Tours

ABOUT BULGARIA

GEOGRAPHY

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe, borders five other countries: Romania to the north (mostly along the River Danube), Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. The Black Sea defines the extent of the country to the east.

CLIMATE

The climate in Bulgaria is defined of four totally different seasons – warm summer, long and sunny autumn, winter with deep snow and short and magnificent spring.

POPULATION

Less than 8 millions of inhabitants are now living in Bulgaria, one quarter of them are in pension age. Ten percents of the population of Bulgaria are of other ethnical communities: Turks, Jews, Armenians, Gypsies and so on.

THE CAPITAL

Sofia, the biggest city in the country, with 1.5 millions of inhabitants or 10 % of the population of Bulgaria.

RELIGION

85% of the population is Eastern Orthodox, 8% Muslims and 7% are professing other religions. Each ethnical community in Bulgaria has right of freedom of religion, guaranteed by the Constitution and all religions are existing in the conditions of mutual tolerance. There are no ethnical conflicts here like these in Bosnia and Kosovo. The people in the mixed regions are living not only peacefully, but in the spirit of mutual respect as friends and neighbors. It is a tradition to visit each other during the holidays. Cases of helping not only for building of their houses, but of their temples are not rare, too.

NATIONAL CURRENCY

The main monetary unit is the Lev. One Lev = 100 stotinki. The Bulgarian paper notes comprise the following denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 leva. They are of emissions not earlier than 1999. Currency board is operating in the country as since of 1997, which liquidated the hyperinflation and had brought financial stability, connecting the Lev with the German Mark in 1:1 proportion. Since 2002 the Lev is attached to the EUR and now the official rate on the Bulgarian National Bank is 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE

it could be made in all Bulgarian banks from Mondays through Fridays between 09.00 till 16.00 hour, as well as in all licensed change offices without any commission added. Some of the change offices are working even in the week-ends or nonstop. It is absolutely necessary for the client to check the foreign exchange note first, to sign it and after that to make the exchange of the money. In principal the exchange offices at the major hotels, railway and bus stations and international airports are working with lower than the official rates. Usually the rates at the exchange offices or banks is 1 EUR= 1.94 BGN and 1.96 BGN = 1 EUR

WORKING HOURS

The working hours of the stores are usually between 09.00 till 19-20.00 h. the banks and the other financial institutions are working between 09.00-16.00 h.

VISAS FOR BULGARIA

The Republic of Bulgaria requires no visas for the citizens of the European Community countries as well as for the citizens of Island, Republic of South Korea, Estonia, Malta, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Hungary and Switzerland. A foreign citizen may enter Bulgaria only if he possesses a valid document for traveling abroad or any substituting document instead, for a period of 90 days.The citizens of Tunis, who possess a valid document for traveling abroad or any substituting document instead could stay in Bulgaria without visa for a period of 60 days.The citizens of Australia, Andorra, Vatican, Israel, Canada, Lichtenstein, Litva, Latvia, Macedonia, New Zealand, Poland, USA, Slovakia, Czech, Cherna Gora, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Croatia, who possess a valid document for traveling abroad or any substituting document instead could stay in Bulgaria without visa for a period of 30 days.The citizens of all other countries, who possess a valid document for traveling abroad or any substituting document instead could stay in Bulgaria only with an entry visa.For more detailed information you could check the necessary information in the relevant embassies or consulates of Republic of Bulgaria.

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Bulgarian, with Cyrillic alphabet, created by the brothers Cyril and Methodii in 9th century. Other countries that are reading and writing in Cyrillic nowadays are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Macedonia, even Mongolia. Despite all the major international languages (English, French, German and Russian) are studied by most of the Bulgarians, so there will be no problem in the communications.

FOLKLOR

Bulgaria is a country with a very rich cultural treasury. The Bulgarian National Folklore is admired worldwide. The phenomenal Bulgarian folk singers and ensembles made the country popular all over the world. Traditional Bulgarian musical instruments with original sounding are the bag pipe, the reed pipe, the drums, the Bulgarian Mandolin, dvoyanka, brumbuzuk, bells and similar. The national folk costumes are also very interesting and unique. Some of the most popular costumes are the so-called "white outfits", "black outfits", costumes from the Thracian, Rhodope and Vidin regions, etc. The folk costumes worn on different holidays are extremely varied.Some of them are those of the Kukeri, Lazarki, the fire-dancers, etc.Some of the folk festivals on the country's calendar are: - The folk festivals "Pirin Sings" (August) and "Rozhen Sings" (September) - The festival for authentic folklore in Koprivshtitsa (May-June) - The folk festivals in Bourgas and Varna (August).

THE FOOD

The food in Bulgaria does not particularly differ from the traditional European cuisine, but still have some influence from the Oriental cuisine. Bulgarians consume all kinds of meat from industrially bred animals and fowls, fresh-water and sea fish, more seldom (wild) game. Bread is invariantly present on Bulgarian dinner table. The tradition of meeting visitors with bread and salt is very much alive. The Bulgarians’ cuisine is moderate, with meals seldom too salted, hot or sour. Fruit and vegetables grown in Bulgaria are of unique taste. The Bulgarian yogurt (cow’s, sheep’s, buffalo) is famous all around the world. The microorganisms, which are used for its production, are called “Bacterium Bulgaricus”. The Bulgarian wine is known for its exceptional quality, and the traditional for Bulgaria alcoholic concentrate is called rakiya (40°), which could be made of plum or grapes. Imported brand drinks are available everywhere. Their price is close to that in the producer countries. All alcoholic drinks should mandatory bear an excise band.