ABOUT BULGARIA


Founded on the crossroad between West and East, North and South civilizations and cultures, the key word for Bulgaria is variety. High mountains, deep valleys, lakes and rivers, green forests, grassy foothills, fertile flatlands, sea coast bays and sandy beaches can still be discovered, unspoiled by mass tourism. Modern cities, rural villages, fancy cars, donkey-pulled carts, old monasteries and ancient ruins make Bulgaria a bridge between rich past and challenging future. In the hard period of changes Bulgarians remain hospitable and helpful and it's easy to strike up a friendship with these hot-blooded and nice people.

Located in the southeast part of Europe, Bulgaria enjoys four clearly defined seasons: energetic spring, adventurous summer, colourful autumn and enigmatic winter. The sunny and dry climate pushes cloud bases higher and the refreshing northerly winds make thermals stronger. The uncrowded airspace and the great flying possibilities will allow you to explore the limits of the nature and wake up the spirit of ultimate freedom dreaming inside you.

In Brief

The territory of Bulgaria is 111 000 square kilometres.
The population is around 8 million.
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic.
It is ruled by a government, elected from the National Assembly, headed by a Prime Minister, with a mandate of 4 years.

The main currency is the Bulgarian Lev. (1 BGN = 0.511 EUR)
The spoken language is Bulgarian, the alphabet is Cyrillic.

Main resorts: Bansko, Varna, Bourgas
Major airports: Sofia, Varna, Bourgas

All the major signs at airports, main roads, and the big resorts, hotels and restaurants are written with Latin letters too.
English, Deutsch, Francais, Russian are spoken by the personnel in nearly every resort, hotel and restaurant.

Flight time from UK: 3h20min
Time zone: GMT+2.00 hours
Capital: Sofia



GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION


Bulgaria is situated in South Eastern Europe, in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, between 41°14' and 44°14' northern latitude and 22°21' and 28°36' eastern longitude. Bulgaria covers an area of 110 993.6 square kilometres, which is about 22% of the area of the Balkan Peninsula. The overall length of the borders is 2,245 km - 520 km in length and 330 km in width.

Bulgaria has a very interesting and important socio-geographical position, as it is situated on the crossroads between Europe and Asia. It borders on Romania to the North, Serbia and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia to the West, Greece and Turkey to the South and the Black Sea to the East. Bulgaria's territory is about the same size as that of Portugal in Europe, Jordan in Asia, Liberia and the Republic of Benin in Africa, Guatemala and Cuba in Latin America, the US state of Ohio in North America.



CLIMATE & WEATHER

Bulgaria can be relatively divided into 2 climatic zones. The Balkan Mountain is considered to be the watershed between them. Winters are colder in Northern Bulgaria, and considerably milder in the Southern part of the country. Summers, on the other hand, are hot and humid in the Northern part, especially along the Danube and in Dobrudja. To the South temperatures tend to be more like those in the Mediterranean region. Bulgaria has 4 clearly determined seasons. The average temperatures for the winter are 0 - 5 deg. C and the average summer temperatures 26 - 30 deg. C. Rainfalls are most frequent in May, October and November. The lowest temperature - 38.3°C was measured in 1947.


NATURE

Although modest in area, Bulgaria's territory is most attractive and luring with its rare combination of sea, mountains, plains and valleys, orchards, vineyards and mineral springs.

The Black Sea coast strip is 384 km long and the overall sea area is 413,488 sq.km., which is nearly 4 times the territory of Bulgaria. The average depth of the water at sea is 1,245m and it reaches up to 2,245m at places. The water contains different kinds of salts, which have a beneficial effect on the human body. Its average temperature for the summer is about 26 deg.C. The Black Sea coast has wonderful large beaches with fine, clean sand, rich in curative salts and shallow and clear water and breezes.

Bulgaria is paying much attention to the preservation of the environment. The country is rich in places where nature has been preserved almost unspoiled and vegetation demonstrates remarkable diversity. The air and the water in the Bulgarian mountains are among the cleanest in the whole of Europe. At the moment on the territory of the country exist 49 protected territories, 17 biosphere reserves (the largest number in Europe), 3 national parks, 9 nature parks, 82 reserves, 3055 protected natural phenomena, 63 protected plants and 419 protected animals. Two of the natural landmarks in Bulgaria - Pirin National Park and Srebarna Nature Reserve - have been included in UNESCO's list of World Heritage.

The Bulgarian endemic plants, which are to be found nowhere else in the world, number more than 250 species: Rila Primrose, Balkan Violet, Bulgarian Blackberry, Rhodope Tulip, etc. Forests abound with various wild fruit all of them of proven flavour. There is also a great diversity of herbs. Bulgaria's fauna numbers more than 13,000 species. Rare mammal species are also to be found in the country. Sustainable development and tourism is deemed central for the preservation of dozens of endemic plants and species, natural phenomena, century-old trees.


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TOWNS AND VILLAGES

Bulgaria is still a country, open to exploration, where the thrills and adventure of discovery are alive, and where one can explore places unvisited. You can tour villages, where the rhythm of life is characteristic of Europe several centuries ago, and gives an insight in an Europe, which vanishes quickly and would never exist again. Here the taste of food, the air and the landscape seem to come from another dimension, where the cycling, skiing, or just walking in the snow with snow-shoes and strolling are a mere pretext to the journey to yourself and back in time, which are the essences of it all.

In 1997 a law was adopted, which divides the country in 9 administrative units, called provinces (in Bulgarian oblasti), 279 municipalities and 3913 communities. The local authorities are responsible for upholding the law and order and fulfilment of the approved programmes for regional development. The network of counties totals 5336, 238 of which are cities and towns, 4445 are villages and 653 hamlets. Every province is unique in terms of environment and characteristics.

The administrative regions are as follows (with certain major cities): the city of Sofia - the capital of the country, the Sofia province (towns of Kyustendil, Pernik and Blagoevgrad), the Plovdiv province (the city of Plovdiv, the towns of Smoliyan and Pazardzhik), the Haskovo province (the towns of Haskovo, Stara Zagora and Kurdzhali), the Bourgas province (the towns of Bourgas, Yambol and Sliven), the Varna province (the city of Varna, the towns of Shumen and Dobrich), the Rousse province (the city of Rousse, the towns of Silistra and Razgrad), the Lovech province (the city of Veliko Turnovo, the towns of Lovech, Pleven and Gabrovo), the Montana province (the towns of Montana, Vraca and Vidin).




RELIGION

The majority of the population are Christian, the main denomination being Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Eastern Orthodox Christianity is considered to be the traditional religion in Bulgaria. There is also a Muslim minority (9 per cent) and small Roman Catholic and Jewish communities.


ELECTRICITY

220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are two-pin (euro standard).


TELEPHONE

IDD is available to main cities. Country code: 359. Outgoing international code: 00. There are many public telephones in the main towns. The national network of telecommunications is operated, for the present, by Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC).


MOBILE TELEPHONE:

GSM 900/1800, with good to patchy coverage in most urban centers. Network operators include MobilTEL (http://www.mtel.bg), GloBul (http://globul.bg) and Vivatel (http://vivatel.bg).


INTERNET

There are Internet cafes and centers in Sofia and in the rest of the cities.


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