Bulgaria tourist information

Bulgaria is a country in southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the east, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north mostly along the river Danube.

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Albena Balchik Bansko Borovets Bourgas Bozhentsi Devin Golden Sands Nessebar Pamporovo Plovdiv Primorsko Sandanski Silistra Sofia Sunny Beach Sveti Vlas Troyan Varna Veliko Tarnovo

Bulgaria comprises portions of the classical regions of Thrace, Moesia, and Macedonia. The southwest of the country is mountainous with two alpine ranges - Rila and Pirin and further east are the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains. Rila mountain includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula, peak Musala at 2925 meters (9,596 ft); the long range of the Balkan mountains runs west-east through the middle of the country, north of the famous Rose Valley. Hilly country and plains are found in the southeast, along the Black Sea coast in the east, and along Bulgaria's main river, the Danube in the north. Other major rivers include the Struma and the Maritsa river in the south.

A country often described to lie at the crossroads linking the East and West, Bulgaria was the centre of Slavic Europe during much of the Middle Ages, exerting considerable literary and cultural influence over the Eastern Orthodox Slavic world by means of the Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools. Bulgaria is also the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, the second most widely used alphabet in the world, which was developed in these two schools in the 10th century.

Bulgaria is well-known for its rich folklore, distinctive traditional music, rituals and tales, but the country's contribution to humanity also continued in the 19th and 20th century, when individuals such as John Atanasoff - born in USA with Bulgarian origin, regarded as the father of the digital computer, a number of noted opera singers (Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christoff, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova) and successful artists (Christo Javacheff, Pascin, Vladimir Dimitrov) popularized the culture of Bulgaria abroad.

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Cuisine ^*

Bulgarian cuisine is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe. Essentially Slavic, it shows Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern influences, and to a lesser extent Armenian, Italian, Mediterranean and Hungarian ones. Owing to the relatively warm climate and diverse geography affording excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits, Bulgarian cuisine is particularly diverse.

Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of dairy products and the variety of wines and local alcoholic drinks such as rakia, mastika and menta. Bulgarian cuisine features also a variety of hot and cold soups, an example of a cold soup being tarator. There are many different Bulgarian pastries as well such as banitsa.

Certain entries, salads, soups and dishes go well with alcoholic beverages and the alcohol of choice for some is Bulgarian wine.

Tarator is a cold soup (or a liquid salad), popular in the summertime in Albania and the Republic of Macedonia. It is made of yoghurt, cucumbers, garlic, walnuts, dill, vegetable oil, and water. It is best served chilled or even with ice. Local variations may replace yoghurt with water and vinegar, omit nuts or dill, or add bread. The cucumbers may on very rare occasions be replaced with lettuce or carrots.

Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian pastry prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs and pieces of sirene (white cheese) between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. Macedonians refer to it as zelnik, maznik, or more loosely as pita.

Traditionally, lucky charms are put into the pastry on certain occasions, particularly on Christmas Eve, the first day of Christmas, or New Year's Eve. These charms may be coins or small symbolic objects (e.g., a small piece of a dogwood branch with a bud, symbolizing health or longevity). More recently, people have started writing happy wishes on small pieces of paper and wrapping them in tin foil. Wishes may include happiness, health, or success throughout the new year.

Banitsa is served for breakfast with plain yogurt, ayran, or boza. It can be eaten hot or cold. Some varieties include banitsa with spinach (spanachena banitsa) or the sweet version, banitsa with milk (mlechna banitsa) or pumpkin (tikvenik).

Shopska salad is popular in Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and the Czech Republic. It is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, raw or roasted peppers (preferably roasted), and sirene (white brine cheese). The vegetables are usually diced and covered in a thick layer of grated or diced sirene. In areas where the sirene cheese is unavailable, feta cheese may be used as a substitute. Lastly, vinegar and vegetable oil may be used by the consumer to dress the salad, and in restaurants, these are provided separately. This salad is often consumed as an appetizer with rakiya. Shopska salad derives its name from the regional name of the Shopi from the region of Sofia. The Shopi are credited with developing the original recipe.

History

The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent in 1908.

Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration into the EU. The country joined NATO in 2004.

Transportation

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Terrain Mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast.

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Languages Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

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Religion Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Roman Catholic 1.7%, Jewish 0.1%, Protestant, Gregorian-Armenian, and other 3.4% (1998)

Ethnic Groups Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001)