Facts at a Glance
Full country name: Republic of Bulgaria
Area: 110,912 sq km
Population: 9 million
Capital city: Sofia (pop 1.1 million)
People: 85% Bulgarian, 8.5% Turkish, 2.6% Gypsy, 2.5% Macedonian
Language: Bulgarian. Turkish and Romany are spoken by minorities.
Religion: 80% Bulgarian Orthodox, 13% Muslim
Government: Democracy
President: Petar Stoyanov
Prime Minister: Ivan Kostov
Bulgaria sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, right in the belly of the Balkans. Any journey of length showcases the country's amazing variety of landforms. From the banks of the Danube, a windswept plain slopes up to the rounded summits of the Stara Planina. This east-west range runs right across the northern half of the country from the Black Sea to Yugoslavia. Southern Bulgaria is even more mountainous. Musala Peak (2925m) in the Rila Mountains south of Sofia is the highest mountain between the Alps and Transcaucasia, and is almost equalled by Vihren Peak (2915m) in the Pirin Massif further south. The Rodopi Mountains stretch east along the Greek border from Rila and Pirin, separating the Aegean Sea from the Thracian Plain of central Bulgaria. This plain opens onto the Black Sea coast with great bays and coastal lakes at Burgas and Varna.
Macedonian landscape looking towards the Pirin Massif (10K)
As in many post-communist countries, the lure of fast cash outweighs economically sustainable development. Logging and animal poaching occur in protected areas, endangering birds such as the white stork and the black vulture. Bulgaria's bear population, temporarily boosted by 'bear refugees' from war-torn Yugoslavia, is again declining. Deer, bunnies and sneaky tree-loppers are the only furry critters likely to scram out of your way as you tramp the Bulgarian forests.
Some Bulgarian bears have taken on humiliating day-jobs (12K)
The Kozloduj nuclear power plant 200km north of Sofia is one of the world's most dangerous nuclear facilities. Since the plant opened in 1974, there have been periodic minor accidents and safety scares which have forced partial shutdowns and caused power cuts across the country. Despite Western aid allocated to close the facility, no moves have been made to shut it down.
In antiquity, Bulgaria, the land of Orpheus and Spartacus, belonged to the Kingdom of Macedonia. By 46 BC, the Romans had conquered the whole peninsula, which they inhabited until invasions by Thraco-Illyrian tribes left the area a devastated wasteland. Peaceful Slavic farmers grazed in during the 6th century. In 679, the Bulgars, a fierce Turkic tribe, crossed the Danube to found the First Bulgarian Empire; they then expanded south at Byzantium's expense before finally conquering Macedonia in the 9th century. The Bulgars were eventually assimilated by the more numerous Slavs, and adopted their language and way of life.
In 865 a Byzantine monk who painted a picture of hell on the palace walls managed to frighten Tsar Boris I into accepting Orthodox Christianity. In 870 the Bulgarian Church became independent with its own patriarch, which encouraged Tsar Simeon (893-927) to expand his kingdom through Serbia to the Adriatic Sea. Simeon's kingdom shrank again when he overstretched his covetous hands toward the Byzantine crown. This weakened Bulgaria, making it susceptible to the Byzantine emperor, Basil II, who had the eyes of 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers put out after a decisive victory in 1014. Bulgaria passed to Byzantine rule four years later.
The Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396) was founded after two brothers, Asen and Peter, led a general uprising against Byzantium. Swollen with renewed confidence, the new empire covered all of Thrace, Macedonia and Albania. It was gnawed away over the next two centuries by the Tatars and then the Turks. By the end of the 14th century, the Turks controlled all of Bulgaria, beginning five centuries of Ottoman rule.
As repressive regimes go, the Turks weren't too bad, making no systematic attempts to convert the Bulgarians to Islam or to eradicate their language and customs. It was only as Turkish power weakened in the 18th century that Bulgarians began to suffer rising taxes and inflation, the burden of unsuccessful Turkish wars against the Austrians and the Russians. Resentment brewed and the Turks responded fitfully (in between wars) by introducing reforms aimed at assimilating the Bulgarians, but it was too late. In the early 19th century popular customs and folklore blossomed in the National Revival, while underground revolutionaries plotted against the Turks. When a revolt broke out prematurely at Koprivshtitsa in April 1876 the Turks suppressed it with unprecedented brutality, while spreading tales of 'Bulgarian atrocities' throughout Europe. About 15,000 Bulgarians were massacred at Plovdiv and 58 villages destroyed. The story goes that Pazardzhik was saved by a daring clerk who moved one comma in an official order, turning 'burn the town, not spare it' into 'burn the town not, spare it'.
Outraged European allies came to Bulgaria's rescue in the late 1870s. Russia, the chief saviour, suffered 200,000 casualties in the conflict. When the Russian army had advanced to within 50km of Istanbul, Turkey ceded 60% of the Balkan Peninsula to Bulgaria. The modern history of Bulgaria - and the Bulgarian little brother complex in relation to Russia - dates from this 1878 liberation. European powers, fearful of a powerful Russian satellite in the Balkans, hacked away bits of Bulgaria, leaving everyone unsatisfied and ready to snap at the two Balkan Wars which preceded WWI. Bulgaria did none too well, losing Macedonia and grumbling its way into an alliance with the Central Powers in WWI, despite opposition within Bulgaria. The interwar years were characterised by serious problems with Macedonian refugees, communist uprisings and economic crises. The most horrifying incident of Bulgaria's balkanisation came in September 1923 when thousands of agrarian and communist agitators were killed in a reactionary campaign. Bulgaria sided with Germany at the outbreak of WWII, but Tsar Boris III, fearing a popular uprising, refused to declare war on Russia. The underground Fatherland Front consolidated opposition to the pro-German government, eventually gaining the popular support necessary to overthrow the monarchy. Communist Todor Zhivkov persuaded a none too reluctant army to switch sides, resulting in the Bulgarians fighting alongside their erstwhile liberators (Russia) and against their recent allies (Germany) until the war's end.
Under Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria's leader from 1954 to 1989, the country became one of the most prosperous in Eastern Europe, with farmers allowed to till small private plots and industrial growth eventually contributing to over half the gross national product. The collapse of communism in 1989 left industry exposed, and the transition to democracy has been a troubled one. The renamed communist party (now the Bulgarian Socialist Party) has managed to control the direction of newly democratic Bulgaria, restricting the influence of the president to troubled noises. Rapid inflation, high unemployment, the lack of a social safety net and the visible wealth of sanctioned criminals have caused widespread disillusionment. Progress, plodding beast that it is, continues under President Petar Stoyanov.
GDP: US$40 billion
GDP per head: US$4,630
Annual growth: -5%
Inflation: 300%
Major industries: Food processing, machine and metal building, electronics, chemicals, rose oil.
Major trading partners: CIS, Germany, Italy, Greece
After five centuries of Turkish rule, Bulgarian culture reappeared in the 19th century as writers and artists strove to reawaken national consciousness. Zahari Zograf (1810-53) painted magnificent frescos inspired by medieval Bulgarian art in monasteries. The carvings of highly contemplative monks appear in monastery museums throughout Bulgaria: saints the size of grains of rice are a particular highlight. Bulgaria's poets show a tendency to meet with violent and early death, lending a poignancy to the high idealism of writers such as Hristo Botev (rebel folk poet of the late 19th century), Dimcho Debelyanov (lyric poet killed in WWI) and Geo Milev (poet of the post-WWI social upheavals, kidnapped and murdered by police). The grand old man of Bulgarian literature, Ivan Vazov, is one of the few who made it over the age of 30. His novel Under the Yoke describes the 1876 uprising against the Turks.
An ancient Greek myth ascribes a Thracian origin to Orpheus and the Muses, a heritage which Bulgaria's singers still take very seriously. Orthodox religious chants convey the mysticism of regional fables and legends, whereas the spontaneous folk songs and dances of the villages meld classical origins with a strong Turkish influence. International interest in Bulgarian vocal music was ignited by groups such as Le Mystere des Voix Bulgaires, who have taken Bulgaria's polyphonic female choir singing to a world audience.
Bulgarians fill up on meals of meat, potatoes and beans, crisped up with salads, and tossed back with dangerous liquor: beware of water glasses filled with rakia (ouch) and mastika (aaah). Breakfast is a bread-based snack on the run - look out for hole-in-the-wall kiosks selling delicious banitsi - cheese pastries, often washed down with boza, a gluggy millet drink which is an acquired taste. Lunch is the main meal of the day. Dinner appears late at night, mostly to signal the end of aperitifs and the start of serious slugging.
Bulgarian is a South Slavic language written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Saints Cyril and Methodius, two brothers from Thessaloniki, invented the Cyrillic script in the 9th century and one of the strong bonds between Bulgarians and Russians is their shared use of this alphabet. Russian is the second language of older Bulgarians and is still taught in schools. Younger people are more likely to be interested in speaking a version of English peppered with classic rock lyrics and advertising slogans. Bulgarians waggle their heads Indian-style to mean yes, and nod to mean no. It is normal to feel like your head is a pogo-stick; just try to stay upright.
Public holidays include New Year (1 and 2 January), 1878 Liberation Day (3 March), Cyrillic Alphabet Day (24 May) and Christmas (25 and 26 December). The reason for the two Christmas days is that religious Bulgarians were forbidden to practise during the Communist era, so they invented a secular - and suspiciously Christmas-like - celebration on the following day. Since the collapse of Communism, the original Christmas Day has been celebrated as before, but the invented holiday has been sensibly retained. Bulgarians observe a number of traditional customs. Trifon Zarezan on 14 February is the ancient festival of the wine growers. Vines are pruned and sprinkled with wine to ensure a bounteous harvest. On 1 March Bulgarians give one another martenitsi, red and white tasselled threads which are worn for health and happiness at the coming of spring. When wearers see their first stork of the season, the martenitsa is tied to the nearest tree.
At the Koprivshtitsa Folk Festival, which is held every four years, some 4000 finalists compete for awards. There is a biennial festival in Pernik at which participants, wearing traditional masks and costumes, perform ancient dances to drive away evil spirits and ask the good spirits for a plentiful harvest. Koukeri is another spring festival, most avidly celebrated in the Rodopi Mountains. The Festival of Roses is celebrated with folk songs and dances at Kazanlâk and Karlovo on the first Sunday in June.
Visas: EU and USA passport holders do not usually require a visa, but most other travellers must shell out for Bulgaria's expensive entry documents. Travellers on package tours are the exception - if the Bulgarian authorities know where you're going to be, there's generally less red tape.
Health risks: No particular risks, but you're advised to stick to private clinics if you require medical treatment in Bulgaria.
Currency: Bulgarian leva
Relative costs:
- cheap meal: US$1-4
- mid-range restaurant meal: US$5-10
- top-end restaurant meal: US$12-20
- cheap room: US$2-10
- mid-range hotel room: US$20-40
- top-end hotel room: US$50-100
Time: GMT/UTC plus two hours
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (see the conversion table.)
Tourism: 8 million visitors annually
Sofia
Sofia, the only big city in Bulgaria, manages to mix the urban problems of drugs and crime with donkey carts, homegrown produce stalls and summertime European café laziness. Tastefully rebuilt after WWII, the city centre is attractive, with its large open areas paved with yellow bricks, while the muddy suburbs are monstrosities of Stalinist Lego, prowled by stray dogs and inhabited by unsmiling people for whom the struggle to make ends meet is a full-time occupation.
The central train station is on the north side of the city centre. From the station, bulevard Marija Luiza runs south to Sveta Nedelya Cathedral, restored after a 1924 bomb attempt on Tsar Boris III in which 124 people (including most of the cabinet) were killed. The 14th-century church of St Petra Semerdjuska is nearby. The inconspicuous exterior gives no clue to the lovely frescos in the dim, spooky nave. On the other side of the cathedral, near the National Museum of History, is Vitosha bulevard, the fashionable avenue of modern Sofia.
The eastern end of the city centre is dominated by the neo-Byzantine Alexander Nevski Church, a memorial to the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died in the fight for Bulgaria's independence. Ploschtad Batenberg to the east is dominated by the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum. Dimitrov was prime minister of Bulgaria from 1946 until he died in 1949. Until mid-1990, when his embalmed body was cremated, the public was allowed to file reverently past the deified figure while an honour guard looked on. Across ploschtad Batenberg to the north is the Former Party House, an oppressive Stalinist construction which was sacked and partially burned by demonstrators in 1990. It subsequently served as a cinema, bazaar and disco, but now government business is once more conducted here.
Mt Vitosha, the rounded mountain which looms just 8km south of Sofia, is a popular ski resort in winter, while in summer a chair lift operates for the benefit of sightseers. Vitosha is accessible by local bus, making it an extremely popular Sunday outing for the locals, so take the trip on another day if you can.
With the demise of communist-controlled tourism, it has become much easier to find a cheap place to stay in Sofia, although foreigners still pay up to 10 times more than Bulgarians. Your best bet is one of the new private hotels springing up around the city centre, or else try one of the private room agencies which organise single and double rooms with bathrooms in people's apartments. You'll find Bulgaria's most cosmopolitan cuisine in Sofia, though it also has the country's widest range of greasy American belly-glop. The best places to look out for are mehanas, tavern-style traditional restaurants, usually very cheap, and serving traditional Bulgarian food until late.
Rila Mountains
The majestic Rila Mountains south of Sofia are the place to go hiking. The classic trip across the mountains to Rila Monastery can be done in a couple of days, depending on your shoe leather and stopovers. Those packing heavy duty leg batteries can start at the ski resort of Borovets and climb Musala Peak, the highest mountain in the Balkan Peninsula, on the way to the monastery.
Rila Monastery, nestling in a narrow valley 119km south of Sofia, helped to keep Bulgarian culture alive during the long dark age of Turkish rule from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The monastery was founded by Ivan Rilski in 927 and served as a retreat for hermits; it was moved 3km to its present location in 1335. The clock tower beside the church is all that remains from this period. In 1833, a fire destroyed the monastery, but it was soon rebuilt on a grand scale in the National Revival style. The magnificent church, with its three great domes, is lined with 1200 frescos depicting donors and biblical figures. There's also a gilded iconostasis depicting 36 biblical scenes. The museums here house religious art and artefacts as well as folk costumes and household implements. A couple of km into the forest is the cave where Ivan Rilski lived, and where he is now buried. According to a local legend, those able to pass through the hole in the roof of the cave have not sinned, and since you'd have to be Mack-sized to touch the sides, the legend is very popular.
The Rila Monastery's domes softened by winter mist (16K)
Rila is accessible by daily buses from Sofia (three hours). There is accommodation in the monastery, and in camping grounds nearby.
Veliko Târnovo, capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1393), is laced with history. The Yantra River winds through a gorge in the centre of the city and picturesque houses cling to the cliffs. The ruined Tsaravets Citadel, almost encircled by the river, was a vast fortress sacked by the Turks in 1393. The rebuilt Assumption Patriarchal Church at the top of the hill is great squizzing territory. You can look down on the foundations of the ruined Royal Palace, home to 22 successive tsars. Execution Rock is a daunting bluff directly to the north, where traitors were once pushed into the Yantra River.
Jutting and abutting Veliko Târnovo house (15K)
Because Veliko Târnovo is a university town, it's quite a lively place to lob for a few days. There are lots of bars on the uphill side of the main drag, and you only need to follow the clouds of cigarette smoke to work out which one's the hippest and happeningest. It's only a short roll down the cobblestones to a number of reasonably cheap hostels, hotels and restaurants.
In 510 BC the Greeks founded Nesebâr, ancient Mesembria, on the site of a Thracian settlement. Of great importance to Byzantium as a trading town, many of the 40 churches built in Nesebâr during the 5th and 6th centuries are now in ruin. Nesebâr ceased to be an active trading post in the 18th century and today lives mostly from fishing and tourism. The town sits on a small rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Remnants of the 2nd-century city walls rise above the bus stop, and stone and timber houses line winding, cobbled streets.
Roman brickwork some centuries after the brickies knocked off (20K)
Although there are private rooms and cheapish hotels on the peninsula, your chances during summer are better in the abominable resort of Sunny Beach, 10 minutes west of Nesebâr and 36km north of Burgas. There are frequent buses between Burgas and Sunny Beach, and regular shuttles on to Nesebâr.
Rodopi Mountains
If you don't mind being stuck in potato and peasant country, take a slow wander through the Rodopi Mountains, home to Bulgaria's most isolated and ethnically diverse communities. The landscape takes in spectacular gorges and steep rocky slopes which open onto tiered fields and pine forests. The traditions of Bulgaria's Slavs are strongest in the Rodopi, and it is here most of the Muslim population lives: ethnic Turks and Pomaks, whose ancestors converted during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. During the communist period a 20km exclusion zone was enforced along Bulgaria's southern border, ensuring that the villagers in this region were isolated.
Rodopi locals (21K)
Many travellers only get as far south as Bachkovo Monastery, 30km south of Plovdiv. Smolyan, a large logging town 70km further south, is a good base for visits to the surrounding area. The ski resort of Pamporovo, 16km north-west, is popular with package tourists from Britain and Germany, but day-trippers are also welcome. Twenty km north-west of Smolyan is Shiroka Lâka, a frighteningly scenic village of stone houses, meandering goats and chatting villagers striking casual poses with pitchforks and donkeys. The School for Traditional Music, founded in 1971 to preserve Rodopi folklore and music, gives regular performances to the public.
Shiroka Lâka's stone houses back onto pine-covered hills (17K)
Koprivshtitsa
Koprivshtitsa has been preserved as an open-air museum of the Bulgarian National Revival and even today is only slightly tarnished by Coca Cola and Marlboro. It was here on 20 April 1876 that Todor Kableshkov led an uprising against the Turks which eventually led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. These events are well-documented in the various house museums; but even without its place in history, the village would still be worth a visit if only to walk its winding cobbled streets and tarry on the stone bridges spanning trickling streams. You can stay in many of the old houses, some of which even have hot water! Trains run to Koprivshtitsa from Sofia (two hours) a few times a day.
Varvara
Varvara is a tiny fishing community 82km south of Burgas. In winter it's pin-drop quiet, but the village is transformed each summer when artists and alternative lifestylers from Sofia camp on the fields above the beach. The more established groovers have their own leaf and stick shelters which are repaired each year. Private rooms are available in the village if you don't fancy sleeping under the stars or bunking in with your new Bulgarian mates, and you can buy fish and vegetables from the locals.
Skiing is well-established in Bulgaria, with the season running from December to April. Mt Vitosha, on the southern outskirts of Sofia, is the most accessible of Bulgaria's ski areas; but the largest resort is at Borovets, 70km south of Sofia, which has the highest mountains in the Balkans as a backdrop. Pamporovo in the Rodopi Mountains is popular with package tourists and Bansko in the Pirin Mountains is Bulgaria's least commercialised ski resort. Mountain climbing is feasible and you don't have to be Edmund Hillary to scale Musala Peak (although it would help to be alive). There are less strenuous hiking possibilities in the Stara Planina range and in the Rodopi Mountains.
Getting There & Away
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines has flights to most European capitals, the major Asian hubs and some cities in North America, but it's a notoriously unreliable airline. Before buying a return air ticket to Bulgaria from Western Europe or North America, check the price of the cheapest package tour to the Black Sea resorts. This could be cheaper and you can just throw away the hotel vouchers if you don't care to sit on the beach for two weeks. Travellers from Australasia will usually have to connect through more popular European destinations. Buses and trains are the easiest way to get to Bulgaria from Europe and Turkey, with frequent services from Greece, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, Istanbul, Prague and Western Europe. There are no buses to Romania, and the train from Greece is usually a hassle (take the bus).
When you enter Bulgaria by car you must state which border crossing you'll be using when you leave and pay a road tax accordingly. Route restrictions apply if you're only in transit through Bulgaria. A regular car ferry crosses the Danube from Vidin to Calafat in Romania. Crossing the 'Friendship Bridge' from Romania to Ruse in Bulgaria is painfully slow, though outbound travellers are not usually delayed.
Bulgaria's bus and train networks are extensive and pretty cheap, although plagued by illogical timetabling, mysterious cancellations and office staff with very important crosswords. Private buses compete with government transport over major routes, often making up for a slight price hike by including extras such as shock absorbers. You're unlikely to avoid a soundtrack composed of pop music you hoped you'd forgotten, and one hopes there is no connection between the filthy seats and the soft-porn wallpaper in most buses.
Recommended Reading
- Exit into History by journalist Eva Hoffman chronicles her trips through Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria.
- Nagel's Encyclopaedia-Guide Bulgaria is packed with history and description of Bulgaria's monuments and attractions.
- The Bulgarians from Pagan Times to the Ottoman Conquest by David Marshall Lang brings medieval Bulgaria to life. The maps, illustrations and lucid text make this book well worth reading.
- R J Crampton's A Short History of Modern Bulgaria is outdated but useful for background information up to 1987.
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