"BULGARIA - THE LAND OF ROSES " a Bulgaria Travel Page by desert_princess

Visit my Bulgaria gallery at > http://travel.webshots.com/ Bulgaria album/ - still in construction

As we, Bulgarians ,(see Wikipedia about Bulgaria) entered the EU in january 2007 , I will try to tell you, about my lovely land. As I feel I come in the " Great Unknown".

Why the "Land of roses" ?( La rose est la fleur nationale des Etats-Unis. C’est également la fleur nationale de l’Angleterre (rose Tudor), de la Bulgarie, de la Finlande (rose blanche) et de l’Irak.Les roses sont originaires d’Asie. Elles sont arrivées en Europe au Moyen-Age lors du retour des croisées.) Because somewhere in a plain at the foothills of Balkan mountain, around the town of Kasanluk , there is a valley of roses....They have been grown there for centuries, to obtain rose oil, a precious substance for the western parfumerie industry.Even our national hero - Baj Ganjo*cosiders it more valuable than money, and uses it as an exchange and payment unit in his trips around the world ( he calls it "Gjul"- a turkish word)
* - Bai Ganjo is a humoristic folklore character created by one of our greatest Writers - Aleko Konstantinov.

"I love my land and hate my country" - this graffiti on a wall somewhere in Sofia remained in my mind.
Bulgaria is a beautiful land - it is small, yet it has everything you can imagine (except desert). We have the highest peak on the Balkans - Moussala 2925m, and a wide black sea coast with fine white sand.
We have 4 seasons ( lately they are blending into 2 ..)
Bulgaria is created in 681 AC - this makes over 1300 years of history which makes in one of the first countries in Europe.This is what I love

The bulgarian folklore music is another magic of our spirit...the sound of the bagpipes mixed with the multitude off female voices, floating in the air over peaks and plains, forests and rivers.....

What I hate are today's politicians, mafia, poverty, narrow mindness, lack of perspective for growth, corruption , police......Poor Bulgarian land, how much more do you have to suffer from ignorants?

If you want to feel what I love about Bulgaria, take a look at my pages about :
Sofia - My hometown TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR - top 5 page
The Rila Monastery - the Cradle of the bulgarian spirit and part of UNESCO world heritage sites
Melnik - wine traditions among natural sand pyramids
Nessebar - A Unique peninsula on our Black Sea coast - part of UNESCO world heritage - top 5 page
Rhodopa Mountains - The Undiscovered Treasure

See the UNESCO world heritage sites in Bulgaria - 7 cultural and 2 natural

25 APRIL 2005 -Bulgaria in EU in 2007(?). Today In Luxembourg was signed the contract that will make us in 01 january 2007 part of the United States of Europe ! Bulgaria is the first country that brings the Cyrilic Alphabet to the European Union,making it the 3rd official alphabet after the latin and the greek ones.
Are we prepared?
Only about 25 percent of the bulgarians are speaking a foreign language ( which might be russian that we learned at school, turkish or gipsy minorities speaking their own language),and only about 29 percent have travelled beyond the boudaries of our country( Mainly to neighbouring Turkey , Yugoslavia and Greece for work or trade ).... These are statistics shown on tv today.

EXTERNAL LINKS:

for a start - see an Breathtaking photo gallery of Bulgaria from Georgy Velichkov > click on the "Slideshow" for best results >Thank you for reminding me how blessed I am to be born in this land of beauty !!! and
http://www.mustseebulgaria.com/
www.freemountains.com - guiding services in Bulgaria
Bulgarian tourist Chamber - list of partners

http://en.journey.bg/
Download an English / Bulgarian dictionary
inspirationnal greeting cards in bulgarian

Weather forecast in Bulgaria
http://www.moiteplanini.com - in Bulgarian

http://netinfo.bg/ -latest bulgarian news ( in bulgarian)
online directory of bulgarian newspapers and magazines
online directory of bulgarian radio stations - listen to bulgarian language
Help preserve of the rare and unique nature in the Bulgarian National Parks

Bulgarian humor - bulgarsko narodno tvor4estvo- bulgarskata versiq na wikipediq

http://www.emaps.bg

bulgaarsverkeersbureau.nl - Guide to Bulgaria in Dutch
Bulgaria Travel - What is there to be seen
Albena.bg - the official web page of Albena resort
www.mi.gouvernment.bg/norm/laws.html - Zakon za turizma