Bulgaria
Bulgaria Overview
Capital - Sofia
Population - 7.4 million
Currency - Lev
Language - Bulgarian
Tourism in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is visited by approximately 8 million tourists each year, with the highest percentage coming from Germany. Travellers from the UK are growing in number fairly rapidly through tour operators like Balkan Holidays and Thomson Travel. There are extensive beach resorts at Albena, Sozopol, Nesebar, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach while Sofia attracts a growing number of city break visitors. Ski Holidays keep Bulgaria’s tourism industry ticking over in the winter with its Rila and Pirin Mountain ranges providing ski resorts such as Pamporovo, Chepelare, Borovetz and Bansko.
Culture and Significant Sites of Interest
The origin of Bulgarian culture is derived from Thracian, Roman, Celtic, Slavic and Bulgar influences due its position in continental Europe. As a result Bulgaria has a treasure trove of archaeological artefacts and sites third in the world behind Italy and Greece. The Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in the 9th century with the expansion of Christianity.
Bulgaria possesses some extremely important UNESCO heritage sites:
The Boyana Church – A medieval Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the city of Sofia.
The Madara Rider – A early medieval rock relief carved into the Madara Plateau.
Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo – A settlement of churches, chapels and monasteries in the rock face at Ruse, on the Danube River.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak - Ancient tomb, part of a large Thracian necropolis near the town of Zazanlak.
Ancient city of Nessebar – Situated near the beach resort, used to be an island but is now a peninsula.
Rila Monastery – This medieval monastery is situated in the Rila Mountains just south of the capital, Sofia.
Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari – The tomb dates back to 300BC and is in the north west of the country.
The Weather in Bulgaria
Bulgaria has a mainly temperate climate which is affected somewhat by the barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains. Otherwise the summers can be very hot and the winters very cold in places. The country as a whole is has a diverse topography. The north of Bulgaria is generally cooler than the south.
