Bulgaria, like most Balkan states, has a complex history. Consult the Rough Guide to Bulgaria for a brief synopsis. The earliest settlements have been dated to about 3000 B.C. In the ancient world Bulgaria was known as Thrace. During 1998 there is an exhibit of Thracian gold circulating in the United States. It is starting at the Kimbell in Ft. Worth, Texas and will then go to San Francisco, New Orleans, Memphis, Boston, Detroit and Washington, D.C. The British Museum produced an illustrated volume on "The Thracian Treasures from Bulgaria" which is probably in a lot of US library systems. Also try the Thracian home page.

At various times Bulgaria was dominated by Greece, Persia, Macedonia, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. It was also invaded by Slavs and Bulgars who were assimilated into its population. Bright spots in its troubled history include the First Kingdom (7-10th centuries), Second Kingdom (12-14th centuries) and National Revival (18-20th centuries). The Imperial Russian army helped Bulgarian fighters to throw off the yoke of the Ottomans in 1878. More recently Bulgaria was forced into alliances with the Nazis and then the Soviet Union. The communist establishment began to crumble in 1989.

This site contains our personal travel log. Please consult the official Bulgarian travel page for a broader view. Also check the Bulgarian Academy web page. Sofia has a web page which lists hotels together with surprizingly frank comments; "Overpriced, gloomy place...staff are occasionally less than helpful."

English language novels focusing on Bulgaria include "The Iron Candlestick" by Dimitur Talev, "The October Circle" by Robert Littell and "The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman. A friend also mentioned "Bridge on the River Drina" by (Evil Andrich?).

Some practicalities

We drank the water and ate the food without much concern in Bulgaria. No problems, for us at least; our stomachs were very happy. But we wish we could have sampled more Bulgarian specialties and had fewer French-fried potatoes.

Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic. If you learn to sound out the individual letters you can recognize some words. Correct Bulgarian pronunciation is, well, a little challenging; some sounds are new to the American ear. Bulgaria is a pretty well educated country, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody has studied English. We had the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe Phrase book, but we depended mostly on Mike's translations and coaching.

Further re foreign languages, take a look at this site.

Re money: We brought enough US cash to get through Bulgaria and Romania without having to cash any travelers checks. I don't think credit cards are accepted anywhere in Bulgaria except at maybe the largest, most expensive hotels. A Lonely Planet comment letter said that a traveler was able to cash American Express travelers checks at the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank, opposite the Sheraton Hotel. It would be very nice if travelers could use ATM machines or withdraw money from their credit card or checking accounts, like they can in many other countries. This would boost Bulgarian tourism.

Re bringing items from home: We took a bunch of little stuff, including some postcards of our hometown, a few special T-shirts, herb teas, fancy stickers. We were advised to take coffee for ourselves, but that wasn't necessary. Toilet paper and soap are always a good idea when traveling anywhere, but our lodging places were well supplied.

We paid Mike his full $1000 USD in cash as soon as we reached our hotel. We also gave him another $200 USD to exchange into lev. He said that would be enough for us to buy lunch/dinners, etc. for several days or even the whole week - if we were as frugal as Mike.

The free market exchange rate between USD and Bulgarian lev seemed way out of whack, about 1800 lev to 1 USD at the time of our visit. At that rate, professional Bulgarians earn the equivalent of about $100-$150 USD per month. It is hard to figure out why Bulgaria and Romania do not blossom economically since they have talents, infrastructure and natural resources.

In spite of the beauty of their printed banknotes, Bulgarians seem to keep their assets in USD or Deutschmarks, and exchange it for lev a little at a time. Foreign exchange booths are everywhere. We were warned against changing money with people in the street, and we didn't try it.

Sofia is the capitol of Bulgaria. We allowed only one and one half days, which was too short a time. My favorites were the huge, creaky old National Museum, the icon vendors and flea market in the park near Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Sunday morning mass sung by a male choir at the Orthodox church near our hotel.

Reluctantly, we left Kovachevitsa early on Tuesday morning and drove east and then north through heavily forested mountains. It looks like Switzerland. There did not seem to be much lumbering activity nor did we see denuded hillsides, which are common in the US lumbering areas like the Pacific Northwest. Why doesn't Bulgaria export more lumber? If they dried it and milled it to western european standards it might be quite valuable.

Shiroka Laka, in a steep, forested canyon, is the streamside home of the Bulgarian national school for folk music and dancing. We stopped, looked and listened but nothing was going on at that time.

Pamporovo is an up-scale, modern vacation area which caters mostly to skiers. A lot of western europeans must come here to avoid the crowds and high prices of ski resorts in their own countries.

Here and there along the route there were hot springs and spas but we did not stop; maybe next time.

Bachkovo Monastery was much smaller and more tranquil than Rila, especially on a sleepy Tuesday afternoon in September. Here I could feel the mystical aura. One archway was ornamented with a huge rack of antlers, a turtle shell and a couple of seashells. I don't know the significance. A group of women were bottling tomato sauce in the courtyard.

Plovdiv is a sprawling, modern city with an ancient Roman core that has been mostly built over. There are some nice examples of 19th century architecture and a pleasant, bustling, pedestrian promenade - complete with a McDonalds.

Besides Plovdiv's Soviet soldier, Bulgaria was left with an abundance of large monuments to the Soviet Union and Communism. They are a very noticeable feature of the landscape. Some are attractive and some are ugly. Some are disintegrating, but others look like they will last 1000 years unless they get pulled down in a rush of capitalistic fervor. Bulgaria should let the frost and the rain make the decisions. Communist memorabilia have a strange fascination for western tourists of whatever political stripe. Tourist brochures could talk the communist monuments up along with the rest of Bulgarian architectural history.

Because of Mike's personal insights and connections, Chirpan, a plain but honest little Bulgarian town, was one of the most delightful stops on our trip.

The Valley of the Roses is a major Bulgarian tourist attraction, but mostly during May and June when bevies of deft fingered young girls pick millions of rose petals each morning before dawn. 5000 kg. of white rose petals are distilled down to 1 kg. of rose oil, a fact which is reflected in its dear price - even here at the source. We briefly visited the Research Institute for Roses, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants.

Approaching the town of Shipka from a distance the slender spires and brilliant golden domes of the Russian Memorial Church float above the dark green forest at the foot of the Balkan Range. From a distance they look otherworldly; close up, the church is merely beautiful.

Shipka Pass is the site of the battle of 1877 in which the Imperial Russian army joined with Bulgarian patriots to defeat the forces of the occupying Ottoman Empire.

Etar Ethnographic Village Museum is a very tidy museum town on a beautiful mountain stream. The houses are occupied by craftsmen who demonstrate their skills and sell their wares. It is a popular and pleasant stop for tourists. Is about 9 km from Gabrovo.

Drjanovski (Dryanovo) Monastery had the nicest ambiance of any monastery that we visited. The back opens onto a little river. Mike did some exploring and then motioned us over to a shaded graveyard. There, behind a tree was the large gravestone for his great grandfather, a prominent priest in the Orthodox church.

Veliko Turnovo was the capitol of Bulgaria in the 12-14 centuries. At its peak it was said to be "second only to Constantinople".

From Veliko Turnovo we took the railway to Bucharest. Our experience at the border was "interesting". For details see the Romanian part of this travel log.