Bulgaria Holiday

:: Location

Situated in southeastern Europe, Bulgaria occupies the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. To the North, via the Danube River, it borders on Romania, to the West – on Serbia and Montenegro and on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. To the South its neighbours are Greece and Turkey. To the East Bulgaria touches the Black Sea, which links it also to Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia. The Black Sea borderline is 378 km (240 miles) long. The country’s total territory is 111 000 sq. km (43 000 sq. miles).

:: Climate

The predominant climate in Bulgaria is moderate and transitional continental. (2,000 to 2,400 hours of sunlight per year). Four seasons. Dry and hot summer. Average temperature (April - September): + 23 °C. Cold winter with snowfalls, average temperature: 0 °C. The average yearly temperature is 10.5 °C. A Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and mild, humid winters, prevails in the valley of the southwestern Rhodope Mountains. The northern limits of the climatic zone is the Balkan Range.

The average January temperature in Sofia ranges between -4° and 2°. The July temperature ranges between 16° and 27° C. Along the Black Sea, the average January temperature ranges between -1° and 6° C and the July temperature ranges between 19° and 30° C. The soft transitional Mediterranean climate and the fertile soils are very suitable for growing the century-famed Bulgarian attar-yielding rose – a valuable raw material for perfumery, medical products, food and wine, and tobacco industries.




:: Mineral Springs

Bulgaria has some 500 deposits of mineral waters with over 1,600 water sources. These are localised chiefly at the mountain foothills. The spa resorts of national significance are Bankya, Velingrad, Sandanski, the mineral baths of Stara Zagora, Narechen, Sliven and Haskovo , as well as Kyustendil, Varshets, Pavel Banya, Hissarya, Merichleri, Momin Prohod, and Kostenets. Climatic sea-side resorts offering various recreation services are Albena, Balchik, Bourgas, Varna (Zlatni Pyassatzi – Golden Sands), Kiten, Pomorie, Primorsko, Nessebur (Slantchev Bryag – Sunny Beach) and Sozopol. Picturesque lakes hide in the folds of the Rila and Pirin mountain ranges. Reservoirs of recreational potential are to be found in the Rhodope Mountains – namely Batak, Vatcha, Studen Kladenets, at the foot of the Balkan Range – Ticha, as well as in some other places. There are good prerequisites for the development of adventure tourism: wild waters– rafting and canoe, diving, delta and para glidting in the river valleys of Vatcha, Iskar, Chepelarska, Struma, and Mesta rivers.

:: History

As a state established by khan Asparoukh, Bulgaria has been existing for more than 13 centuries. Thracians were the first settlers in the Bulgarian lands and their civilisation is evidenced by the numerous archaeological finds, uncovered tombs, discovered gold and silver treasures. Testimonies for the presence of life in the pre-historic ages have been preserved in the best-preserved Neolithic housings discovered world-wide – namely those off the town of Stara Zagora, in the “Bacho Kiro” cave off the town of Dryanovo and in the Magurata cave – close to the town of Belogradchik. The first written reference where the name “Bulgarians” is to be found is included in an anonymous Roman chronograph of 452 AD.

Bulgaria reached a new peak, which lasted until the end of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1186-1396). The schools of literature and the arts in Turnovo developed the traditions in Bulgarian culture, which is evidenced by the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the churches in Turnovo, in the Zemen Monastery, the churches hewn into the rocks near Ivanovo, the miniatures in the Gospel that belonged to Tsar Ivan Alexander, kept at the British Museum in London, and Manassiy's Chronicle. In 1235, the Head of the Bulgarian Church was given the title of Patriarch.

The strife among some of the boyars resulted in the division of Bulgaria into two kingdoms: the kingdoms of Vidin and Turnovo. This weakened the country and it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1396. For nearly five centuries Bulgaria was under Ottoman domination. The initial years were characterised by sporadic and unorganised attempts to win freedom. Later the appearance of the clandestine fighters, the “haydouts”, made the emergence of a well-organised national liberation movement possible.

The formation of the Bulgarian nation and the development of Bulgarian education started in the beginning of the 18th century. One impetus for this was the work of the monk Paissii of Hilendar History of Slavs and Bulgarians, written in 1762. The ideas of national freedom led to the establishing of an autonomous Bulgarian national Church, and to the flourishing of education and culture. Some of the key figures during the Bulgarian National Revival were Zachary Zograph, Nikolay Pavlovich, Stanislav Dospevski, and many others. That period marked also the beginning of the first amateur theatre performances.

The start of the organised revolutionary movement for liberation from Ottoman domination is associated with the work of Georgi Sava Rakovski (1821-1867) - writer and journalist, founder and ideologist of the national-liberal liberation movement. The main figures in the national liberation movement were Vassil Levski (1837-1873) - strategist and ideologist of the movement and national hero; Lyuben Karavelov (1834-1879) - writer and journalist, leader and ideologist of the movement; Hristo Botev (1848-1876) - poet and journalist, revolutionary, democrat, national hero, and many other Bulgarians.

In 1876 the April Uprising broke out - the first significant and organised attempt at liberation from Ottoman domination. The uprising was brutally crushed and drowned in blood, but it drew the attention of the European countries to the Bulgarian national issues. In 1878, as a result of the Russian-Turkish War of Liberation (1877-1878), the Bulgarian State was restored, but national unity was not achieved. The former Bulgarian territories were divided into three: the Principality of Bulgaria was proclaimed - with Prince Alexander Battemberg at its head, Eastern Rumelia - with a Christian Governor appointed by the Sultan, while Thrace and Macedonia remained under the domination of the Ottoman Empire.

After 1878, the first cultural and educational institutions in the Principality began to be built. The St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library was built in 1878, the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia opened its doors in 1888, and the Ivan Vazov National Theatre - in 1904. The first film was shown in Rousse in 1897. The late 19th and the early 20th century were characterised by remarkable achievements in all fine arts. That was the period marked by the works of the Bulgarian poets and writers Ivan Vazov, Aleko Konstantinov, Dimcho Debelyanov, Pencho Slaveykov - the only Bulgarian nominated for Nobel Prize, Peyo Yavorov and many others. The artists Anton Mitov, Ivan Angelov, Ivan Mrkvicka, Yaroslav Veshin, B. Schatz and others created some of the most remarkable works of art during that time. The late 19th century also marked the beginning of Bulgarian professional musical culture. The first Bulgarian composers were Emanouil Manolov, Dimiter Christov and Georgi Atanassov-Maestro.

The decision for the fractionation of Bulgaria, taken at the Berlin Congress (1878), was never accepted by the people. The decisions of 1878 triggered the Kresna-Razlog Uprising (1878-1879), which in 1885 led to the unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising also broke out (1903). Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Bulgarian Prince since 1887, proclaimed Bulgaria's independence from Turkey and in 1908 became Kniaz of the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria took part in the Balkan War (1912) and fought together with Serbia and Greece for the freedom of Thrace and Macedonia. Bulgaria won that war, but in the subsequent war among the allies (1913) it was defeated by Romania, Turkey and by its earlier allies, who tore from her territories with a Bulgarian population.

The intervention of Bulgaria in World War I on the side of the Central Powers ended with a national catastrophe. In 1918, Kniaz Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son Boris III. The Neuilly Peace Treaty of 1919 imposed severe provisions on Bulgaria: it lost its outlet on the Aegean Sea, Western Thrace became a part of Greece, Southern Dobroudja was annexed to Romania, and the territories around Strumica, Bosilegrad, Zaribrod and villages around Kula were given to the Serbian-Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom. (Southern Dobroudja was restored to Bulgaria by the Bulgarian-Romanian Treaty of 1940.)

In the early 1940s, Bulgaria led a policy in the interest of Germany and the Axis powers. Later the participation of Bulgarian cavalry units on the Eastern Front was discontinued. Tsar Boris III supported the public pressure and did not allow the deportation of about 50,000 Bulgarian Jews. In August 1943 Tsar Boris III died and the regency of the young Tsar Simeon II took over the governing of the country. On 5 September 1944, the Soviet Army entered Bulgaria and on 9 September the Fatherland Front Government, headed by Kimon Georgiev, came to power. In 1946 Bulgaria was proclaimed to be a People's Republic. The Queen-Mother, Tsar Simeon ?? and Princess Maria-Louisa left Bulgaria for Egypt via Turkey. The Bulgarian Communist Party came to power. The political parties outside the Fatherland Front were banned, the economy and the banks were nationalised, the arable land was coercively organised in cooperatives. The governing of the state went successively into the hands of Georgi Dimitrov, Vassil Kolarov, Vulko Chervenkov, Anton Yougov and Todor Zhivkov.

The date 10 November 1989 marked the beginning of the democratic changes in Bulgaria. A new Constitution was adopted (1991), the political parties were restored, the property expropriated in 1947 was resituated, privatisation and restitution of the land started. In 1990 Zhelyu Zhelev became President of Bulgaria - the first democratically elected President. The key priorities in Bulgaria's foreign policy became the membership in the European Union and NATO. As a result of the country's considerable progress towards meeting the criteria for EU membership, Bulgaria received on 10 December 1999 the invitation to start the pre-accession negotiations. The negotiations started in Brussels on 15 February 2000. On 1 December 2000, the Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the European Union decided to remove Bulgaria from the negative visa list.

(taken from Official tourist site: www.bulgariatravel.org )