Patrick - the BEST private guide in Bulgaria

<p>If you are planning a trip to Bulgaria and would like to have a private guide and driver, I highly recommend Patrick - his website is <a href="http://www.guide-bg.com/">http://www.guide-bg.com/</a></p><p>My husband and I were in Bulgaria for a week in August 2014 and I had pre-arranged with Patrick to be our guide and driver during that time.&nbsp; From the first email, he was wonderful.&nbsp; He responds quickly (I got an answer the next day!) and answers all questions and gives you an idea of all the tours/attractions that you can visit while in Bulgaria.&nbsp; You then work with Patrick to come up with the perfect itinerary for your trip.&nbsp; You can be a big part of the planning (I was - I sent him a list of places that I was hoping to visit and with his help narrowed down the list to fit into our time frame) or let him do all the planning for you.&nbsp; Patrick has many contacts throughout the country and is able to arrange special concerts, visits, meals, etc that you are not able to arrange yourself or with a big tour company.&nbsp; The reason is that these are friends that Patrick has made thru the years of being a guide and the special visits he is able to arrange are the highlights of the trip!&nbsp; I have traveled to many countries around the world and I am a big do-it-yourself believer - it takes a lot to impress me as far as a guide - Patrick did impress me again and again!&nbsp; My husband and I are already talking about another trip to Bulgaria with Patrick as our guide to visit some of the destinations that we were unable to visit the last trip and also expand the trip into other bordering countries with Patrick (yes, he does that also!)&nbsp; I know it sounds like I am gushing, and I am, but that is just how impressed and pleased I was with Patrick.&nbsp; Thru the emails we exchanged I felt that I already knew him (he even sent me a couple of pictures and a great email from one of his vacations because I had expressed an interest).&nbsp; When Patrick meets you at the airport, you almost immediately feel at ease because you have corresponded so many times that he already feels like someone you know.&nbsp; When we arrived at Sofia airport Patrick was just the guide that we were meeting, one week later when we left Ruse (with the private taxi that Patrick has arranged to take us to Bucharest to continue our vacation) he was our friend and it was difficult to say goodbye.&nbsp; Hugs were exchanged and Patrick implored us to contact him if we had an difficulties during the remainder of our trip (we still had 18more days in various countries in Eastern Europe).&nbsp; Part way thru the remainder of the trip we received an email from Patrick asking how we were doing and saying that he missed our smiling faces.&nbsp; What a nice note to get, especially being so far from home, it was nice to know that we had a friend who cared that was at least relatively nearby should we need him.&nbsp; As far as the guide experience, Patrick was very knowledgeable about all the destinations in Bulgaria that we visited.&nbsp; We learned so much from him and always in an interesting way.&nbsp; He was willing to share as much history as we wanted to hear but always stating that if he was talking too much or we were getting overloaded on the history to please let him know.&nbsp; He wanted our trip to be amazing and to our liking.&nbsp; I truly can recommend Patrick to anyone who would like a private guide in Bulgaria; I know you will be pleased.</p>