A picturesque small country called Bulgaria has existed for more than 13 centuries in Europe, linking East and West.
Bulgaria remembers ancient civilisations and great people that wrote its turbulent history. Situated in Southeastern
Europe, Bulgaria occupies the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
For most foreign holidaymakers, Bulgaria’s main lure is its long, sandy Black Sea Coast – which still boasts swaths of
stunning beaches and picturesque bays despite the expansive construction work – but there is so much more to this
country, and so much of it remains largely untouched and unvisited by overseas tourists. Networks of well-maintained
hiking trails and horse-riding routes allow you to discover Bulgaria’s lush mountainous and forested landscapes,
especially around the Rila and Pirin Mountains, inhabited by bears, lynx, rare birds and other kinds of wildlife now
becoming scarce elsewhere in Europe. Getting around the country is easy, with cheap and efficient public transport to
ferry you between the cities and into the remoter, rural corners, where the traditional, slow pace of life continues much
as it has done for centuries. Here you’ll come across multicoloured monasteries, filled with fabulous icons and watched
over by bushy-bearded priests, and impossibly pretty timber-framed villages with smoke curling lazily over the stone-
tiled roofs and donkeys complaining in the distance, where headscarfed old ladies and their curious grandchildren still
stare in wonderment at the arrival of outsiders. The cities, too, are often overlooked highlights, from dynamic,
cosmopolitan Sofia with its lovely parks, sociable alfresco bars and fascinating museums, to the National Revival
architectural treasures and Roman remains of Plovdiv, and the youthful maritime cockiness of Varna.
A fully paid-up member of NATO and (since 2007) the EU, Bulgaria has the feel of a nation at a very important
crossroads. Massive foreign investment has created a construction boom, not just around the larger beach and
mountain tourist resorts, but in the cities, too. More tourists than ever are discovering this country and an ever-rising
number of foreigners are investing in property here. At the same time, the Bulgarian population is declining faster than
almost anywhere else in Europe, wages are amongst the lowest on the continent – prompting increasingly long and
bitter strikes – and the old problems of bureaucratic incompetence and organised crime bubble away in the
background. The environmental damage caused by overdevelopment has been a particular cause for public alarm over
recent years, and there are several national and international organisations campaigning to bring some of these issues
to wider world attention. However much they complain, though, Bulgarians are a patriotic, if modest, bunch – when they
ask you, as they often will, if you like their country, they genuinely care that you leave with good impressions.
Prices have certainly risen since Bulgaria became a member of the EU, but compared with countries in Western
Europe, travellers will find it by and large a pleasingly cheap destination, and an easy and enjoyable one to travel round
once you’ve mastered the Cyrillic alphabet and enough Bulgarian to buy a bus ticket. Bring your own transport and the
whole country is yours to explore.
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