Bulgaria brochure

Situated on the crossroads be-tween Europe and Asia, the Bul-garian territory has been populated since ancient antiquity. All the peo-ple that once inhabited the area – Thracians, Bulgarians and Sla-vonic have left their fingerprint on the world cultural treasury.

The current territory of Bulgaria was

once the center of the Thracian civiliza-

tion. In the second half of 7th century

the Proto Bulgarians uniting the Sla-

vonic, both people form a country

called Bulgaria, recognized in 681. The

leader of the Proto Bulgarians – Khan

Asparuh became the head of the state.

The town of Pliska is announced for the

first Bulgarian capital. In 885 the two

Bulgarian brothers Cyril and Methody

invented the Slavonic literacy which

became official by the time that Christi-

anity was accepted for that official relig-

ion. The Slavonic literacy then spread

in Russia and Serbia.

During the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-

927) is the “Golden Age for the Bulgar-

ian Literacy”, and the territory of the

country is so big that it borders the

Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and

the Aegean Sea.

Many travelers claim that Bulgaria is

Eden on Earth. There is everything in

it: a sea, rivers and lakes, mountains,

plateaus and plains.

The Republic of Bulgaria is situated

in the north-eastern part of the Bal-

kan Peninsula. The Balkan Moun-

tains naturally divide the country into

two. A natural north boundary of Bul-

garia is the river Danube.The Black

Sea is natural eastern boundary of

Bulgaria. There are clearly cut bays,

the biggest two being those of Varna

and Burgas. Sofia is the capital of

Bulgaria. One of the oldest cities in

Europe, Sofia was named for Saint

Sofia (meaning "wisdom" in Greek).

The southern part of Bulgaria is mainly mountainous. The highest mountain is Rila with Musala the high-est peak on the Balkan Peninsula (2925m). The second highest moun-tain in Bulgaria is Pirin with highest peak Vihren. The Rhodope Mountains and Vitosha are two other famous mountains in Bulgaria. The plains and the lowlands in the country cover large areas to the north and the south of the Balkan Mountains. The Danube Plain is the biggest. Dobrudja is a roll-ing plain - it is also called "the granary of Bulgaria" for the enormous quanti-ties of wheat grown there. The Thracian Lowland is the second big-gest in the country.

The so called Rose Valley is

located between the long and nar-

row mountain chain of Sredna Gora

and the Balkan Mountains north of

it. Besides the widespread crops,

they grow oil-yielding roses there.

This is one of the privileges of the

unique Bulgarian climate. Another

is the world-famous Bulgarian yo-

ghurt, made with the help of

"bacillus Bulgaricus" as a vital in-

gredient of the yeast.