Bulgaria
As I study the countries of the world, grateful to learn new things, I’m generally content if I’m not able to visit. And then, there is Bulgaria.
Bulgaria has layers of historical ruins, sea views, stunning beaches, lack of crowds, mountain hikes, vivid literature, and enchanting chordal music. Early Thracians were gold metallurgists and its legacy shows in the intricate architecture and colorful art of the Orthodox churches and artifacts from the endless archeological sites around the country. The oldest continually inhabited city in Europe, Plovdiv, formerly known as Philippopolis, shows evidence of a community as early as 6,000 BC. Bulgaria produces over 70% of the world’s rose oil and the idea of participating in rose picking, or at least the Rose Festival in Kazanlak, is appealing. For now, Bulgaria is at the top of the list of new countries to visit, specifically the old town of Nessebar on the Black Sea coast.
First, I’ll need to review and gain proficiency with the Cyrillic alphabet. And I’ll have to learn to shake my head for yes and nod for no.
About the size of the US state Tennessee, gottos and waterfalls are abundant in Bulgaria where there are about 4,500 chartered caves. Perhaps there is something in humans that needs a safe, enclosed space to worship as suggested by the many cave sanctuaries featuring colorful, detailed ancient art.
With a tumultuous political history thanks largely due to the rather aggressive Ottomans and subsequent Soviets, Bulgaria has battled corruption, a decreasing population, and poverty.
The Cyrillic alphabet came about because of the desire to forge a national identity. The Slavonic language in Bulgaria did not have a writing system of its own. Boris I was concerned that adopting the written language of neighboring powers would provide an avenue to be conquered once again, so he commissioned Cyril and Methodius with the task of creating a Slavonic alphabet.
The original alphabet was called Glagolitic and looked very different from Cyrillic. Cyril and Methodius translated the Bible into the Slavonic language using the Glagolitic alphabet and persuaded the Pope to deem it valid, which enabled the spread of the language and transitioned Bulgaria from a barbaric to a Christian nation. Saint Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum, students of Cyril and Methodius, continued the work and developed the Cyrillic alphabet that they named after their late mentor.
Today, an estimated 252 million people write with a form of Cyrillic script. Most famously Russia, but also Belarus, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine use variations of Cyrillic. Although not the primary script, Cyrillic also makes appearances in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Montenegro, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Near Krepcha, Bulgarian archaeologists discovered the oldest Cyrillic inscription dated 931. Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as the Day of the Slavonic Alphabet in honor of the achievement of Cyril and Methodius in the 9th Century.
To learn more, select The Origins of Cyrillic.
The LITERATURE of BULGARIA has its roots in the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the country continues its love for language and stories to this day.
Tetraevangelia of Tzar Ivan Alexander (The Four Gospels) is a stunning manuscript with words and art created in 1356 just before the Ottoman conquest.
Poet Peyo Yavorov lived and worked in Pomorie and the place where he would spend hours looking out to sea is called Yavorov Rocks and can be visited today. He married Lora, the daughter of Prime Minister Petlo Karavelov and galvanizer Ekaterina Karavelova. They were passionate, capital “R” Romantic people, which led to their deaths by suicide at a young age.
September is an epic poem by Geo Milev written after the Communist September Uprising and just prior to the death of its author.
Depths is a sea collection by Bulgarian Jewish poetess Dora Gabe.
For more information about Bulgarian poetry, select An interview with the Bulgarian poet Guergui Konstantinov and Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation.
There seem to be endless recommendations for prose written by Bulgarians. Among those that rise to the top are:
The Peach Thief by Emiliyan Stanev was made into a film in 1964.
Under the Yoke (Pod Igoto) was written in 1893 by Ivan Vazov, who is often considered the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature.
Bay Ganyo (also spelled Bai Ganyo) is a comic series of short stories about an iconic Bulgarian rose oil salesman, the Bulgarian anti-hero, by Aleko Konstantinov, who unfortunately died young.
For more about the cultural significance of Bay Ganyo, select Bay Ganyo Of The Balkans.
To read another short story by Bay Ganyo author Aleko Konstantinov, select Craving.
For the life of Elin Pelin, the author of The Windmill, select Elin Pelin – the bard of Bulgarian peasantry.
For a review of Georgi Gospodinov’s Natural Novel, select A Year of Reading the World – Bulgaria.
For more about Bulgarian Literature, select:
The Unveiling of Bulgarian Literature
Bulgarian Literature
An Introduction to Bulgarian Literature
7 Fiction Books Set in Bulgaria That You Should Read
MUSIC in BULGARIA:
The folk music of Bulgaria is striking with fascinating chordal harmonies and pleasing unexpected rhythms. Blazing Bulgaria refers to the sounds as “complex soundscapes,” and that is probably why I like it so much.
Select Music of Bulgaria to read Blazing Bulgaria’s well done article.
Listen to the clip in the article to hear one of my very favorite pieces of choral music (second song).
FOOD in BULGARIA:
The Bulgarian Yogurt, kiselo mlyako, is made with a specific strain of probiotic bacteria that includes bulgaricus in its name because it originated in Bulgaria. It has a rich, creamy flavor and high nutritional value and is a staple in Bulgarian cuisine.
sirene is a white brined cheese that is commonly used as a topping in Bulgaria.
kashkaval is a yellow cheese often melted on or in bread.
shopska salata is the national food, a salad made with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, parsley, and sirene cheese. The white (cheese), red (tomatoes), and green (cucumbers) match the stacked horizontal stripes on the Bulgarian flag.
banitsa is a Bulgarian pastry made with eggs and cheese.
mekitsi, traditionally served at breakfast, is a deep-fried dough topped with your choice of sirene, jam, sugar, honey, and other creative options.
tarator is a cold soup made with cucumbers, dill, garlic, and yoghurt, often eaten in summer.
taleshko vareno is a hot beef and vegetable soup, often eaten in winter.
shkembe chorbe, a tripe soup seasoned with garlic, hot red pepper, and vinegar, is only for the culinarily adventurous and is purported to be a hangover cure.
meshana skara is a mix of grilled meats.
kebapche is a grilled meat link, often served with fries garnished with cheese.
kyufte is a meatball with onion mixed in with the minced meat.
sarmi is stuffed cabbage or vine leaves.
kiselo mlyako is a yoghurt dish.
moussaka is made with potatoes rather than egg plant and includes ground meat, eggs, onion, and yoghurt.
sirene po shopski gets its name from sirene cheese and the Shopi people whole live near Sofia. The dish combines sirene cheese with tomatoes that are baked in a gyuveche, a traditional earthenware pot, and seasoned with chili peppers and parsley and garnished with an egg.
tsatsa is breaded, fried sprats (herring-like fish) served with lemon and fries.
turshia, often eaten in the winter, is pickled vegetables.
lukana is a cured sausage made with pork, beef, cumin, black pepper, and salt.
parlenka is a grilled flatbread typically found on the table at meals and sometimes filled with cheese.
lyutenitsa is a thick relish of tomato, red pepper, onion, garlic, and cumin.
PKS is the abbreviation for parzheni kartofi sas sirene, which is fried potatoes (fries) with sirene cheese.
printsesa, meaning “princess,” is an open-faced sandwich with eggs and yellow kashkaval cheese.
sharena sol, meaning “colorful salt,” is a traditional Bulgarian spice mix of paprika, cumin, basil, thyme, dried fenugreek leaves, salt, and summer savory.
For more about Bulgarian food (and to see pictures!), select:
Top 10 Most Popular Bulgarian Foods & Beverages
16 Bulgarian food classics you cannot afford to miss
8 Foods You Must Try In Bulgaria
Select Blazing Bulgaria for a very well-done exploration of the history, culture, sites, geography, music, literature, and arts of Bulgaria. This is the best website I’ve seen yet for a country.
For intriguing Bulgarian idioms, select “Went the Horse Into the River” – Proverbs and Expressions.
and
10 Bulgarian Idioms That Can’t Be Translated into English
And for some Bulgarian humor, select The Footprints in the Butter – Bulgarian Jokes.
Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast North to South:
Shabla Lighthouse, red and white striped, is the oldest operating lighthouse on the Balkan Peninsula and is near the easternmost point in Bulgaria and just south of the border with Romania.
Yaylata is a historic site with caves, a rock-hewn church, an early Byzantine castle, and a 6th century fortress.
Cape Kaliakra extends into the Black Sea with stunning high cliffs and intriguing ruins.
Cape Kaliakra is where 40 maidens tied their hair together and threw themselves from the cliff to avoid being raped and captured by the invading Ottoman Turks.
Balchik Palace was home to Romanian Queen Mary and has beautiful gardens.
Varna, Bulgaria’s third largest city, is a port and resort on the Black Sea.
Varna has Roman bath ruins from the late 2nd century BC and Orthodox architecture.
“The Gold of Varna” is Thracian jewelry that is over 6,000 years old found in the Varna Necropolis.
For more information, select The Mystery of Varna Gold, the Oldest Gold in the World.
Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral is an Orthodox church with domes, stained-glass windows, and frescoes that was built in 1886.
Aladzha Monastery, built sometime before the 10th century, is in a cliff cave near Varna.
Pobiti Kamani, the Stone Forest, is in a desert just outside of Varna.
Provadia, formerly known as Solnitsata, is Europe’s oldest prehistoric town, dating from 4,700 to 4,200 BC. Known for salt mining, Provadia is west of Varna and has a number of cave monasteries.
Ovech Fortress ruins from the 3rd century AD overlook Provadia.
Nessebar (Nesebar), the Pearl of the Black Sea, is a stunningly beautiful peninsula town overflowing with both beauty and history. Abundant in archeological sites and ruins, Nessebar has an ancient windmill on its isthmus, an ancient theater, and numerous artistic churches, primary among them:
Church of Christ Pantokrator from the 14th century AD, now an art museum.
Church of St. Stephen from the 10th century AD with stunningly beautiful art in the interior.
Church of St. Sophia from the 5th century AD.
Church of St. John Aliturgetos from the 14th century AD.
Sunny Beach is a popular resort area just north of historic Nessebar.
For Nomadic Matt’s take on the overtouristed Black Sea destination, select I Despise Sunny Beach. Here’s Why You Should Not Visit There.
Pomorie is another peninsular town that has working salt pans and a museum along with Thracian tombs, historic churches, and healing mud. There is a monument to the poet Peyo Yavorov (Javorov) right next to an outdoor movie theater and street named after him.
Burgas is considered the gateway to the Black Sea. Set into Burgas Bay, Burgas has a number of music festivals.
Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius honors the creators of the Slavonic alphabet.
Sozopol is an ancient peninsular town that was once a Thracian port going back to 610 BC.
Sozopol features wood and stone houses, Thracian ruins, beautiful Orthodox churches, and beaches.
Sveti Ivan is an island just north of Sozopol that features the ruins of a monastery dedicated to John the Baptist and his bones may have been found there in an ancient box.
Beglik Tash, just north of Turkey along the Black Sea coast, is an ancient Thracian sanctuary with abundant rock formations.
MOESIA is the ancient name for the northern part of Bulgaria.
The ancient capital was Veliko Tarnovo.
Veliko Tarnovo, formerly named Tarnovgrad, is known as the City of the Tsars because it was the capital of the Bulgarian Empire.
Tsarevets Fortress overlooks Veliko Tarnovo and is an enormous complex of ruins from various time periods in Bulgarian history.
Veliko Tarnovo has beautiful street art.
Arbanasi is a small village just outside of Veliko Tarnovo with the Nativity Church.
Gabrovo, a town along the Yantra River, is the International Capital of Humor and Satire.
Tryavna, east of Gabrovo near Veliko Tarnovo, is a traditional village known for textiles and has an intriguing clock tower, a street of crafts, and an icon painting school.
Etar, north of Kazanlak near Gabrovo, has an open-air ethnographic museum.
Kazanlak, in the middle of the Valley of the Roses, is known for rose oil production and has a Rose Festival each year. Kazanlak has one of Bulgaria’s largest and best preserved Thracian tombs.
Buzludzha Monument on Buzludzha Peak in Kazanlak was the site of a battle between Bulgarians and Turks in 1868.
Zheravna has houses set up as they were in their time periods and there is a Festival of National Costumes.
Devestashka is a deep karst cave with evidence of late Paleolithic human settlement around 70,000 BC.
Silistra is on the Dunov (Danube) with round Medzhidi Fortress overlooking the town.
Ruse, called “Little Vienna,” is a Danube port with considerable history.
Basarbovo Monastery is a cave monastery just south of Ruse.
The Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo, a cave monastery complex, are just south of Ruse.
Krepcha Rock Monastery is where the oldest Cyrillic writing was discovered, estimated date 921.
Shumen has the massive, can be seen for 30 kilometers, and intense work of art 1300 Years of Bulgaria Monument, commemorating the history of Bulgaria that began in 681.
Madara Horseman is a bas relief carved in the rock at the Madara Plateau near Shumen.
Pliska, northeast of Shumen, was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 681 to 893 AD. There is an archeological site of the original town.
Veliki Preslav, southwest of Shumen, was the second capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during its Golden Age from 893 to 972 AD. The ruins can be visited.
THRACE is the ancient name for the southern part of Bulgaria, with Thrace including parts of Greece and Turkey.
The ancient capital was Plovdiv.
Plovdiv was initially inhabited around 6,000 BC and was named Philippopolis by Philip the Great in 342 BC. Plovdiv has a fully preserved Roman amphitheatre as well as other Roman ruins. Plovdiv is the cultural capital of Bulgaria and its second largest city.
Hisarya, ancient name Diocletianopolis, has healing waters and an expansive area of Roman bath ruins and Roman walls.
Pamporovo is a ski resort south of Plovdiv in the Rhodope Mountains.
Yambol (Jambol), west of Burgas, is on the Tundzha River.
The Thracian ruins of Kabyle are near Yambol.
Perperikon has foundations of a Thracian sanctuary from 6,000 BC.
CAPITAL and MOUNTAINS of the West:
Sofia, named for the Greek concept of Holy Wisdom, became the capital of Bulgaria in 1878 after the defeat of the Ottomans. The first record of the city, then called Serdica, is from 29 BC.
Saint Sofia Church, from the 4th Century AD, has an underground museum.
Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is Bulgaria’s largest Orthodox church.
Boyana Church, to the south of Sofia near the National History Museum, has frescos from the 900s. There are beautiful hiking trails leading to Boyana Waterfall and Boyana Lake.
Dragalevski Monastery – The Holy Virgin of Vitosha – from 1345, has restored architecture and murals.
Koprivshtitsa is a town of cobble-streets and colorful houses with 19th century architecture near Sofia.
Koprivshtitsa was the site of the April Uprising against the Ottoman Turks in 1876.
Belogradchik, in the northwest, has otherworldly hoodoos and cave paintings.
Magura Cave, just north of Belogradchik, has cave art along with stalagmites, stalactites, and beautiful acoustics.
Trigrad Gorge and Devil’s Throat Cave is in the Rhodope Mountains with vertical cliffs and a 42-meter underground waterfall.
Bansko is a ski resort in the Pirin Mountains with an annual Bansko Jazz Festival.
Pirin National Park is in the Pirin Mountains.
The Seven Rila Lakes are glacial lakes in a popular hiking area of the Rila Mountains.
Rila Monastery, with black and white striped arches, was founded by the hermit Ivan in the 10th century and is an important cultural site in Bulgaria.
Rila Monastery is the largest and best preserved of Bulgaria’s Eastern Orthodox monasteries.
Stob Earth Pyramid Rock Formations are in southwest Bulgaria.
Melnik, surrounded by sandstone mountains in the southwest, is known for its wine.
ISLANDS:
Bulgaria has numerous river islands in Reka Dunav (Danube River), but only five islands in the Black Sea.
One of the islands is said to contain the remains of St. John the Baptist.
For more information, select The Five Bulgarian Islands in the Black Sea.
There is some controversy about restoration projects in order to boost tourism.
Find out more at Bulgaria’s ‘Fake’ Castles Fail to Inspire Tourist Boom.
For more about Bulgaria, select:
Bulgaria’s president to call July election and appoint technocrat interim government
Nomadic Matt – Bulgaria Travel Guide
10 Best Places to Visit in Bulgaria
