Bulgaria

Overview

Bulgaria (population: 8.000.000) has changed a lot during the last 20 years. From being a communist ruled state on the other side of the Iron Curtain it has changed into a country with some progress towards free market reforms and own tourist industry. The Bulgarian nation has come a long way since it threw off the 500-year old yoke of the Ottoman Empire in the 1870's, and is now still struggling to cope with the aftermath of Communist misrule.

Renaming themselves the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Communist long remained the dominant force in national politics after 1989. The election of a right-of-centre government in April 1997 gave ground for new hope, although low wages and high unemployment seem to remain ever-present features of Bulgarian life.

Bulgaria has a large number of travel destinations, but independent travel is not really common, although there are relatively few restrictions and costs are very low. The country offers a beautiful mountainous scenery as well as sandy beaches on the Black Sea coast. You will find ski resorts, deep forests, ancient monasteries, greek and roman remains and the fascinating capital Sofia is a must for Bulgaria travelers. Veliko turnovo , the ancient capital, is a young and vibrant city that deserves a visit as well, Vratza city too. Vratza is one of the most picturesque cities in Bulgaria, and important tourist and cultural center.

The main cities in Bulgaria are:

 Sofia (1.200.000 inhabitants),

 Plovdiv (350.000 inhabitants),

 Varna (310.000 inhabitants),

 Burgas (200.000 inhabitants),

Rousse (150.000 inhabitants),

Stara zagora (145.000 inhabitants),

Pleven (120.000 inhabitants), and

Vratza (80 000...more

History

The history of the land now known as Bulgaria has been determined by its location between Asia and Europe by its proximity to powerful states competing for land and influence at the junction of trade routes and strategic military positions and by the strong national territorial drive of various Bulgarian states. Before the Christian era Greece and Rome conquered the region and left substantial imprints on the culture of the people they found there. The Bulgar tribes who arrived in the seventh century from west of the Urals have occupied the region continuously for thirteen centuries. Over time Bulgarian culture merged with that of the more numerous Slavs who had preceded the Bulgars by one century. After converting to Christianity and adopting a Slavic language in the ninth century the Bulgarians consolidated a distinct Slavic culture that subsequently passed through periods of both expansionist independence and subordination to outside political systems.

From the ninth until the fourteenth century Bulgaria was a dominant force in the Balkans because of its aggressive military tradition and strong sense of national identity. The chief rival and neighbor the Byzantine Empire left a lasting political imprint on two Bulgarian empires as it competed with them for regional domination. Marking the deterioration of both the Byzantine and the Bulgarian political structures the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 began four centuries of Turkish suppression of Bulgarian cultural and political institutions.

By the eighteenth century however weakening Ottoman control allowed a Bulgarian cultural revival. In the...more