eager to help them even if they don’t speak English. Of course, guests are also pleasantly surprised by how many people (usually younger) speak English. Not in the hospitality sector, though.

But back to the point with an example. Two guests from New Zealand wanted to park their car in the so-called “blue zone” paid public parking area. However, they wanted to park for the whole day although you are allowed to park for no more than 2 hours usually. The lady that sold them the tickets didn’t speak any English but she was eager to help. Not only did she allow them to park morning till evening but also let them stay 30 additional minutes in the morning so that they can have a longer breakfast till 9:00 🙂

Here in Sofia you still cannot pay in advance for tomorrow. If it’s 17:45 and you pay for an hour but the paid parking is until 18:30, you lose 15 minutes. In Dusseldorf, for example, I was pleasantly surprised that when I paid to a machine, the ticket I received was until next morning and the remaining time was transferred.