Bulgaria

From Imakoopedia

Bulgaria is a country in Eastern Europe on the western side of the Black Sea. It is surrounded by Romania to the north, Serbia and Montenegro to the northwest, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the southwest, Greece to the south, and Turkey to the southeast. Being located close to the Turkish Straits means the key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia pass through Bulgaria.

Table of contents

1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 4.1 Climate 4.2 Terrain 4.3 History 5 Get in 5.1 By plane 5.2 By train 5.3 By car 5.4 By bus 5.5 By boat 6 Get around 6.1 By bus 6.2 By train 6.3 By car 7 Talk 8 Buy 9 Eat 9.1 General 9.2 Cheese 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 Learn 13 Work 14 Stay safe 15 Stay healthy 16 Communications 17 External links 18 Geography 19 Economy 20 Transnational Issues

Regions

Administrative divisions 

28 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Khaskovo, Kurdzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Shumen, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofiya, Sofiya-Grad, Stara Zagora, Turgovishte, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Yambol

Cities

• Sofia - The capital, is a paradox of old and new, with run-down Communist flats sprouting hundreds of satellite dishes. It features nice parks, a nice town center, and quite some bars, pubs, and discotheques.

Ports and harbors 

Burgas, Lom, Nesebur, Ruse, Varna, Vidin

Other destinations

• Gabrovo - the scots of Bulgaria, with a lot of jokes about them. If you are there, be sure to visit Etura (http://www.travel-bulgaria.com/content/etura_museum_town.shtml) - an open air museum that is actually an old-style Bulgarian village, presenting the traditional crafts and food.
• Koprivshtitsa - though this town's name might be difficult to pronounce for many foreigners, it is a beautiful old Bulgarian village - certainly a must to visit if you are around

Understand

Climate

Temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Terrain

Mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast

highest point 

Musala 2,925 m

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. Bulgaria regained its independence in 1878 largely due to the intervention of the great powers, who clipped the wings of the declining Ottoman Empire and installed a minor German prince as Tsar of the newly independent country. The country's iconic heroes were all freedom fighters to a man: whether Rakovsky, who mixed revolution and literature, Vassil Levsky, know to Bulgarian as the aposle of freedom, or Christo Botev, poet and fighter. After a series of bloody and brutal Balkan wars, Bulgaria had the furhter misfortune to be occupied by the losing side in both World Wars, and fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination was brought to a swift, but for many people illusory end in 1990; though Bulgaria went on to hold its first multiparty election since World War II, essentially socialist policies were pursued until hyperinflation and economc meltdown drove the old guard out of power in 1997. Today, reforms and democratization have brought Bulgaria into the NATO fold, with EU accession planned for 2007.

Get in

Foreigners have to register at the police after 48 hours. If you have a booked travel, this will be taken care of. Otherwise, dont worry too much about it... The only thing you really need is an entry stamp in your passport, otherwise your exit could be quite troublesome.

By plane

There are three international airports: Sofia, Varna and Bourgas. While flights to Sofia are normally priced, there are a lot of charter and last-minute flight offers to the other two cities leaving from Western Europe (especially Germany). You can go from German airports to Varna or Bourgas and back for less than 100 Euro, if you are lucky.

By train

The only way to get from Bucharest to Sofia and back is actually by train via Ruse. There are no buses connecting Bulgaria with its neighbour Romania.

By car

If you want to reach Bulgaria from Western Europe by car, you either can take a ferry from Italy to Greece, or you will have to pass through either Serbia (where you have to pay a special car insurance just passing through) or Romania (where road conditions are far from perfect). In either case, chances are that you might have to bribe some police officers on the way and also the Serbian or Romanian customs with soft drinks, cigarettes, sweets or a few euros in bills (dont try this on the Bulgarian customs, however, unless you really know what you are doing).

By bus

Buses to and from Sofia go to most major cities in Europe - while Bulgarian bus companies will be cheaper (and mostly offer less comfort), the tickets are hard to get by if you are travelling to Bulgaria, so you can always take Eurolines (http://www.eurolines.com/) buses. Dont be surprised if an extra "border fee" is asked from each traveller by the bus driver - it makes your border passing quicker. Most buses from Western Europe will pass through Serbia, so be sure to check if you need a transit visa beforehand.

By boat

Get around

By bus

Certainly the cheapest and fastest way to travel around the country is by bus. Buses go from and to every bigger city (you might have to ask or be driven by taxi to the bus station) quite frequently; however, most bus station agents (except at the Black Sea and in Sofia) as well as the drivers will not speak or understand any languages except Bulgarian (and, if you are lucky, Russian) and the destinations will be written exclusively in cyrillic. Buses and Minibuses go from Varna and Bourgas along the coastline, passing or going to all Bulgarian Black Sea tourist resorts.

By train

Travelling by train is inexpensive, but also slower than by bus, and you should mostly use it when trying to reach a city along the two major train routes (Sofia - Varna and Sofia - Bourgas; you can travel both routes overnight).

By car

If travelling by car be sure you can reed the Cyrillic alphabet at least a bit. Most signs in Eastern Bulgaria have the direction not shown in Latin letters so it could become difficult for you to travel around. Alternatively, better additionally, you have a map with the town names written in Latin and Cyrillic alphabet. So you can at least compare the forms of the letters.

Talk

Languages 

Bulgarian is a southern Slavic language, related to Serbian and Russian, with a lot of Turkish vocabulary in evidence, testifying to the long Ottoman occupation. Modern Bulgarian is difficult to Westerners, especially English-speakers, as it has three genders, no infinitive, and articles are appended to the end of either the noun (if no attribute is present) or the first attribute (example: kuche = dog, kucheto = the dog, dobro kuche = good dog, dobroto kuche = the good dog). However it is simpler than other Slavic tongues, once you get used to the Cyrillic, an alphabet of which the Bulgarians are justifiably proud (it having been invented by two Bulgarian monks, Cyril and Methodius). Be sure to be in Bulgaria for the celebrations of the "Den na Bukvata" ("Day of the Alphabet"). Be also sure to remember the fact that Bulgarians - in opposite to most nationalities - shake their head for "Yes" and nod for "No"!

Secondary languages, including Turkish and Romany, closely correspond to ethnic breakdown.

Most young Bulgarians now learn either English or German as a foreign

Buy

Prices in Bulgaria are considerably lower than in Western Europe, and good bargains are to be had on shoes and leather goods as well as other clothing.

Eat

General

Bulgarian food is similar to Turkish and Greek cuisine, with lots of grilled meats and powerful stews; in addition, they have a large choice of salads available. However, the ultimate Bulgarian dish is shopska salata - a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and grated sirene (sheep's cheese). Traditionally it is served at the beginning of a meal together with a glass of rakia (see next section!). The other Bulgarian staple that it's worth mentioning is banitsa, a kind of sheep's cheese pastry which comes in numberless variations.

If you are underway, you might also want to try kebabche (pl. kebabcheta; minced meat rolled as a sausage and grilled) and kyufte (pl. kyufteta; just like turkish köfte, a grilled meatball).

Cheese

There are exactly two kinds of bulgarian domestic cheese: sirene (white cheese, quite like Greek Feta; originally made with buffalo milk, but normally it is sheep's or cow's milk) and kashkaval (yellow cheese). Note that there exists no word in Bulgarian for "cheese" - normally Bulgarians use "sirene" if they want to translate the English word "cheese".

Drink

A powerful (40%vol), clear grape brandy, rakia is the Bulgarian national drink and is served neat, usually at the beginning of a meal. Especially in the smaller cities, families still distill their rakia at home; it is then usually much stronger (>50%vol). Perhaps at this point it's worth noting that the Bulgarian way of doing things is, at least in terms of drinks, the opposite of the conventional Western method. Bulgarian start off on the heavy stuff, such as Rakia, move on to wine, and finish off with a beer, should they still be thirsty.

Another quite popular drink is Mastika (40%vol), a drink closely related to Greek Ouzo and Turkish Raki. You should normally mix it with water in a 1:4 - 1:5 ratio.

Sleep

Learn

Work

Stay safe

Bulgaria is generally a safe country, and people are quite friendly. You should how ever behave according to common sense when you are outside of the main tourist areas, i.e. dont show too openly that you have money, dont dress too much like a tourist, watch your things, dont walk around the suburbs (esp those of sofiya) at night, avoid dark streets at night.

Stay healthy

Most food is quite safe to eat. Of course, try to avoid food that is obviously not too clean...

Communications

Telephone system 

general assessment: extensive but antiquated
domestic: more than two-thirds of the lines are residential; telephone service is available in most villages; a fairly modern digital cable trunk line now connects switching centers in most of the regions, the others are connected by digital microwave radio relay.

mobile: there are now two mobile phone operators, also offering prepaid cards (if you are staying longer and want to avoid paying for being called). internet: Internet cafés are almost everywhere, with affordable rates. Normally, the bigger internet cafés offer a good service and a fast connection.

External links

• Travel-Bulgaria.com (http://www.travel-bulgaria.com/): General Information site about Bulgaria, holds a lot of information about the country

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Geography

Environment - current issues 

air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes

Environment - international agreements 

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Economy

Economy - overview 

Bulgaria, a former communist country striving to enter the European Union, has experienced macroeconomic stability and positive growth rates since a major economic downturn in 1996 led to the fall of the then socialist government. A $300 million stand-by agreement negotiated with the IMF at the end of 2001 will help the government maintain economic stability as it seeks to overcome high rates of poverty and unemployment and, at the same time, cut the budget deficit and contain inflation.

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international 

because of a shift in the Danube course since the last correction of the boundary in 1920, a joint Bulgarian-Romanian team will recommend sovereignty changes to several islands and redefine the boundary

Illicit drugs 

major European transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and, to a lesser degree, South American cocaine for the European market; limited producer of precursor chemicals; some money laundering of drug-related proceeds through financial institutions