The bulge is one of the oldest, yet very metal rich Galactic components suggesting that it experienced early, rapid chemical enrichment.  Large spectroscopic surveys are beginning to unearth progressively more metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -2 dex) that are predicted to exist in models of galactic evolution, according to which the first stars did form in the bulge.  In this talk, I present an overview of endeavours to detect and characterize such stars.  While the chemical abundances of most candidates vastly overlap with those of halo stars, our sample also contains carbon-rich (CEMP) stars — the first detections of such objects in the bulge.  Based on kinematic considerations, I further discuss whether similar claims of metal-poor star
detections are true habitants of the bulge or rather halo stars passing through the central regions.  As a second, fascinating class of objects, I will then focus on globular clusters and their multiple stellar populations, and their role in the build-up of the Milky Ways halo.