Black Sea coast

Black Sea coast

The Bulgarian coastal stretch faces East and extends over 378 km, dotted with vast beaches covered with fine golden sand. The majority of the Bulgarian beaches have been awarded the EU Blue Flag for their environmental excellence.

Air temperatures in summer vary between 23°C and 27°C, water temperatures between 17°C and 25°C. There are more than 240 hours of sunshine in May and September, and more than 300 in July and August. The deep-cutting coves and rugged shores, wooded hills and romantic peninsulas, vineyards and orchards, fishing towns and secluded campsites lend a unique fascination to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The Black Sea is very tempting and hospitable - clean and calm, without any tides or dangerous animals. The sandy sea bottom slopes gently, making bathing and swimming safe for even the youngest holidaymakers. The Black Sea is half as saline as the Mediterranean.

Holiday-makers have a huge selection of resorts and accommodation to choose from - depending on their budget and on the kind of holiday they are interested in. They can find anything from luxurious 4 to 5-star hotels, large holiday hotel complexes, private hotels, small guesthouses - to more seduled holiday villages, villas and B & B style rooms.

MAJOR SEA RESORTS

The larger sea resorts along the Black sea coast - Albena, Golden Sands, Riviera Holiday Club, Sunny Day Tourist Complex, St. Constantine & Helena to the North and Elenite Holiday Village, Sunny Beach, Dyuni Holiday Village and Sozopol to the South - tempt with luxury, innumerable sports facilities, entertainment and inland trips to noteworthy landmarks.

SPA RESORTS

SPA RESORTS in BULGARIA

Bulgaria has a variety of mineral waters with temperatures up to 100oC. Thermal waters with high alkalinity and low level of TDS are predominant. The country is situated in the Southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and is an heir of ancient civilizations. There are extremely good bio-climatic resources which combined with the existing ancient Mediterranean traditions in thermal water use, provide and have been based for the balneological development in the country. A number of big spa resorts have developed in places of old Thracian or Roman residential areas, like: Sandanski, Kyustendil, Hisarya, Velingrad, Sapareva banya, etc. Even the capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia, has been established close to thermal springs of a temperature interval of 20oC-50oC by Thracian tribes in the third century BC.

The most active development of our spa system is in the time period of 1970-1980. Until 1990 about 40 resorts of local and national significance were actively operating in Bulgaria. In these spas a wide range of diseases are treated using scientific methods and programs, confirmed by a long-term professional experience. Bulgarian spas are under the Ministry of Health governance and their sponsoring, management and exploitation is conducted according to the laws and regulations in the country.

CONDITIONS FOR SPA TOURISM IN BULGARIA

Bulgaria is located on an area of 111,000 sq. km. and there is an extraordinary combination of factors providing perfect conditions for tourism, healing and recreation. The abundance of thermal waters, their variety and purity, the moderate to continental climate and the Mediterranean influence as well as the national traditions in thermal water healing in Bulgaria, are prerequisites for effective and complete use of the natural resources.

THERMAL WATERS

Mineral waters are one of the most precious natural resources in Bulgaria. There are more than 500 hydrothermal sources with a total flow rate of 3000 l/s, having different temperature and mineral composition. Almost all of them are thermal as the temperature varies in a wide range from 20oC to 100oC. About 33 % of the total discovered flow rate is of temperature between 20oC-30oC, and 43% - between 40oC-60oC.

About 70% of thermal waters are slightly mineralized with fluoride concentration ranging from 0.1 to 17mg/l, various metasilicic acid concentrations (up to 230mg/l) and of mostly low alkalinity. In comparison to most of European mineral waters, the Bulgarian ones have a lot of advantages: low TDS close to the optimal one, typical for the potable water, high purity level especially in terms of anthropological pollution, microbiological purity and a variety of water types. Besides using mineral waters in spa centers, in most of the sites they flow out of taps. This allows for a free of charge and massive water use for drinking and disease prevention. In the capital city area only, there are six mineral water springs provided with many built fountains.

CLIMATE

Considering the small area of the country, its climate is very diverse: from moderate to transcontinental with Mediterranean influence from South and local Black Sea influence from East. Spa centers in Bulgaria are usually placed in mountain tourist resorts and some are at the seaside. The altitude varies in a wide range (from the sea level up to 800 m) and this satisfies the specific needs of the patients and provides good conditions for treatment. In most of the healing centers there are all year round activities: disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

BALNEOLOGICAL TRADITION

In our biggest spa centers there is data about using thermal waters both for healing and heating in the Roman baths in I-IV century AC. The remains as well as the literature records show that these baths were also social centers. Highly experienced specialists are working in our spas to offer treatment of wide range malfunctions and diseases such as: chronic respiratory malfunctions, locomotory system problems; peripheral nervous system diseases; digestive system, gynecological and kidney diseases; chronic intoxication problems, etc.

Treatment includes the use of mineral water drinking in prescribed doses depending on its composition. Water is used for healing baths in tubes, showers, pools, as well as for inhalation (mixed with herbs or other medications), irrigation, etc. This treatment is combined with other physiotherapeutic or rehabilitation procedures, sunbaths etc. The wide spread thermal water therapy allows using an outpatient treatment that keeps the patients’ every day routine unchanged: one goes to work and comes for treatment during suitable day hours. There are a lot of beaches created around indoor and outdoor geothermal pools that help improve the prophylactics of many diseases.

Albena

Albena

The major resort north of Varna, Albena occupies a pretty stretch of coast just North of Varna and South of Cape Kavarna. During medieval times the bay had two large fresh water wells and residents earned a living by selling drinking water to Nessebar, which had none of its own. The resort, begun in 1958, is one of Bulgaria's largest. The wide, six-kilometer-long beach is protected by dunes and touted as the best on the coast with comfortable 24C/75F degree water and loads of sunny days. With more than 30 hotels capable of accommodating some 30,000 visitors, the resort can get pretty crowded during peak season. Most hotels are set back from the beach, in numerous small shaded parks and gardens that help alleviate some of the congested feel.

Albena lives up to its motto of "Where families come first." Children and toddlers are kept occupied with the likes of kiddie trains, well-equipped playgrounds, and organized festivals. But not only kids have all the fun. Adult sports include windsurfing, sailing, parasailing, speedboating, scooter-driven parachuting, pedalboating, waterskiing, horseback riding, archery, mini-golf, roller and in-line skating, bowling, tennis, bicycling, beach volleyball, and wall climbing (for the truly bored). To soothe sore muscles after all that physical exertion there are balneo-therapy treatment centers. Night Life is as equally varied and includes casinos, discos and nightclubs with live cabaret acts and colorful floor shows. Some 130 restaurants and taverns are accustomed to catering to foreign tastes so there's something for everyone.

Bankya

Bankya

Bankya balneotreatment resort, near Sofia is a resort of international importance. It is situated in the beautiful valley at the green foothills of the Lyulin Mountain, 17 km away from Sofia, at an altitude of 630-640 m. During the archaeological excavations in the region many years ago remains of churches, ceramics and coins dating from the Roman times have been found.

MINERAL WATERS

Mineral waters in Bankya are characterized as slightly mineralised, hypothermal, hydrocarbonic-sulphate-sodiumt clear, colourless, with a temperature of 36.5-37 Deg. C and very tasty. The resort climate is temperate continental and in bio-climatic respect it is qualified as soothing to invigorating. The average annual temperature is 9.4 Deg. C (the average January temperature is minimum 2 Deg. C, the average July temperature 19.6 Deg. C). The summer is fresh, the autumn warm and sunny and the winter moderately cold. These climatic conditions are favourable both for year-round SPA treatment, as well as for general prophylactics and the hardening of organism.

Bankya developed as resort for rehabilitation of cardio-vascular conditions with highly specialized functional diagnostics (many for post-infraction conditions and heart operations, arterial hypertonia). It is suitable for treatment of cardio-vascular diseases, nervous system disturbances, metabolic disturbances.

An operating complex for recuperation, prophylactics and fitness of rheumatism of children was found. The specialists are satisfied with the established durable positive results and favourable curative effect of the treatment of cerebral palsy of children, neurosis, thyreotoxicosis of adults, etc. Good effect is achieved on functional disease of the nervous system. Annualy over 140 000 natives and foreigners visit Bankya. There is a specialized clinic for cardiovascular diseases and collagenosis of maturing at the Medical Academy- Sofia.

Successfully are applied pre- and post- operative rehabilitation of children suffering from congenital heart diseases. The balneomedical building is one of the most impressive buildings in the resort. This is due to its unique architecture and partly to the modern medical equipment of the dozens of diagnostical and remedial cabinets, serving thousands of people every day. Most attractive is the remedial basin. The first physio-prophylactical ground in the country is here. Specialized physicians and methodologists in curative physical training help dozens of ill people to revive their shaken health.

Hissar

Hissar

The well-known spa of Augusta (Hissar's ancient name) is situated in the centre of Bulgaria, in the Southern folds of Sredna Gora Mountain, 42 km North of Plovdiv (the second biggest town in the country) and 160 km East of Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) in the Southern slopes of the Sredna Gora Mountains, close to the famous Valley of Roses.

The climate is moderate continental with mild and warm winter. The average annual snow cover is 12 days. Spring comes early, summer is temperately hot with an average month temperature of 22 C. Autumn is warm and long lasting. Cloud coverage is low. The average annual humidity is moderate (70 %). Foggy weather is an exception. The wettest months are June and November. The maximum air humidity is 65-70 %. Sunny days - 280 per year.

Today Hissar is a modern spa resort whose greatest asset consists in 22 mineral springs with a total debit of 4,000 l\min. and a temperature of 37-52 C, with a total exploitation flow of about 2,800 l/min. Hissar's mineral water is light, clear, colourless, flavourless and tasty. The radioactive emanation is 10-165 Em, pH - 7.6 - 9.02 and over 20 microelements. Acid content - 200 - 270 mg\l. It is slightly mineralised, hypo- and hyper-thermal, with a predominance of hydrocarbonic, sodium, sulphate and fluorine ions, as well as substantial amounts of radioactive gas characterized as slightly mineralised, hidrocarbonic-sulphate-sodium, with a high alkaline reaction (pH 8.3 to 9.02). Their temperature ranges between 27 Deg. C and 51 Deg. C and they vary in radioactivity, fluorine and metasilicic acid content. The water is mainly indicated for treatment of diseases of the kidneys and secretory system, liver and gall bladder, the digestive system and pancreas. Particularly good treatment results are achieved with comprehensive hydrotherapy and climatic cures, physiotherapy and kinesitherapy in cases of diseases of the kidneys and secretory system, such as a kidney stone, pyelonephritis, chronic nephritis and chronic renal insufficiency.

Excellent therapeutic results have also been achieved with the use of mineral waters for the treatment of diseases of the liver, pancreas, gall bladder and bile ducts. A very good effect is exerted on cholelithiasis by means of subaqueous intestine baths. Special comprehensive balneotherapy is also applied in a number of diseases of the digestive system - gastric and duodenal ulcers, chronic gastritis, colitis, some accompanying conditions of locomotory system, the endocrine system and the metabolism.

Kyustendil

Kyustendil

The city lies at the foot of Ossogovo Mountain at an altitude of 510-530 m. The climate is traditionally continental with Mediterranean influence. The mild weather is largely due to the beneficial effect of the mountains which surround the plain from the North, East and West. The average annual temperature is 11C; and the average July temperature- 21.6C. The annual duration of sunshine is 2,200 hours on the average, and the relative air humidity, 68%.

The mineral water of the numerous fountains (natural springs and wells) has an almost uniform chemical composition, temperature and sulphide content (71-73C; 9.4-11.3 mg oxidable sulphur compounds estimated in terms of hydrogen sulphide). The water is clear, colourless, with a pleasant taste and a slight smell of hydrogen sulphide. It is mildly mineralised, hyperthermal and contain sulphides, silicon (83 to 104 mg of metasilicic acid), fluorine (7.6-8.9 mg per litre) and sulphates of sodium with a strong alkaline reaction (pH 9.13-9.80). The total flow is about 2,400 l/min. Their curative and preventive properties are mainly due to the sulphides, the high metasilicic acid content, the high temperature, the hypotonic effect, the mild mineralization and the relatively high fluorine content.

The curative properties of Kyustendil's mineral waters have been known since ancient times. Another important curative agent, used for the systematic treatment of a wide range of diseases, is the peat mined near the village of Baikal which is rich in humus acids and organic substances. It is used in peat baths, for general and partial applications, vaginal and rectal electrophoresis, etc. The favourite climate, the curative peat from Baikal, the mineral waters and the possibilities of specific fruit-diet therapy attract many Bulgarian and foreign visitors to Kyustendil.

Sandanski

Sandanski

Situated at an altitude of 224 m in the valley of the Sandanska Bistritsa River, at the foot of the magnificent South-western slopes of Pirin Mountain, the town of Sandanski is famous for the beauty of its scenery and a wealth of resources for spa and climatic treatment. This is the warmest and sunniest town in Bulgaria with the least temperature variations throughout the year. Without exaggeration the climate of Sandanski can be described as unique. Throughout the year, air temperatures are higher than anywhere else in the country. The average annual temperature (14.7C) is the highest in Bulgaria. The winter is mild and short, and the autumn - long and warm. The relative air humidity is low (66 %), and the annual duration of sunshine is no less than 2,436 hours.

Sandanski has the lowest annual rainfall in Bulgaria (127 litres per square metre) and almost no foggy days. The air is remarkably clean and pollution free. Apart from its natural beauty, lush vegetation and remarkably wholesome climate, the resort also features a multitude of mineral springs. Sandanski has the lowest annual rainfall in Bulgaria (127 litres per square metre) and almost no foggy days.

The wells and natural springs situated in two thermal zones have a total flow of 1,500 l/min. The mineral water has a nearly uniform chemical composition but contains varying quantities of metasilicic acid and fluorine. The waters are clear, colourless, odourless with a pleasant taste: silicic (containing 71 to 135 mg of metasilicic acid per litre), slightly fluoric (3.2 to 6.5 mg of fluorine per litre), hyperthermal (42 to 81C), slightly mineralised, containing sodium hydrocarbonates and sulphates, with a pH value ranging from neutral to mildly alkaline (pH 7.2 to 8).


This remarkable combination of balmy, health-giving weather and curative mineral waters makes Sandanski the perfect place for modern science-based climatotherapy, spa treatment, rehabilitation, primary and secondary prophylactics and recreation. Specialized in the treatment of upper respiratory tract and lung diseases of non-tuberculosis type and of inflammation degenerative diseases of the joints.

Velingrad

Velingrad

Velingrad is the most beautiful and most famous among the Bulgarian Balneological resorts. Internationally known climate therapy and health resort. It is situated in the valley of the Sandanska Bistritsa river, at the foot of the south-western stopes of Pirin. Without exaggeration the climate of Sandanski can be described as unique. It lies at the western end of Chepino Valley, one of the most attractive part of the Rhodopean Mountains in Southern Bulgaria.

Velingrad is situated at 750-850 m above sea level. Summer is warm, winter is mild. Throughout the year, air temperatures are higher than anywhere else in the country. The average annual temperature (14.7C) is the highest in Bulgaria. The winter is mild and short, and the autumn - long and warm. The relative air humidity is low (66 per cent), and the annual duration of sunshine is no less than 2,436 hours. Sandanski has the lowest annual rainfall in Bulgaria (127 litres per square metre) and almost no foggy days. The air is remarkably clean and pollution free. The average annual temperature is 10C; and the average July temperature is 19C. The relative air humidity ranges from 65 to 75 percent. Surrounded by age-old pine tree woods, the town favours abundant sunshine. This exclusively rare and valuable combination has a beneficial influence on the process of ionisation (negative ions are prevailing) and are of definite therapeutic importance. In the resort successfully are treated pulmonary cases: pulmonary emphysema, chronic bronchitis, post bronchial pneumonia, etc.

There are 70 sources of mineral water with curative and preventive properties. The mineral waters (from springs and wells) vary considerably in temperature, mineralization, radon, silicic acid and fluorine content, and are suitable for treatment of a wide range of diseases. 9000 litres of water per minute spring from the five thermal and mineral deposits in Ladjene, Kamenitza, Chepino, Rakitovo and Kostadinovo.

The treatment of non-specific diseases of the respiratory tract is particularly successful. Considerable experience has been accumulated in the efficient treatment of diseases of the locomotive system, nervous diseases and gynecological disorders. Together with the numerous mineral waters Velingrad takes pride in another natural phenomenon as well - the Kleptuza. This is the biggest Karst spring in Bulgaria with debit of 1200 litres of ice-cold water per second.

Sozopol

Sozopol

History has not preserved the name of this Thracian settlement in whose place Miletian Greeks founded the town of Apollonia in 610 B.C. After another 10 centuries it became known as Sozopol - "the town of salvation". Apollonia, a fortified and wealthy independent town boasting its own army and fleet, was completely destroyed by the legions of Marcus Lucullus in 72 B.C. The town's pride - a 13 m high bronze statue of Apollo rising in his imposing temple, is assumed by some to have been taken to Rome by the Roman conquerors.

During the Middle Ages Sozopol was part of both Byzanthium and Bulgaria, until the whole Balkan Peninsula was subjected Ottoman rule. Reduced to an ordinary fishing town, Sozopol was revived together with the other settlements in the Bulgarian lands towards the end of the 18th and the start of the 19th century. This is when several churches were reconstructed - St. George, St. Mary, St. John the Theologian, St. Zossim; the Sts. Cyril and Methodius church was erected, and over 150 houses restored.

Three different methods of construction are visible in the St. Mary's church, corresponding to the three stages of its erection. The eastern, altar wall is made of stone, up to 3 m thick, containing the apse and the two transepts (probably built in the 16th c.). The central part, faced with oak on the outside, dates from the 18th century, while the Western part and narthex were added during the 19th century. Partly dug into the ground, the church surprises with its spacious interior. The exquisitely carved altar, pulpit and bishop's throne were made by an unknown master of the Samokov School. Sozopol's housing architecture from the National Revival period closely resembles that of Nessebur. It falls into the category of the so-called "Black Sea house" featuring stonewalled basements, wooden staircases leading up to the living quarters, a wooden scaffolding, jutting eaves, and exterior wood paneling to protect the building from the salty sea air. Southern vegetation - fig trees and vineyards - form part of Sozopol's landscape.

The A. Trendafilova House with its wooden facings modeled on the classical forms of Dorian pilasters, with its triangular gable and stylized sun is certainly worth seeing. The ceiling in one of the rooms is composed of multi-figuraltimber pieces, painted in different colours.

Everything in Sozopol today is sunny, bright and attractive - starting with the cobblestone lanes and old houses with strings of fish hanging from the roof, and ending with the Southern drawl of the fishermen who fondly call their white boats "ships".

The Apollonia Festival of the Arts staged here every September gathers painters and actors, singers and musicians, poets and dancers to a ten-day world of art come alive amidst the old houses of this Southern small town.

Nessebur

Nessebur

Situated on a small peninsula linked with the mainland by a narrow 400 m long isthmus. A port in Thracian times, at the end of the 6th century B.C. the Dorian Greeks turned it into a lively trade center while preserving its Thracian name of Mesambria.

A large part of the ancient town has been irreversibly destroyed - the originally some 40 ha large peninsula is a mere 24 ha today.

Dating back to the 12th-6th century B.C. are a gate and the now submerged remains of the town's former fortifications. Other remains include the ruins of fortress walls and carved limestone towers, archaeological remnants of the agora in the center, of the acropolis, of an ancient temple, of the peristyle and of several dwellings.

Unaffected by Roman rule, the town existed independently before it became part of Byzantium, together with the entire Balkan Peninsula. The most important monument surviving from Byzantine times is the St. Sophia basilica, also known as the Old Metropolitan (rising in the place of an ancient agora).

Within the boundaries of the Bulgarian state during the 13th and 14th century, when the country was at its strongest both politically and economically, experiencing a cultural upsurge, Nessebur was a town of 40 churches (built during the 11th to 14th century). Preserved until the present of these are: the New Metropolitan - St. Stefan, St. John the Baptist, St. Todor, St. Paraskeva, Chtist Pantocrator, St. John Aliturgetos, and the Sts. Arcangels Michael and Gabriel church.

The New Metropolitan or St. Stefan (11th c.) is one of the last representatives of basilicas in medieval Bulgaria with perfectly preserved murals dated 1593 and 1599. some of the compositions are influenced by Italian painting but maritime themes and subjects are nevertheless characteristic.

St. John the Baptist (10th-11th c.) represents the transition between a basilica and a cross-domed church.

Christ Pantocrator is one of the best preserved medieval churches in Bulgaria. The exterior facades are decorated with colourful ceramics depicting different motifs.

Similar in shape but with richer decoration and sculptures is the St. John Aliturgetos church. Its facades are intricately broken by pilasters and arches, with rhythmically alternating white stone and red bricks.

The Sts. Archangels church has extremely picturesque facades with two rows of decorative blind arches, the upper row being broken by large semi-circular gables.

On the whole, the mediaeval Nessebur churches are characterized by intricate decorative elements and combinations of stone and bricks, by immured glazed ceramic discs and four-leaved rosettes. Niches, consoles and arcades also break the facades.

The houses, which lend their peculiar 19th century air to present-day Nessebur, were built during the Bulgarian National revival Period. The typical 18th-19th century Nessebur house have small yards facing the street, which is demarcated by the walls of the lower floors and fences. A wooden staircase leads up to the second floor, which is lightly structured and completely faced with wood. The overhanging roof eaves serve to optically narrow the streets still further. The central living quarters are occupied by the parlour from which numerous doors lead to the remaining rooms. Wooden ceilings and whitewashed walls characterize the interior. The upper-floor windows are wide, those on the ground floor are narrow and few in number. The Ivan Markov, Pipcherkov, Capt. Pavel, Bogotov, Zhelyu Bogdanov, Lambrinov, Toulev, Diamandiev, Hadjitraev, Hristo Kochev and Muskoyannis houses are all worth seeing. The Lambrinov and Muskoyannis houses, in particular, have richly decorated facades and interiors.

Nessebur's intransient value and its centuries-old cultural wealth have gained due recognition with its inclusion in the List of World Cultural Heritage in 1983.

Bansko

Bansko

Located at the foot of the Pirin Mountains and right below the Pirin National Park, which is included in the List of World Natural Heritage.

Fortified houses made of stone appeared in Bansko during the early National Revival period. By the end of the 17th century they had become two-storey ones, although still adhering to mediaeval building traditions.

The typical Pirin stone house has two faces - one is a stone fa?ade facing the street, the other an open verandah leading to the inner yard. The main courtyard is flanked on three sides by the building itself and resembles a town square. Small, almost invisible doors let into the walls link the adjoining houses and enable a quick escape in cases of attack. The hiding place reached only from the upper floor via a corridor, is made of stone blocks.

Both the outside wall and the hiding place have embrasures targeted on all house and yard entrances. In certain respects Bansko's architecture resembles monastery construction - carefully joined stone masonry, few and small gridded windows, framed with decorative bricks.

The general appearance is quite stern and austere, and only the spacious verandah with its carved columns and railings provides some interplay of light and colour. Here one also sees a special corner providing the best view of both the urban and natural landscape, and often of the garden as well. Another feature is a small fireplace, fragrant with the smell of kindling burning merrily away and throwing light and shadows on the wall.

The ground floor houses the animal sheds, kitchen, oven, pantry and hiding place. The living room, guestroom, bedrooms and dining room are located on the upper floor. The largest room in a Bansko house is the dining room. The doors are flanked by inbuilt shelves and cupboards of the same height, touching upon windows, corner niches, copper utensils, etc.

The National Revival period houses of the late 18th and early 19th century are characterized by a greater number of rooms with carved ceilings, murals and medallions in soft pastel shades, in-built cupboards, shelves, settees and iconostases.

The Sirleshtova House (second half of the 18th century) is a fine example of early Bansko architecture.

The Velyanova House (edin of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century) was bought in 1835 by Velin Ognyanov - a master builder, wood carver and painter. He enlarged and reconstructed it, painting the fa?ade and inside walls and adding carved ceilings, columns and railings.

The Bouiniva (Todeva) House (1864) has both household premises and shops on its lower floor. The upper floor rooms are richly carved. The Bansko School of icon painting and woodcarving was famous throughout Bulgaria. The murals and carved iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Church (1832 - 1835) were made by Velin Ognyanov, while the icons were painted by Dimiter and Simeon Molerov - the son and grandson of the founder of the Bansko School of painting Toma Vishanov-Molera. The latter fashioned the iconostasis, carvings and icons of the Assumption burial church (built in two stages - during he 17th-18th century and at the start of the 19th century).

Bansko is the native place of Neophit Rilski - one of Bulgaria's foremost National Revival figures, Nikola Vaptsarov - a world famous poet and revolutionary who died in the antifascist struggle, and Paisii of Hilendar, the monk whose Slav-Bulgarian History, completed in 1762, marked the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Melnik

Melnik

It is in the Southwestern part of the Pirin Mountains that you will find the Melnik pyramids - sheer, strangely shaped sand and limestone rocks. Melnik is one of Bulgaria's smallest towns and is located right amidst this fantastic scenery.

A border settlement during the early Middle Ages, the town found itself on the different sides of the Bulgarian-Byzantine border at different times. Between 1205 and 1229 the feudal lord Alexi Slav - the ruler of Southwest Bulgaria, made Melnik its capital, but by the mid 13th century the town was subjected to Byzantine rule. Even today the ruins of the 13th century Boyar's House form part and parcel of Melnik's silhouette.

During the 17th-18th century the production of gold leafed tobacco and strong red wine turned Melnik into a flourishing merchant town whose fame spread even to such traditional wine producing countries as France, Spain, Italy and Austria. Its population started building houses on a grand scale atop the foundations of destroyed mediaeval buildings. Construction centred closely along the banks of the river and its two tributaries flowing into it in the town's centre. From here the houses move amphi-theatrically upwards along the rocky slopes.

The lower floors are high, the top floors lightly structured, with brought forward eaves and two rows of windows in most cases. Besides being enhanced, inside lighting thus also gains an artistic impact. while the exterior appears much more impressive, creating an illusion of more floors. The main entrance leads into the traditional salon around which the various living and household quarters are grouped.

One corner is taken up by a glassed terrace, transformed into a balcony in later years. Small corridors lead from the salon to the rest of the rooms, equipped with small windows letting additional light and replacing the mediaeval embrasures. Rounded fireplaces extending into chimneys (part of both the interior and exterior), stone towers with open verandas on the top floor and the absence of yards are all typical features of the Melnik house. The lower floor contains the cellar where the famous Melnik wine is aged. The cellar itself is entered via an intricate maze of artificial tunnels dug into the rocks.

The Kordopoulov House, built in 1754, belonged to the wine merchant Manolis Kordopoulis, famous throughout Europe. Two of its four storeys are made of stone. Seven inner staircases link the various floors and garret rooms. The salon is lit by the light of 24 windows, arranged in two rows. The upper row is made of coloured Venetian glass softly filtering the light onto the painted walls, carved ceilings and cupboards. Low window-seats run along three walls and the wooden floors are covered with colourful rugs. The corner canopy is made of expensive fabrics. The Pashovata House, built in 1815, is another impressive example of local architecture with its two storeys and garret rooms. A large salon forms the centre of the living area, surrounded by 8 rooms and a bathroom. Carved ceilings, marble fireplaces and richly decorated cupboards characterise the interior.

Of the five National Revival period churches preserved in Melnik, the St. Nikolai The Miracle-Worker (1756) is the most significant one. In all likelihood it was built by the same master who constructed the Kordopoulov House. Although painted by an unknown master, the church murals and icons are artistically valuable.

Just as suddenly as Melnik appears amidst the natural, inaccessible fortress of the sandstone pyramids, just as unexpectedly does it reveal its wealth.

Shiroka Lyka

Shiroka Lyka

The first people to settle in the village roamed about for a long time before deciding on the location which they named Shiroka Lyka, meaning "Broad Meadow". The village is built in a narrow and steep valley of the Ludja River, flanked on all sides by the magnificent pastoral and sunny landscape of the Rhodope Mountains.

The 19th century Rhodope architecture differs drastically from the National Revival architecture elsewhere in the country. The mountain relief does not permit sprawling buildings, so therefore the Shiroka Lucka houses are built on a small area which compensated by height.

Two-three storey are common, each jutting out over the one below. The roofs are covered with heavy stone tiles. The exterior is highly dynamic. The high stone foundation serves as a pedestal for the markedly forward brought exquisite white facade of the first floor. Local construction materials are used.

All walls on the ground floor, as well as the three outer walls on the second floor are made of surface stone with wooden crossbeams. The Southern facade and the inner walls of the second and third floor have wooden scaffolding and plastered wattle fence. Besides breaking up the houses architecturally and providing more space, the eaves also serve to attract more light with more and larger windows on the facades facing the sun. The ground floor is entered through heavy gates, frequently studded with iron. The inner yard, cattle sheds and storerooms are contained here. Later the animal sheds were moved out of the house and shops, workshops and inns appeared on the ground floor. A light wooden staircase leads up to the living quarters.

The central place in them is occupied by the veranda around which the remaining rooms are grouped in many different combinations. Quite often the veranda opens onto two rooms with a hearth or on one such room and a closet. The doors, wooden cupboards and ceilings are carved.

Many of the inhabitants are expert masters - for decades on end they worked as builders in the Aegean in winter. They have provided almost every house with a small private chapel.

In 1834 Shiroka Lyka was granted the right by the Turkish authorities to build its own church - The Assumption, with the stipulation that it be completed within forty days. The term was kept. Locals claim that the building was supervised by Ilcho Nikolov. The Zgourov Konak (the residence of the local Turkish governor) was in all likehood also built by the above-mentioned local master. The two -storey house lacks the usual ground floor household premises, there are living quarters here too. The rooms are spacious with express decorations.

Typical examples of Rhodope architecture include the Kalaidjiiska, Karovska, Ouchikova, Bogdanova, Massourska, Bagrinska and Grigorovska houses (the latter also built by Ilcho Nikolov in 1872). The Shiroka Lyka locals still treasure their old traditions and hospitality, while weaving Bulgaria's most beautiful woolen rugs. Their school for national instruments and singing is proud to claim the Rhodope song as Bulgaria's most emotional and moving one.

Koprivshtitsa

Koprivshtitsa

Sunshine colours and romance are what characterize the typical 19th century atmosphere preserved and lingering in Koprivshtitsa. Every single house here is part and parcel of Bulgaria's history. It was here that the first shot of the April Uprising against Ottoman rule rang out in 1876. Although drenched in blood, the uprising resounded in all of Europe.

It is a minor miracle that Koprivshtitsa itself was spared destruction and survives in its original appearance. The Pavlikianska and Vakarelska houses are examples of the oldest type of local houses.

Wooden and single-storied, they contain two rooms and household premises. The Toromanov, Djogolanov and Buzev houses, the houses of Grandpa Liben, of writer Lyuben Karavelov and of the revolutionary Georgi Benkovski (built in the first half of the 19th c.) have two storeys with a stone ground floor and wooden top floor, with two rooms in each. Two new important architectural elements were added - the salon on the ground floor and the veranda on the second. The salon was where the Koprivshtitsa dwellers received their guests, where they fostered their business and trade contracts, while the veranda formed a summer living room, complete with a small extended platform - the future balcony. The columns, consoles, fireplaces, hearths, wooden doors, windows and grids lack the purely decorative elements which were to come later.

Koprivshtitsa is the place where one can best trace the various stages of evolution in Bulgarian National Revival architecture.

Around 1930-1950 the influence of the Plovdiv symmetric house put an end to the development of the "wooden house" in Koprivshtitsa, changing the nature of construction, as well as the interior. The houses dating from the second half of the 19th century are exquisite with their multi-coloured facades and sunny verandas, with their jutting eaves and recesses, carved ceilings and stylish European furniture. The scheme comes close to that of the "Baroque" Plovdiv house - the centre is occupied by the increasingly larger and more representative salon, whose height has more than doubled by this time. The Koprivshtitsa houses never gained the scale of the Plovdiv ones, but then their aim was different - more intimate architectural compositions with dense colours and harmonious contrasts. The result were carved decorative elements, colourful weaves, painted walls and niches in warm shades, depicting medallions, flowers, garlands and columns, complete with decorative frames.

Awe-inspiring and stunningly beautiful, richly decorated and brightly painted, these houses lived with the heart and mind of the Bulgarians behind the white stoned walls encircling the lovely gardens and yards. The Gurkov, Oslekov, Genchev, Mluchkov, Lyutov, Kableshkov, Dessyov and Kantardjiev houses are all fine examples of late National Revival architecture.




Having been reared in the dream homes of their forefathers and heirs to the purity of the revolutionary ideals, the inhabitants of Koprivshtitsa have always striven for beauty. One can feel it in every single corner or yard, in front of any stone fountain.

Zheravna

Zheravna

The village of Zheravna resembles a wreath spread over the Southern slopes of two small hills in the Eastern Balkan Range. Brooks run softly down its steep lanes. The village houses with their broad eaves peak out behind high stonewalls. The majority are well preserved. All are modeled on the "wooden type" house prevalent in the entire region of the Eastern Balkan Range. A characteristic feature is that all Zheravna houses, without exception, face South - with extensive facades in the yard's Northern part, far from the street when it passes South of them, but close to the street if it runs to the North.

The older houses are single storied and made entirely out of wood. Later houses, with two storeys, have their ground floor built of stone. The facades have clearly horizontal lines, emphasized by the forward brought second floor and the strongly jutting out eaves. They are entirely surrounded by verandas, leading to the storerooms and hiding places behind them.

Rosettes, star-shaped figures, stylised plant and animal motifs decorate the cupboards, shelves, ceilings and doors. Winding staircases, chapels, colourful rugs and cushions lend a still greater fascination to the Zheravna house.

Do not miss seeing the houses of Sava Filaretov (1851), HadjiDraganov (1851), Haltukov (1818), Todor Ikonomov (1st half of the 19th century), Roussi Chorbadji (18th-19th c.) and Matei Gendov (2nd half of the 19th century), as well as the native museum house of the great writer and playwright of the start of the 20th c. Yordan Yovkov (late 18th c.). The large rooms in the Sava Filaretov, Roussi Chorbadji and Haltukov houses are exceptional achievements as regards the interior design of the Bulgarian "wooden type" National Revival period houses.

The sofa frames are richly carved, fretwork shelves hang above friezes of rosettes, applique geometrical forms of different coloured wood cover the cupboards and window shutters.

Colourful rugs and carpets, curtains, painted chests, tin-plated vessels, ceramics, carved tables and tripods emanate the warmth of generations of Bulgarians taking pride in turning their home into a world of peace, cosiness and beauty.

Kotel and Zheravna, 14 km. away from each other, are villages close in spirit and lifestyle - two mutually supplementing truths of a period of time.

Kotel

Kotel

The town of Kotel is situated in a small valley in one of the passes of the Balkan Range linking North and South Bulgaria. This is also why its statute during Ottoman domination was that of a "privileged soldiers' village", exempt from state taxes. This enabled its inhabitants to acquire wealth ass merchants and craftsmen and to feel spiritually and politically free to a large extent. In 1765 Paissii of Hilendar, the author of the first Bulgarian history - Slav-Bulgarian History - gave the manuscript to Kotel clergyman Priest Stoiko, the future bishop Sophronius of Vratsa, who was responsible for the History's first copy. Kotel's inhabitants were also the first to mark the Day of the Founders of the Slav Script, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, on May 24, 1860 - an official holiday today.

In the 19th century Kotel already boasted four secular schools. The school in the Galata quarter is now a Museum of the Bulgarian National Revival. A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to Kotel local Georgi Stoikov Rakovski - one of the outstanding ideologues and figures of the Bulgarian national liberation movement.

Kotel's National Revival period houses are of the "wooden type" seen frequently in the Eastern Balkan Range. The only difference was that in Kotel they were higher - up to 3-4 storeys, the ground floors housing shops and workshops, rather than the usual household premises. The originally open veranda is lost in later times, making the houses akin to closed urban homes - with spacious central salons and a wealth of decorative elements. A devastating fire in 1894 wiped out nearly the entire town of which only two quarters - Galata and Durlyanka survived.

Nevertheless, the preserved architectural examples provide a good idea of the town's former appearance. Just take a look at the Kyorpeev House, now an Ethnographic Museum, the Kosichkov, Pisomov, Burnev, Bairumov and Karaivanov houses, the old water mill and the inn. The yards are dotted with geraniums and carnations.

The locals still weave their famous Kotel carpets and many of their children study at the town's secondary music school for national instruments and folk singing.

Etyra

Etyra

Etyra is an ethnographic museum park below the open skies, located on the outskirts of the mountain town of Gabrovo. Its 18th - 19th century crafts and lifestyle come alive before the eyes of visitors.

Etyra was established during the 1960's when people woke up to the fact that the National Revival arts and crafts were on the verge of disappearing. Lazar Donkov from Gabrovo was the man who collected rich documentary material, while also discovering a suitable location in a wooded area near the town with a water mill and a fulling mill run by water diverted from the nearby river. Various other workshops were quick to spring up - for lathe-turned wooden vessels. for knives braiding and painted carts, along with a saw mill. All are powered by water and the workshops themselves were modeled on concrete prototypes.

The mechanisms mounted in them are quite authentic - Lazar Donkov gathered them throughout the Gabrovo area.

The workshops and shops located on the opposite left bank make up the so-called arts and crafts street. The two-storey houses are exact copies of the houses of famous old masters, with shops and workshops on the ground floor and the living quarters above them. In this case, too, the various mechanisms, the arrangement of the workshops and the manual tools are completely authentic.

The shops sell pottery, leather items, gold, silver and copper articles, old Bulgarian music instruments, etc. The delicious sweets and pastries of old times have not been forgotten either and the old cafe is open to visitors.

The multitude of colour, sound and fragrances of Etyra, is bound to provide you with an exciting and memorable experience.

Bozhentsi

Bozhentsi

Lulling in peace and quiet. the village of Bozhentsi creates the illusion of life having stopped in order to transpose us into a time long passed. We breathe in the fresh mountain air as we ascend the hill along the whitewashed walls of two-storey houses, covered in ivy and wild geranium and roofed with heavy stone tiles.


Bozhensi's architecture is open and turned to the street. The high lower ground floor contains the household and trade premises - cattle sheds and stables, storage rooms, cellars and shops. An outside staircase leads up to the veranda through which one enters first the living room and then the kitchen (soba) and bedroom (odaya). Large corner fireplaces with mantelpieces are typical of the Bozhentsi interior.

The upper floor has alcoves and roofs are topped by decorative white white chimneys. The furnishings are lavish - the walls are frequently beech-panelled and the diverse motifs depicted an the carved ceilings, cupboards and doors harmonise perfectly with the brightly coloured rugs on the floor.

The village well and tavern are such as they were 150-200 years ago. The workshop where wax was extracted with the use of an old wooden press - the Mengeme (vice) - also still stands as in times of old.

The three-nave Prophet Elijah Church with its massive stone walls, vaults and cupolas hidden beneath the sloping roots, was built in 1835. An interesting feature is the slightly sloping floor leading to the altar, adorned by a wooden iconostasis.

Bozhentsi's inhabitants also succeeded in gaining permission to build a belfry, a thing prohibited by the Turkish authorities of the time. The bell was brought from the faraway Russian town of Tula.

The school was built in 1872 by master Gencho Kunev. The ground floor of the two-storey building contained a salon and library, the top floor, reached by an outside staircase - the class rooms.

Bozhentsi still stands as it always has. Nothing is able to stir the serenity of its mountain scenery with which it has become one.

Tryavna

Tryavna
Huddling in the mountain slopes Tryavna has managed to preserve its virgin romantic beauty. The houses and yards, churches, streets with fountains and the square with the clock tower breathe the air of the National Revival period and its striving for beauty. The Tryavna school of paintings and carving (17th c.) takes its beginnings from Vikentii (Vitan) Karchev who studied painting at Mt. Athos. He was the forefather of a talented succession of painters and woodcarvers who for generations - until the 19th century - perfected the arts of icon- painting and carving with great imagination., a fine sense of sculpture and a feeling for decoration.

Huddling in the mountain slopes Tryavna has managed to preserve its virgin romantic beauty. The houses and yards, churches, streets with fountains and the square with the clock tower breathe the air of the National Revival period and its striving for beauty. The Tryavna school of paintings and carving (17th c.) takes its beginnings from Vikentii (Vitan) Karchev who studied painting at Mt. Athos. He was the forefather of a talented succession of painters and woodcarvers who for generations - until the 19th century - perfected the arts of icon- painting and carving with great imagination., a fine sense of sculpture and a feeling for decoration.


In 1798 the town was nearly completely destroyed by a gang of bandits, but its inhabitants spared neither love, talent or effort in rebuilding it. The burned St. Archangel Church (1819) was restored and several landmarks were built - the school (1836-39), the two stone bridges: the 'humped' (1844) and the 'lower' (1864) one, the clock tower (1844), the new St. George Church (1848) and numerous stone fountains. The majority of the carved altars, pulpits, holy gates, as well as the icons themselves in the St. Archangel and St. George churches are the work of several generations of the Vitanov family.

Most Tryavna's houses are two storey ones, with large bay windows, lacework eaves, spacious verandas with high seats and settees. The yards are large with bright flower beds and able to rival their artistic impact.

The Daskalov House contains an ethnographic exhibitions. Other museum exhibitions are kept in the houses of the remarkable National Revival figures Angel Kunchev and Pancho Raikov, in the House of Petko and Pencho Slaveikov - father and son, celebrated poets and personalities in Bulgarian history.

Many of Tryavna's houses provide a good idea of the transition from rural to urban type dwellings: the emergence of the houses from the yard out onto the street, the light construction with its visible wooden scaffolding, masonry, beams and whitewashed facades. The windows are either gridded or have wooden shutters. In time the ground floors were devoted to workshops which, in turn, came to from the so-called market street.

The Tryavna masters devoted great attention to artistic detail. both interior and exterior. Characteristic features include carved compositions, large corner fireplaces, facade niches, artful window frames and wooden beams.

Tryavna dwellers convincingly manifest their sense of harmony, composition, volume and space both in the details and in the ensembles as a whole.

Arbanassi

Arbanassi

The village of Arbanassi lies just 4 km. away from Veliko Turnovo.

In 1838 Sultan Suleiman II gave it to one of his sons-in-law as a gift and after his death Arbanassi remained in the hands of his successors. Only the feudal lord had the right to collect taxes and sentence the inhabitants here. Since the village was exempt from the ruinous obligations to the central state administration of the Ottoman Empire, its inhabitants accumulated wealth as craftsmen and merchants. In fact, their fame during the 17th century reached as far as Russia, Poland, Hungary, Italy Persia and India. The houses built by them still stand. Iron-studded wooden gates let into the high walls open onto spacious yards carpeted with grass and wild geraniums.

Made of stone, the houses fairly resemble fortresses with their 2 - 2.5 m. high fences, solid basements with up to 1 m. thick walls, with their hiding places, accessible only through masked entrances. Occasionally the entrance is found in a deep vaulted niche with the hiding place above it. The lower ground floor contained the storage and household premises. The staircase - either inside or outside - leads to an open veranda, which turned into a closed salon in later times. Tiled terracotta floors complete the picture. In contrast to their forbidding appearance, the houses inside are amazingly inviting and attractive with their carved ceilings, in-built cupboards, brick stoves and sleeping and sitting benches. The rooms are large and airy, with clearly designated functions - drawing rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, dinning rooms, and bathrooms. The doors, cupboards, ceilings, stoves and fireplaces are artistically fashioned and sculptured and ornately decorated.

Of the 80 preserved houses, 36 are national monuments of culture. The Constantsaliev, Hadjiiliev, Hadjikostov, Chamourov, Kandilarov and Lechev houses are among them. Arbanassi's five churches are also monuments of culture - Birth of Christ, St. George, St. Atanas, Sts. Archangels Michael and Gabriel and St. Dimiter. The Birth of Christ Church is of particular interest. Although not exactly dated, it is known that it was enlarged and painted anew in 1637-49. Dug into the ground, with an austere appearance, hidden cupolas and lacking a belfry, it is a genuine gallery of art. Its inside walls are covered with no less than 3,500 figures painted by masters from different periods. The Biblical scenes are amazingly realistic. The Wheel of Life was depicted here for the first time in Bulgaria: man's birth, his maturity, ageing and death (painted later by Zahari Zograph in the Transfiguration and Bachkovo monasteries). .

Of the 80 preserved houses, 36 are national monuments of culture. The Constantsaliev, Hadjiiliev, Hadjikostov, Chamourov, Kandilarov and Lechev houses are among them. Arbanassi's five churches are also monuments of culture - Birth of Christ, St. George, St. Atanas, Sts. Archangels Michael and Gabriel and St. Dimiter. The Birth of Christ Church is of particular interest. Although not exactly dated, it is known that it was enlarged and painted anew in 1637-49. Dug into the ground, with an austere appearance, hidden cupolas and lacking a belfry, it is a genuine gallery of art. Its inside walls are covered with no less than 3,500 figures painted by masters from different periods. The Biblical scenes are amazingly realistic. The Wheel of Life was depicted here for the first time in Bulgaria: man's birth, his maturity, ageing and death (painted later by Zahari Zograph in the Transfiguration and Bachkovo monasteries).

Arbanassi is history, architecture and art, with more questions than answers. The talent of those who created it remains undisputed though.

Veliko Turnovo

Veliko Turnovo

Sokerov which reflect the historic and spiritual growth of the Bulgarian nation. Trapezitsa Hill rises on the opposite bank of the Yantra River. Remains fortress walls, embrasures, towers and fortified gates have been discovered here. The hill housed the residences of boyars and some public buildings, churches above all. Seventeen of these have been unearthed by archaeologists.

The homes of the urban population were located at the foot of the two hills, outside the fortress walls and near the river. Several mediaeval churches dating from the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom have been preserved in the Assenev quarter. The St. Dimitar of Salonica Church has a sculptured and picturesque exterior with brick decorations. Besides being the city's oldest church, it is also one of the earliest examples of the Turnovo school of architecture and painting. It was here that the boyar brothers Assen and Peter declared the uprising for Bulgaria's ;liberation from Byzantine domination in 1185. The church has been reconstructed and the murals have been conserved. The Holy 40 Martyrs church was built in honour of Tsar Assen II who defeated the feudal lord Teodor Komnin in 1230. The church preserved the oldest Biblical calendar in the Eastern Orthodox world, along with the in-built columns of Khan Omourtag and of Tsar Ivan Assen II - two of the few surviving written monuments of Bulgarian mediaeval history.

The Sts. Peter and Paul church, also with a striking brick-decorated facade, was built during the second half of the 13th century and pained during the 14th , 16th and 17th centuries. The murals depicting Biblical scenes, carry the clear mark of the Turnovo school of painting - one of the most impressive ones in the Eastern Orthodox world, questing for the portrait and psychological individuality of the figures.

From the 12th to 14th century Sveta Gora Hill was the country's spiritual and cultural centre. The Turnovo school of literature and painting gave the world the Manassiev Chronicle and the Tetraevangelia of Tsar Ivan Alexander. Its traditions has a significant and lasting influence on the whole of South-Eastern Europe.

Besides being a mediaeval capital, Turnovo was also a National Revival city. Its 18th - 19th century houses seem to grow right out of the steep slopes flanking the river and crowning them with their gables and overhanging eaves. Gurko Street provides a fine example of an architectural ensemble.

This is where you will find the Granny Mota and Anna Harieva houses, as well as the large Sarafkina House, whose salon runs across both floors (it now houses the 19th century Turnovo Lifestyle exhibition). Turnovo is also the place of one of the finest architectural achievements of the self-taught master builder Kolyu Ficheto - the foremost representative of Bulgarian National Revival monumental architecture and building. He revived and ennobled mediaeval traditions with new elements, conforming to the terrain and constriction materials. His works include the parish churches the first of which - St. Nikola - was begun by another master, Ivan Davdada to be precise, and completed by Kolyu Ficheto in 1836.

Followed the churches Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1860-61), St. Spas (1862-63) and Sts. Constantine and Helena (1872-74), the latter being one of the most impressive and representative Turnovo churches in whose monumental structures elements of urban architecture are skilfully imbued. Kolyu Ficheto also built the Konak (1872), the former town hall of the Turkish administration (now housing the National Revival and Constituent Assembly exposition), the House with the Monkey at Vustanicheska Street, as well as Hadji Nikoli Inn (1858). The rooms on its two top floors where travellers were accommodated are linked by open veranda galleries whose vaulted arches above capitals are visible from the opposite bank of the Yantra River (the building now houses the National and Ethnography exhibition).

Brought back to life in Turnovo are also the Samovodene Market Place with its attractive small workshops were master goldsmiths, potters, carvers, weavers and pastry cooks still pursue their crafts and the old photo studio.

Veliko Turnovo is more than just a beautiful city surrounded by a magnificent scenery. It is a city that is destined to survive.

Old Plovdiv

Old Plovdiv

Situated on three hills rising in the Thracian plain and washed by the quietly flowing waters of the Maritza River.

An ancient crossroads between East and West and Bulgaria's second largest city today, Plovdiv has preserved unique treasures from its 24 centuries long history. From the city's ancient buildings - the city forum, the stadium, the amphitheatre of Philip II of Macedon, basilicas, thermae, houses and administrative buildings, mostly fragments remain today: columns, capitals, friezes, mosaics, bas-reliefs, and street pavements, The 2nd century Antique Theatre, seating 3,000 has been completely restored and performances are again presented there.

Landmarks remaining from the time of Ottoman rule include the Imaret Mosque (1444-45), now a branch of the Archaeological Museum; Djumaya Mosque dating from the same period and the Bell Tower, one of Europe's oldest ones and mentioned in a 1633 travelogue.

Social and political life during the National Revival period reflected on the nature of construction. The Bulgarian church went beyond its prime objective of opposing Mohammedanism and became a part of the nationwide movement for political and cultural liberation.

The erecting of churches in prominent places in towns and villages became a matter of national prestige. The three-nave basilica churches St. Nedelya and St. Dimiter (both built in 1831) are guided by the same interior composition principles whereby the pithy structure is blended with National Revival architecture and sculpture. The altar walls are in themselves major artistic achievements. In the St. Constantine and Helena Church (1832) the gilded Baroque iconostasis was carved by Ivan Pashkoula. The 1836 icons were painted by Zahari Zograph - the foremost master of church and monastery painting during the National Revival period. The St. Marina main metropolitan church (1853-54) represents a three-nave basilica with massive stonewalls and vaults. Its six-level, step-like wooden belfry is exquisite. The altar, pulpit and bishop's throne were carved by unknown masters of the Debur school, while the icons were painted by Stanislav Dospevski (1823-78) the first trained Bulgarian artist.

The Old Plovdiv on Trimontium is the center of the Bulgarian National Revival architecture at its height. Developing in a natural way, the Bulgarian building traditions form the core around which the new styles of time evolved; the most attractive of these being Baroque with its dynamics, passion and revolving of forms around an idea. So when specialists write about "Bulgarian Baroque" they have in mind these essential principles, rather than the formal aspects of the style - even more so since neither construction materials nor technologies were borrowed. Plovdiv's houses represent different versions of a symmetrical plan dominated by a centrally situated square or oval salon (in the home of the well known Bulgarian merchant Argir Koyumdjioglou it is 133 m2 large). On both sides the remaining rooms of the house - bedrooms, drawing rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, flank the salon, while the cellar held the household premises. The pediments and facades were brightly painted, featuring medallions, landscapes, ribbons and garlands. The walls of the salons and rooms depicted painted friezes, vases with flowers, exotic or architectural landscapes, birds, tulips, bunches of grapes and vines. Decorative carved ceilings topped the lot.

Space and brokenness, abundant decoration and lavish furnishings, softly colored silhouettes and carved ceilings - these houses were called "sultan yapia", i.e. the houses of sultans or lords. Plovdiv's two and three-storey houses with their multi-colored facades, yoke-shaped bay windows and slender pediments are as eye-catching as ever, fairly resembling minor palaces.

There are many more things to see in Plovdiv: the permanent exhibition of Zlatyu Boyadjiev (1903-76), one of Bulgaria's great artists who loved and painted Plovdiv, the workshops of the traditional masters of old Bulgarian arts and crafts on Struma St. - coppersmiths, furriers, potters.

Evmolpia - the city of the ancient Thracians, Philippopolis (372 B.C.) - the city of Philip II of Macedon the Roman Trimontium - the city on three hills… and Old Plovdiv - a picturesque architectural National Revival period ensemble fashioned by the generous talent, heart and mind of the Bulgarian Masters.

Belogradchik

Belogradchik

The town of Belogradchik is situated between two ridges of the Western Balkan Range, just east of the Serbian border, 182 km northwest of Sofia, and 52 km southwest of Vidin. Belogradchik gives its name to Bulgaria's most spectacular rock formations, the Belogradchik rocks, which cover an area of 90 square km to the west. The towering rocks form a natural fortress whose defensive potential has been exploited by the Romans, the Bulgars, and Turks since ancient times. The fortress at Belogradchik and the Belogradchik Pass were for centuries the main trade route linking the lower Danube with Serbia. Today, the town's landmarks are the fortress or citadel which three levels of fortifications represent different periods of occupation, the 1751 Hussein Pasha mosque, the historical museum, and undoubtedly the marvellous panorama of the Belogradchik rocks. The town is a starting point for trips to the Magura cave, occupied by hunters as early as 2700 BC and best known for its rock paintings.

Vidin

Vidin

The town of Vidin is situated on the bank of the Danube, in the most northwest corner of Bulgaria, 199km northwest of Sofia. One of the most marvellous cities in the country, Vidin was inhabited by Celts, Romans, and Byzantines, but it was under the Bulgarian Tsars and their Ottoman conquerors that the most frenzied fortress building took place. Such a showpiece is the 13th century fortress of Baba Vida - the biggest historical site of Vidin and the best preserved medieval fortress in the country. Other places of interest in the old town are the ethnographic museum, the 17th century Church of St Petka, the Church of St Panteleimon, the synagogue, and the Vidin fortified system.

Kazanlak

Kazanlak

Kazanlak, the capital of the rose-growing region, known as the Valley of the Roses, is located 200 km east of Sofia and 108 km northeast of Plovdiv. Kazanlak is well-known for its production of rose oil, the importance of which is reflected in the Festival of Roses held in early June. Nowadays the city is known also as the centre of the Valley of the Thracian Kings. Once a significant area of Thracian settlement, the vicinity of Kazanlak is spotted with countless burial mounds and tombs. The most famous of the tombs, the Kazanlak Tomb, a late 4th-early 3rd century BC domed burial chamber, lies just outside the town centre and contains unique paintings. The Tomb is one of the 9 cultural and historical sites in Bulgaria included in the UNESCO list of historical and architectural monuments of global importance. Other places of interest include the Church of the Assumption, the Iskra Museum, the Ethnographic complex, and the Museum of the Rose Industry. Lying at the southern end of the Shipka Pass, one of Bulgaria's most spectacular cross-mountain routes, Kazanlak is also a starting point for visits to the historically significant Shipka - Buzludja National Park, with the Shipka Memorial Church, the towering stone Freedom Monument, and the Buzludja peak.

MONTANA

MONTANA

MONTANA - largely rebuilt in concrete - is a drably modern town with a revolutionary tradition. Originally called Kutlovitsa, the town was known as Mihailovgrad for much of the postwar period in memory of local revolutionary Hristo Mihailov, a leader of the Communist uprising of September 1923 . Socialist historians always overestimated the importance of the revolt - a short-lived farce that never enjoyed popular support - but the way in which the right-wing Tsankov regime put the uprising down, massacring 30,000 Bulgarians within a couple of weeks, ensured that it was remembered as one of the most bloodily heroic episodes in Bulgarian history. After a local referendum in 1993 the town was renamed, ostensibly because a Roman settlement called Montana existed here in the first century AD.

SOFIA - POINTS OF INTEREST

SOFIA POINTS OF INTEREST

THE SYNAGOGUE IN SOFIA
The synagogue in Sofia is situated in the very heart of the Bulgarian capital. It is the third largest in Europe, next to the synagogues in Budapest and Amsterdam. Designed by Austrian architect Grunander in a Spanish-Moresque style, the temple resembles the Vienna synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. It was opened on 9 September 1909, and the ceremony was attended by tzar Ferdinand and tzaritza Eleonora.

One of the most beautiful architectural monuments in Sofia, the synagogue accommodates 1300 worshippers. Its central lustre weighs two tons and is the largest in Bulgaria. For already several years the synagogue has been under restoration - because of the complexity of the work and the shortage of funds. Its restoration is soon to be finished, and now the synagogue is shining in all its splendour. The project has been financed by the Bulgarian state and Israel, by private entrepreneurs and individual donations.

In spite of the enormous size of the building, public worships in it are attended by not more 50-60 persons. This is due, on the one hand, to the thinner Jewish community, and, on the other, to the relatively lower religiousness of the local Jewish population. Nevertheless, as a result of a renewed interest in the past and faith of their ancestors, an increasing number of young people now attend the divine services. Certainly, on great festive days, hundreds of people gather here, including high officials of non-Jewish origin.

There are about a dozen of synagogues in Bulgaria, but only these in Sofia and Plovdiv are active. Given that before World War II there were 10-15 rabbis and double that number of hazans, today the rabbi is only one, and - "commissioned" by Israel at that. This creates great difficulties for believers out of the capital city, but, regretfully, even the one or two hazans that have graduated abroad, prefer to practice lay professions. Two surgeons, specially trained in Israel, do the ritual circumcision of boys.

Rotonda Sveti Georgi (Rotonda of St George)

Rotonda Sveti Georgi (Rotonda of St George) Standing in the courtyard of the Sheraton Balkan Hotel, the redbrick Rotonda of St George was built during the fourth century as a Roman temple. It was then destroyed by the Huns, rebuilt by Justinian and turned into a mosque by the Ottomans before being reinstated as a church. Restoration work has revealed three layers of medieval frescoes, which had been hidden by plaster since the sixteenth century. The impressive cupola bears a fourteenth-century portrait of Christ the Pantocrator, surrounded by four angels and symbols of the Evangelists. Beneath, twelfth-century fresco work depicts 22 prophets holding scrolls, with texts alternately in Bulgarian and Greek. To the east lie excavated foundations of the Roman settlement of Serdica.

Hram-pametnik Aleksander Nevski (St Alexander Nevski Memorial Church)
Said to be Sofia's most photographed monument, Alexander Nevski is a magnificent neo-Byzantine structure, topped by copper and golden domes. It was built between 1882 and 1912, in honour of the Russian soldiers who gave up their lives when the Russian army helped liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878. The church takes its name from Alexander Nevski, the patron saint of the family of the Russian Tsar at that time, Alexander II (also known as Tsar Osvoboditel, the 'Tsar Liberator').

Inside, there are three altars: the central altar is dedicated to St Alexander Nevski, the southern altar to St Boris (who brought Christianity to Bulgaria), and the northern altar to Saints Cyril and Methodius (who created the Cyrillic alphabet). The Icon Museum is located in the crypt, to the left of the main entrance. Here, over 300 exhibits trace the development of Bulgarian icon painting from the late ninth century up to the end of the nineteenth century. A guidebook is available in Bulgarian and English. The square in front of the church, Aleksander Nevski Square, hosts stalls selling souvenirs and bric-a-brac the year through.

Tsurkva Sveta Sofia (Church of St Sofia)
Standing next to St Aleksander Nevski, this brown brick church dates back to Roman times. The earliest basilica was probably built here in the fourth century, during the reign of Emperor Justinian. The present church still follows the classic Byzantine plan of a regular cross with a central dome. In the fourteenth century, the church gave its name to the city. During Ottoman rule, the church was converted into a mosque: the original twelfth-century frescoes were destroyed and minarets were added. During the nineteenth century, it was abandoned following damage caused by an earthquake. After the Liberation in 1878, it was restored and reinstated as a church - there are no Muslim features left. Outside, to the left of the main entrance, stands the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, lit by a perpetual flame in honour of those who died for Bulgaria.

Tsurkva Sveta Nedelya (Church of St Nedelya)
Sveta Nedelya, with its huge dome, is a typical example of Byzantine architecture. There has been a church here since medieval times, although the present building dates from the mid-nineteenth century. In 1925, the church was largely destroyed when a bomb exploded during a funeral service, attended by Tsar Boris and his cabinet ministers, killing 123 people. The square, Ploshtad Sveta Nedelya, used to be named after Lenin and a statue of the man himself once stood here. Recently, it has been replaced by a 24m (79ft) bronze statue of the goddess protector of the city, Sofia, holding the symbols of wisdom and fame.

Sofia - The Capital

Sofia - The Capital

Sofia has a history that goes back thousands of years. Through the centuries, many peoples have inhabited it and added to its rich and diverse history. Numerous Neolithic villages have been discovered in the area, while a chalocolithic settlement has been recently discovered in the very centre of modern Sofia.

The Thracian Serdi tribe settled here in the 7th century BC and gave the first recorded name of Sofia - Serdica. The Byzantines called it Triaditsa and the Slavs - Sredets. The modern city of Sofia was named in the 14th century after the basilica St. Sofia. In Greek, word sofia means wisdom. In the 3rd century AD, the Romans built strong walls around Serdica, their capital of Inner Dacia and an important stopping point on the Roman road from Naisus (present Nish, Yugoslavia) to Constantinople.

Today there are many archaeological sites in Sofia, that display the city's diverse history - the castle gates and towers of Serdica, public buildings and streets thousands of years old. A large part of the ancient city of Serdica is underneath important modern buildings. The ancient city council (bulefteris) is hidden under the "Sheraton" hotel, while a number of basilicas are below the National Historical Museum. The Roman thermal baths are under the Sofia Mineral Baths and a Roman residence with elaborate mosaics is below the "Rila" hotel.

After the Hun invasion of 441, the town was rebuilt by the Byzantines. The Slavs gave Sredets a key role in the First Bulgarian Empire, then in 1018 the Byzantines retook Triaditsa. At the end of the 12th century, the Bulgarians returned and Sredets became a major trading centre of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The Turks captured Sofia in 1382 and made it the centre of the Rumelian beylerbeyship. The city declined during the feudal unrest of the 19th century, but with the establishment of the Third Bulgarian Empire in 1879, Sofia once again became the capital of Bulgaria

Rapidly the city's image changed from an Oriental, to a European. Today many streets, buildings, parks, and even whole neighbourhoods preserve the architectural style from the turn of the century. Between 1879 and 1939, the population of Sofia grew from 20 000 to 300 000, while today 1 250 000 people live in Sofia.

Since ancient times the city was famous for the abundance of cold and thermal mineral water springs in and around it. The water is still available today and is praised for its numerous qualities. Springs may be found in the city centre, as well as in the neighbourhoods: Kniazevo, Gorna Bania, Bankia, Ovcha Kupel and Ivaniane.

In 1900 the City Council approved the emblem of Sofia and the motto "It Grows but Does not Age".

register a company in bulgaria

How to register a representation office?
A representation office is registered with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) upon submission of a standard form and a registration card, furnished with the documents required by the Law on Commerce. Registration takes from 1 to 3 days. The representation office is not a legal entry and it is not entitled to conduct any economic activity.

What are the steps necessary to establish business in Bulgaria?

Registration of the company's name with the Information Service Center;
Working out of the Company Charter or Articles of Partnership/Articles of Association, which should include the following items - company name, central office, main activity, partners and shares - general data of partners (if the partner is a legal entity it has to present a copy of its recent registration, plus a certified resolution signed by the managing body, approving the partnership of the new company), partner rights and obligations and company management;
Declaration on behalf of the manager/s as per the Law on Commerce;
Deposition with a bank of due authorized capital or at least 70% of it;
Application for entry in the Trade Register of the Court and publication in the State Gazette.

Do I need any assistance for registration of a company in Bulgaria?
Yes, it is recommended; Our lawyers are at your disposal with a full package service; it will take 3 working days for producing the whole set of documents for the Court; registration with the Court will take two weeks at the most; fees are competitive. Please note! Once registered, companies and representation offices have to register their activities within 14 days as of register with:
Local Tax Administration Offices for taxation purposes
Local Social Security Offices, if foreign investors have employees on their pay-roll
The National Institute on Statistics under the registration system BULSTAT for statistical purposes
Customs authorities when foreign trade operations are performed

What are the state fees for registration of a company?

Registration in the Court
LTD (OOD/EOOD) - up to 100 Euro
PLC (AD/EAD) - up to 250 Euro
Specific types of business - banks, insurance, investment companies - up to 800 Euro
Registration of the company's name with the Information Service Center - up to 26 Euro
Registration with the National Institute on Statistics - up to 26 Euro
Registration with the Local Tax Administration Office - no fee

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY and PUBLIC LIABILITY COMPANY

What should one know about the Limited Liability Company?

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (OOD) /including SINGLE PERSON LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (EOOD)/. The capital is formed by the quotas (sometimes referred to as shares) of its constituent members (promoters). The liability of a member is limited to the amount of the capital the member has subscribed. A limited liability company is founded or owned by one or more persons, including foreign natural or legal persons. The minimum authorized capital is BGN 5000.00. At least 70% of the capital should be paid prior to registration. A single person limited liability company (EOOD) is an OOD, owned by one person, including a foreign natural or legal person. The sole owner of an EOOD exercises the powers of both the general meeting and the manager, unless another manager has been appointed to run the company.

The limited liability company (OOD) should work out the balance sheet and the annual financial statements.

What should one know about the joint-stock company?

PUBLIC LIABILITY COMPANY (AD) /including SINGLE PERSON PUBLIC LIABILITY COMPANY (EAD)/. The company is liable to its creditors to the extent of its assets. An AD may be founded or owned by one or more persons, including foreign natural or legal persons. The minimum capital pf AD is BGN 50000.00. At least 70% of the capital should be paid prior to registration.

A joint-stock company may issue either registered, bearer or preference shares.

A single person joint-stock company (EAD) is an AD owned by one person, including a foreign natural or legal person; in this case the sole owner of the capital exercises the powers of the general meeting of shareholders.

The joint-stock company (AD) should work out the balance sheet and the annual financial statements.

What are the additional requirements for registering any specific types of business?
There are some specific additional requirements as to the incorporation and running of certain types of companies (e.g. banks and insurance companies). A higher minimum capital is required for the establishment of certain companies such as:
Banks - BGN 10000000
Insurance companies - BGN 500000.00
Voluntary health insurance company - BGN 2000000.00 (initially paid in cash, subsequently - in kind)
Voluntary pension security companies - BGN 3000000.00 (paid in cash)

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT WITHIN BULGARIAN LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT WITHIN BULGARIAN LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

What are the legal and international Guarantees for Foreign Investments?
The Bulgarian Constitution and the Law on Foreign Investments provide national treatment to foreign investors, which means that foreign investors are entitled to perform economic activity in the country under the same provisions applicable to Bulgarian investors except where otherwise provided by the law.

Are there any restrictions on the management of companies with foreign capital?
There are no restrictions imposed either on the management, or the members of the company boards. Managers and board members in FDI enterprises can be foreign nationals.

Are there any restrictions on the management of companies with foreign capital?
What kind of enterprises with foreign investment for establishment the Bulgarian Legislation provides?

Private limited company
Single person private limited liability company
Public limited company
General partnership (unlimited partnership)
Limited partnership
Public limited partnership
Sole trader

Foreign legal entities may register also
Branches
Representative offices
Joint ventures

What is the easiest way to conduct business in Bulgaria?
By registration of a company in Bulgaria. The most appropriate types of companies for conducting business in Bulgaria are limited liability companies and public liability companies (including a single owner private limited liability and public limited companies). Registration of the company is made with the Trade Register of the relevant District Court.

CUSTOM DUTIES

CUSTOM DUTIES

Are there any custom duties on exports?
Exports are not subject to customs duties.

Are there any custom duties on imports?
A few industrial groups of goods imported from EU, CEFTA and countries which have signed Free Trade Agreements with Bulgaria are subject to custom duties (is accompanied by EUR1 certificate), while agricultural goods and foods are still subject to customs duties which are reduced annually. Within the quota frames these goods can be imported with 0 or reduced customs duties.

Are the Duty Free Zones?
There are six duty free zones in Bulgaria. All of them are provided with land and infrastructure by the state. Two of them are along the Danube River at the ports of Vidin and Rousse. Two other zones are located at the cross points of the Trans European motorways - one near the Bulgarian-Serbian border in the town of Dragoman and the other in the city of Svilengrad near the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Another duty free zone is in Plovdiv, the second largest city. The Bourgas duty free zone is positioned next to the largest Bulgarian Black Sea port.

EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONS

EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONS

How can a foreigner enter the country?
A foreigner can enter the Republic of Bulgaria only if they have valid papers. These are:

A passport or other alternative document allowing him to travel abroad.
An entry permit - either entry or transit visa.
No visa shall be required where there is a bilateral agreement between Bulgaria and the native country of the visitor. Currently no visas are required from any citizens of the European Union for a stay less than 30 days.

How can a foreigner conducting business in Bulgaria get a temporary permit?
A foreigner who has registered a company in Bulgaria can get a temporary stay permit should he be appointed as a Manager of the Company. The temporary permit is issued by the Passport Office with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

How can a foreigner who has opened a representation office in Bulgaria get a temporary stay permit?
Temporary permits are issued by the same authorities upon presentation of a copy of the registration with BCCI, filled-in application forms as required, and payment of state fees.

REAL ESTATE IN BULGARIA

REAL ESTATE IN BULGARIA

What are the average property prices in Bulgaria?
Property prices are within the frames of 100 EUR to 1400 EUR per sq. m. depending on the city and the region.
Rental prices in Sofia start from 2 EUR per sq. m. per month and could reach 10-12 Euro.

It depends on the region, building, furnishing, logistics, etc. the above indicative prices refer to both business and residential rentals.
Rental prices in the main cities of Varna, Burgas and Plovdiv are nearly the same as those in Sofia while prices in the smaller towns are not so high.

Are there any restrictions on purchase of real estate for resident enterprises in Bulgaria?

According to the Bulgarian Constitution foreign nationals and foreign legal entities may not directly acquire ownership rights on land. Enterprises incorporated in Bulgaria by foreign persons in compliance with the Law on Commerce, irrespective of foreign capital shares, can purchase a real estate and acquire full ownership rights on the land, including ownership rights on agricultural land.

BANKING

BANKING

Who can open an account in Bulgaria?

Every local or foreign person may own an unlimited number of accounts in any currency, in any bank in Bulgaria. There are no restrictions on the repatriation of earnings, capital, royalties or interest with regard to the foreign investments and repatriation payments can be made freely.


The foreign exchange regime is based on the principle of freedom of concluding transactions, actions and payments. At present the BGN 1 per EUR 0.51129. Central exchange rates are quoted daily by the BNB for statistical and accounting purposes only.

TOURISM

TOURISM

Which are the best places for summer and winter holidays?
The Black Sea Coast offers attractive seaside resorts. Tourists can enjoy various opportunities for climate - treatment and balneo-treatment, yachting, surfing, water skiing, diving, underwater fishing. There are special itineraries combining sea tourism and providing opportunities for hiking, cycling, riding, photo-tourism, visits to natural , archaeological and cultural places of interest.

Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, the Rhodopes and the Balkan Mountains offer good possibilities for ski and mountain tourism. In the international resorts of Pamporovo, Borovetz and Bansko one can enjoy some of the best skiing in Europe.

What are the alternative forms of tourism?
With its 600 hot, warm and cold mineral springs with different curative properties, Bulgaria created excellent conditions for balneology tourism. A number of hotels with modern equipment and skilled staff offer different types of therapy. Bulgaria has over 30 000 historical monuments from different historical epochs, 36 culture reserves, 330 museums and galleries, which provide excellent conditions for cultural tourism.

Tourists may enjoy the traditional outlook and genuine atmosphere of the Bulgarian villages and the hospitability of the local people and folklore. The hunters may rely on a large variety of game: red deer, wild goat, pheasants and many others.

TRANSPORT

TRANSPORT

How can a foreigner reach Bulgaria?

By air - Sofia Airport is an international airport, servicing numerous international flights from all over the world.
By road - via International Transport Corridor No 4 (Budapest - Vidin - Sofia - Thesaloniki); via International Transport Corridor No 8 (Duras - Skopje - Sofia - Burgas - Varna); via International Transport Corridor No 9 (Helsinki - Kiev - Rousse - Alexandropolus); via International Transport Corridor No 10 (Belgrade - Sofia - Istanbul).
By Danube River - International Corridor No 7 with ports in Vidin and Rousse.
By sea - main ports at the Black Sea are Varna and Burgas.
By train - using the above mentioned International Corridors.

What kind of transport is most appropriate for a foreigner to use in Bulgaria?
A foreigner travelling in the country may use the railways or the bus transport. They can rent a car with or without a driver. The bigger cities provide local transport by tram and trolley.

Language

Language

The official language is Bulgarian, using the Cyrillic alphabet. It belongs to the group of Slavic languages and is closely related to Russian and Serbian. Russian, previously a required subject in school, is also widely spoken. English is now the most widely studied second language, followed by German and French and Italian.

Religion

Religion

The main religion is Orthodox Christianity (85%). But there are also followers of the Catholic, Islamic (13%), Baptist, Methodist and Jewish faith. The Communist regime discouraged religion, however religious freedom has now been re-established and religious holidays are openly celebrated.

Time

Time

Winter time: GMT + 2 hours (October through March) or + 1 hours - according CET (Central European Time).

Passports and visas

Passports and visas

Entering the country is only possible with a valid international passport. The citizens EU and EFTA member states do not need an entry visa. Citizens of other countries need an entry or transit visa, which is issued by the embassies and consulates of the Republic of Bulgaria abroad. No visas are required of CIS citizens for a stay of 1 month, provided they are in the possession of a valid passport, a voucher for pre-paid tourist services or if they pay the sum of 40 USD for each day of their stay in the country.

Money

Money

The official monetary unit in Bulgaria is the LEV (BGN), plural: LEVA, which consists of 100 stotinki. There are banknotes of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20,50 and 100 leva nominal and coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 stotinki and 1 lev. There are exchange offices in all banks, hotels, airports, railway stations and border checkpoints. VAT in Bulgaria is 20%. 1 EUR = 1.95583 leva (fixed rate)

Credit cards

Credit cards

The usage of credit cards in Bulgaria is not of general practice. Most shops prefer cash payment. Credit Cards are mainly accepted in larger hotels, trade centres and car rental offices. Information for which credit cards are accepted can be received from the window stickers, where payment with credit cards is available. Most popular types are: Visa, MasterCard, JCB and Diners Club. American Express Travellers' cheques must be cashed at banks and most charge commission.

Banks

Banks

Usually work from Monday to Friday from 09.00 to 16.00 h. and in case they work on Saturday - from 09.00 to 13.00h. In the resorts, banks work from Monday to Saturday with working time from 08.00 to 20.00h. The exchange offices usually work non-stop or from 09.00 to 17.00h. There are also 'bankomates' (ATM) on the streets of larger cities, some of the larger hotels and most banks.

Beaches

Beaches

There are many long, beautiful, sandy beaches along the Black sea coastline. Most of them are fully organized - with shower facilities, beach chairs, umbrellas and sea sports facilities. All beaches are free of charge. A few years ago colours of the banners showing the state of the sea were standardized with the international ones as follows: Green banner - Calm Sea. The swimming is allowed. Yellow banner - Forbidden entering behind the float and usage of inflatable means. Red banner - Forbidden bathing and swimming.

Telephone Services

Telephone Services

Phone calls can be made from the hotel room, post office or public phones (with phone cards which can be bought at shops, news-stands, kiosks or post offices for Mobika-blue & Bulfon-orange) by dialling the number directly (for local calls) or the code of the country & town respectively when abroad. The international dialling code for Bulgaria is ++359, then for Sofia - 2, Varna - 52, Bourgas - 56, Plovdiv - 32, etc. There are also 3 mobile telephone operators - Mobikom - using the NMT 450 system (048...), MTel - GSM (0889/8/7/6...) and Globul - GSM (0898...) EMERGENCY NUMBERS: Fire - 160, Ambulance - 150, Police - 166, Road Assistance - 146, Traffic Police - 165 or (02) 9882225 in Sofia.

Post Offices

Post Offices

There are post offices in all resort complexes, which usually work from 08:00 to 21:00h. Post cards and post letters can be left on the hotel reception or can be dropped in the post boxes in the resorts. Stamps can be bought from the hotel reception or at the post office.

Shops

Shops

In the resorts they usually work round-the-clock or from 09:00 to 21:00h. The rest work from 09:00 to 19:00h. and from 09:00 to 13:00h on Saturdays.

Restaurants

Restaurants

Most of the restaurants in resorts work from 10:00 h. - until customers are available, the rest work from 11:00 to 23:00h. The cuisine varies - traditional Bulgarian cuisine is served as well as Central or Western European, Chinese and Thai cuisine. Most luxury restaurants accept major Credit cards like Visa, MasterCard and Dinners Club. Menus are usually printed in both Bulgarian and English.

Pharmacies Medical services

Pharmacies and Medical services

Most pharmacies open from 08:00 to 20:00 h. and some are open 24 hours. Medical services - Each resort has a fully equipped state clinic. There are also private medical centres and services. Phone for emergency medical service - 150. Free First Aid and consultation in emergencies.

RENT-A-CAR

RENT-A-CAR

Detailed information for car rental services - offices, prices and conditions of payment can be received at every hotel reception or tourist information offices or centres. Major international car rental companies with offices in Bulgaria: Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Avis and Budget. Local car rental companies offer much lower rates but operate older cars.

Taxi

Taxi

Taxi can be found in front of almost every restaurant or hotel. Can also be called on the phone from the hotel or the bar and can be stopped on the street. When in Sofia look for the "OK-Supertrans" taxies (tel. 973 21 21) - these are the most reliable in terms of service, prices and fleet. The usual rate is 0.50 leva - call charge and about 0.40 BGN per kilometre travelled. Tips are recommended but should not exceed 10 - 20 % of the bill.

Bus

Buses

Information for state and private bus lines can be found on the reception of the hotel, bus station and tourist information centres. There is a good network of bus transportation throughout the country, which is a relatively cheap way to go round.

Airports

Airports

There are civil aviation airports in the cities of: Sofia (International), Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv, Rousse and Targovishte. In rare cases of heavy mist at Sofia Airport, flights are redirected to Plovdiv Airport, which is about 160 km. from Sofia, and passengers are transported with buses to Sofia.

Gambling

Gambling

Casino and Bingo halls - usually it is necessary to pay an entrance fee in the casinos. It's also necessary to carry a passport. Bingo halls are only operated in Bulgarian language.

Electricity

Electricity

Voltage in Bulgaria is 220V and the frequency - 50 Hz.

Water

Water

Tap water in Bulgaria is completely suitable for drinking, but at places it is highly chlorinated and bottled mineral water is recommended. Most local brands, like Gorna Banya, Devin, Bankya, Hissarya and Velingrad have excellent taste and curative characteristics. Most of them are originate from the famous SPA resorts that they carry the name of.

Tips

Tips

In most restaurants and bars it is not necessary to pay extra for the service, but the custom is to leave 5-10% from the value of the order. In the restaurants where the tip is included in the bill, its percentage is mentioned in the menu. Tips can also be given to the chambermaid, the errand-boy, the taxi drivers and at the petrol stations staff.

Fuel

Fuel

The best Bulgarian fuel is the H 98 octane "Super/unleaded", with prices per litre of about 1.95 lev (1 EUR). The fuel most commonly used is the 95-H (unleaded), with price of about 1.60 lev (0.80 EUR) and Diesel - price about 1.30 lev (0.65 EUR). Petrol stations are conveniently situated throughout the country. LPG is also available at 0.90 leva per litre (0.45 EUR).

Yachting and Yacht Ports

Yachting and Yacht Ports

Yachting is a sport, which now is starting to develop in Bulgaria. There are ports in Balchik, Golden Sands Resort, St. Constantine & Helena Resort and Varna to the North, and at Nessebar, Bourgas, Kiten and Tsarevo to the South. Conditions for usage of the yacht ports can be found from tour operators and the tourist information centres.

Bulgarian Tourism

Българският туризъм в международен контекст

В средата на летния туристически сезон не е лошо да поставим българския туризъм в международна перспектива. Това правим, като, от една страна, сравняваме приходите от туризъм в България с водещите 10 дестинации в света, а от друга - като позиционираме България сред 10-те най-големи туристически пазари.
Безспорен лидер в туристическите дестинации е САЩ. Най-голямата група във водещата десетка са страните, предлагащи до голяма степен сходен с българския туристически продукт - това са средиземноморските Испания, Франция, Италия, Турция и Гърция. Разбира се, ваканцията на море едва ли носи всички приходи в Италия и Франция, като не трябва да пропускаме водещите места на Германия и Великобритания. Две дестинации от десетката отбелязват спад през 2003 г. - САЩ и Китай (под влияние на заплахите от тероризъм и вируса САРС), докато всички останали отчитат растеж. В този смисъл успешното развитие на българския туризъм от миналата година не е изолирано явление в индустрията, а по-скоро е част - макар и най-динамична - от общото оживление на европейските дестинации. Трябва да се има предвид, че доколкото за мащабите на местната икономика туризмът в България е значим сектор, общият размер на този бизнес е далеч по-малък в сравнение например със съседни Гърция и Турция (6-8 пъти), Хърватия (2.5 пъти) или Испания (25 пъти).
Пътуванията на българите зад граница са пренебрежимо малко за световния туристически пазар. За миналата година те са похарчили около 750 млн. долара при общ размер на пазара около 520 млрд. долара. От данните за десетте най-големи пазара на туристически продукт се вижда, че разходите за международни пътувания зависят в най-голяма степен от размера на икономиката. Така лидер е САЩ, следван от развитите индустриални страни, като в десетката присъстват Китай и Русия - страни с нисък доход на човек, но с големи икономики като брутен продукт. В десетте страни с най-големи разходи за международни пътувания са похарчени с около 5 млрд. долара по-малко за 2003 г. спрямо 2002 г. В Европа туристическият пазар като че ли най-пряко следва общата динамика на икономиката - в Германия и Холандия (както и в Дания и Швейцария) търсенето спада, докато растящата икономика на Великобритания и Ирландия предизвикват ръст от 6.4%. След значителен ръст от над 10% Русия вече е на седмо място в света по разходи за международен туризъм, а Великобритания може да измести Германия от второто място при още един сезон с подобен растеж.
България като дестинация на практика липсва от пазарите на САЩ, Япония, Китай, Хонконг, Италия и Франция. За България Германия и Великобритания са основни източници на туристи, но, погледнато от страната на търсенето, посещенията към България са малък дял от общия туристически пазар в двете страни - 0.7% и 0.3%. От друга страна, ежегодният ръст на туристи от големите пазари на Германия, Великобритания и Русия означава, че потенциалът за растеж е голям, стига всичко останало да бъде свършено от туристическите предприемачи в България.

Ecotourism Bulgaria

Стартира грантова схема за екотуризъм

Размерът на безвъзмездната помощ е от 50 000 до 250 000 евро

Мара ГЕОРГИЕВА

Министерството на икономиката стартира набирането на предложения по проект „Развитие на българския екотуризъм“, финансиран от програма ФАР на Европейския съюз. Общата сума на грантовата схема е 4.9 млн. евро - 3.8 млн. евро се осигуряват от програма ФАР, а 1.1 млн. евро - от националния бюджет. Проектните предложения се предават в Министерството на икономиката. Крайният срок е 13 септември 2004 г.

Финансови условия

Размер на безвъзмездната помощ (грант):

минимална сума за един проект - 50 000 евро
максимална сума за един проект - 250 000 евро.
Ако общата стойност на проекта надхвърля максималния размер на гранта, разликата трябва да се покрие от собствените средства на кандидата или партньора или от други източници, различни от бюджета на Европейската общност. Ако проектите са малки, със сходна тематика и местоположение, се препоръчва обединяването им, за да се осигури достигането на необходимия минимум от 50 000 евро.

Изисквания към кандидатите

Кандидати могат да бъдат общини в партньорство с други общини или неправителствени организации.
За проекти, свързани със защитени територии (национални и природни паркове), е необходимо участието на съответните паркови дирекции, а за проекти, свързани с държавна собственост - на съответната областна администрация.
Кандидатите трябва да бъдат пряко отговорни за подготовката и управлението на проекта.
Трябва да имат стабилни и достатъчни финансови ресурси, за да могат да осигурят продължаване на дейността на своята организация до получаване на първата вноска от гранта.
Да притежават опит и да са способни да демонстрират капацитет за управлението на подобни дейности.
Всяка организация може да участва само в едно проектно предложение, независимо дали като кандидат или като партньор.
Партньорство

Допуска се самостоятелно участие или консорциум с партньорски организации. Неправителствени организации, регистрирани по Закона за юридическите лица с нестопанска цел и свързани с туризма - сдружения, асоциации, браншови организации, фондации и др., също имат право да участват като партньори, ако са регистрирани най-малко 12 месеца преди официалното стартиране на процедурата за подаване на предложения. Всяка публична институция, организация с нестопанска цел, стопанска организация и др. може да бъде привлечена като асоцииран партньор, който не може да получава средства от безвъзмездната помощ.

Изисквания към проектите

Проектните предложения трябва да бъдат част от или да се вписват в рамката на съответния план за регионално развитие (общински и/или областен).

- Дейностите по проектните предложения трябва да бъдат планирани и изпълнени най-късно до 30 септември 2006 г. (включително и представянето на крайните отчети). Изпълнението на строителните работи не трябва да надвишава 15 месеца.
Дейностите трябва да целят създаване на инфраструктура за екотуризъм, която да подобри състоянието на туризма и условията за бизнес в съответните области.
Ако проектът включва неинвестиционни мерки, те могат да бъдат само допълващи основните дейности.
Проектите могат да включват:

Изграждане/обновяване на сгради, центрове за посетители, предлагащи обучения, представяне, запознаване с околната среда в комбинация или не с професионално обучение на екскурзоводи, аниматори, планински водачи, спасителни отряди и т.н.
Доставка на оборудване и материали - за превод, обучение, центрове за посетители или други подобни; създаване на информационни системи в туристическите информационни центрове, оборудване за провеждане на културни мероприятия, системи за мониторинг на влажността и температурата, охранителни системи и т.н.
Реконструкция/изграждане на модерна туристическа инфраструктура - къмпинги или други подобни съоръжения, съоръжения, подпомагащи разходки и преходи, създаване на зони за спортни занимания и спортни съоръжения за скално катерене, водни спортове; създаване и оборудване на места за отдих, пожарообезопасени места за пикник.
Подобряване на инфраструктурата за туристически посещения, включително за инвалиди, до природни феномени, културни забележителности и др., например - стълбища, осветление, водоснабдяване, канализация, електричество, отопление и вентилация, пътепоказатели, поставяне на рампи и т.н.
Създаване и оборудване на места за наблюдение на животни, платформи за орнитолози и фотолюбители, хранилки за диви птици/животни, направени от екологични материали, образователни/природонаучни маршрути.
Създаване на пътепоказатели, указателни табели, картови схеми и т.н.; създаване и възстановяване на пешеходни пътеки, екопътеки, ориентировъчна маркировка, превод на указателни табели (съгласно утвърдената номенклатура), карти и наръчници.
Изграждане на велосипедни пътеки в подходящи за това местности.
Строителни работи за подобряване на достъпа до места и обекти за екотуризъм - паркинги за автомобили, реконструкция/изграждане на пътища (с ограничена дължина до 3 км), зони за отмора и т.н.
Проектите трябва задължително да съдържат:

Строителни дейности, свързани с подобряване на инфраструктурата, с бюджет най-малко 50% от общите допустими разходи по проекта.
Дейности, свързани с рекламата и маркетинга на съответните обекти, например издаване на брошури и диплянки, промоция на туристически екопродукти, организация на изложби или семинари, подготовка на софтуерни продукти, създаване на бази данни, web страници и мултимедийни продукти и т.н.
Дейностите за рекон­струк­ция/изграждане трябва задължително да бъдат извършвани на общинска или държавна недвижима собственост (земя, постройки). Неправителствени организации, стопански организации или частни лица не могат да бъдат собственици на дълготрайни материални активи, създадени/придобити и/или реконструирани по проекта.
Подробна информация и документите за кандидатстване могат да бъдат намерени на интернет страниците на Министерството на регионалното развитие и благоустройството (www.mrrb.government.bg) и на Министерството на икономиката (www.mi.government.bg).

Не се финансират

проекти, които генерират печалба от изпълнението на дейностите за кандидата или партньора
индивидуално спонсорство за участие в работни групи, семинари, конференции, конгреси
индивидуални стипендии за изследвания или курсове за обучение
проекти, които се причисляват към основните дейности на съответните държавни институции или на държавните административни служби, включително местното самоуправление
проекти, предвиждащи финансиране на обичайните дейности на местни организации, особено покриващи техните текущи разходи
проекти, насочени към частни туристически обекти и места
проекти, стартирали, преди кандидатът да е подписал договора за отпускане на безвъзмездната помощ
проекти, свързани с политически партии
обучения, провеждани извън страната, включително и участие в изложби и семинари в чужбина
благотворителни дарения
дейности, финансирани от други програми на Европейската общност.



Институционална рамка на проекта

Министерството на регионалното развитие и благоустройството е институцията, отговорна за сключването на договори по този проект.
Министерството на икономиката е институцията, отговорна за техническото изпълнение на проекта. Създадено е Звено за изпълнение на проекта съвместно с Министерството на земеделието и горите и Министерството на околната среда и водите, които са основните партньорски институции.
Делегация на Европейската комисия в София изпълнява предварителен контрол на решенията, свързани с изготвянето и одобрението на договори от страна на институцията, сключваща договорите.



Дефиницията

За целите на тази схема за безвъзмездна помощ екотуризмът се дефинира като „екологосъобразно пътуване и посещение на сравнително непокътнати природни райони с цел наслада от и оценяване на природата (и всички съпътстващи културни особености - както от миналото, така и от настоящето), което стимулира опазването им, има малък отрицателен ефект от посещението и осигурява благоприятно социално-икономическо въздействие за местното население“.

Real Estate in Bulgaria

Real Estate

Why have residential real estate prices increased?

By Tanya Kosseva-Boshova

The increase in residential real estate prices in the recent months has brought unprecedented media coverage of the real estate market.One can read articles about real estate in almost all daily and weekly newspapers and magazines.Real estate has become an attractive topic even to government officials, whose public statements have even further increased the hustle around residential real estate prices.

The Bulgarian real estate market is yet another free, unregulated market, where the mechanisms of supply and demand command the movement of prices up- or down-wards.At the same time, the real estate market has some specific characteristics, which make it a unique market: lack of sufficient information; a reaction lag as compared to the other sectors of the economy; non-standardised product; lack of mobility of properties, as well as, buyers and sellers; limited number of transactions in one’s lifetime.Therefore the smooth mechanisms of the free market economy would be influenced by all of these factors and should be taken into consideration when analysing the property market.

Any student in economics would tell you that prices rise when either supply shrinks or demand increases.What has happened on the Bulgarian real estate market this year?Both supply and demand have grown significantly with demand outpacing supply and therefore leading to higher sales prices.

What is more interesting is what has caused demand to grow at such pace and incur such media coverage? The size of the population, disposable income of the population, availability of mortgage credits and government actions can influence demand for residential properties.

The overall population of Bulgaria has been decreasing slowly in recent years, but at the same time the poor economic conditions in the countryside have forced many Bulgarians to move to the bigger cities and especially to the capital.This has led to an increase in the number of potential buyers of real estate in Sofia and the bigger cities. As a result the real estate market has been most active in these markets and is expected to continue to be in the short and medium term.

The mere number of people is not a sufficient driver for the increased demand for properties – the disposable income of households is extremely important.The steady economic growth of the Bulgarian economy over the past few years has allowed some portions of Bulgarian society to be able to earn and save more money. In addition, the positive prospects of the economy have encouraged Bulgarians to plan their long-term investments in homes. People are now starting to have positive expectations and perceive the economy as moving steadily in the right direction.Should the economy continue to grow in the future the demand for residential real estate will continue to increase.

Disposable income of Bulgarians is further enhanced by the availability of mortgage loans.Although interest rates are still high 8.5 to 12.5 per cent a year, many Bulgarians have taken this opportunity to be able to enjoy a new home now rather than wait for enough funds to be accumulated in 10 to 15 years.The increased competition between commercial banks will further drive interest rates down and therefore stimulate the demand for residential properties.

Numerous politicians and governmental officials, as well as, other individuals, believe that Bulgaria’s accession to the EU and NATO will drive real estate prices up overnight.However this will not happen overnight but rather over a longer period. The expected accession to the EU and NATO have both affected positively the development of the Bulgarian real estate market, creating positive expectations and sense of security both in Bulgarians and foreign investors.Again, these positive expectations have created additional demand for real estate properties.In this way the government has affected the real estate market in the medium term.

The Bulgarian real estate market underwent significant changes in the beginning of the year.Up to the first quarter of 2003, the residential real estate market in the larger cities was denominated in US dollars.The depreciation of the dollar against the euro encouraged the majority of sellers to convert the dollar denominated prices into euro.The phenomenon here is that they did that at an exchange rate that was significantly different from the market one thus driving sales prices up at least 10 per cent.Although prices have been driven up, this translation is actually positive for the market in the long term.The Bulgarian lev is pegged to the euro, the majority of the salaries are denominated in leva or in euro, and therefore it is logical to have real estate prices also denominated in these two respective currencies.The commercial real estate market, being a step ahead, has already experienced that a year ahead, although for a different reason.

All these positive economic and political signals in the Bulgarian economy have encouraged both Bulgarians and foreign nationals to purchase residential properties with an investment purpose.This is done because of the excellent potential that the rental market still provides to expatriates.These quality properties are usually leased to foreign managers of multinational companies or diplomats at relatively high rental levels.Then, in few years significant capital gains are expected from the sale of the property.This is highly plausible and expected to happen, should the Bulgarian economy continue to grow at this rate.

The government has recently taken a small but significant step in stimulating the properties market – the process of acquiring all necessary permissions for a new construction has been eased and shortened significantly. The market still awaits the long expected change to the constitution, allowingforeign nationals to acquire land in Bulgaria.Last but not least, the government can stimulate the mortgage loan market by providing some tax relief for users of mortgage loans thus stimulating demand for residential real estate.

The Bulgarian real estate market follows the traditional market mechanism of development but due to its specific nature, changes in prices occur slowly, and there is a significant lag of few months before the market absorbs any economic news. The expectation is that the prices will continue to gradually grow in the near future thus stimulating developers to continue to deliver new products.

Privatisation in Bulgaria

Privatisation in Bulgaria

If there is any single subject apart from failure to deal with organised crime that has been the leading cause of criticism of the current Government – and for that matter, its post-communist predecessors, it is privatisation.

There is a widespread perception, well justified in certain cases, that the handling of privatisation has been characterised by ineptitude, procrastination, a lack of transparency, and abrupt and unpredictable twists and turns in how the rules are applied, or even as to what the rules are.

Yet, at the same time, significant funds have been earned from privatisation, and at the start of 2004 there were signs of real progress regarding two of the most protracted and controversial privatisations, that of the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company and the state tobacco giant, Bulgartabac.

The year 2003 also saw the successful privatisation of the state savings bank DSK, a transaction which marked the closing phase of the privatisation of the banking sector. The sale of the bank was agreed on in May 2003, with Hungary’s OTP paying a reported 311 million euro for it.

Another apparently successful privatisation in 2003 was that of the Rodina printing house, of which a 51 per cent stake was sold to the United Bulgarian Newspapers Consortium, made of mostly of major Bulgarian-language newspapers, with other shareholders including Petar Mandjukov, who is involved in the weapons industry, publishes Duma newspaper, and owns the cable television station BBT.

After a series of court actions contesting whether the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company should go to Turkey’s Koc Holding consortium, or Viva Ventures – backed by Advent International of the US – the deal on the sale to Viva Ventures was signed on February 20, 2004. The buyer, Viva Ventures, was to pay 230 million euro for a 51 per cent stake in the telecom and immediately after the shares are transferred to Viva, the company was to raise the BTC capital by an additional 50 million euro and increase its stake in the telecom to 65 per cent.
The BTC deal was the biggest in Bulgarian privatisation history with a total financial result of 1.1 billion euro, Privatisation Agency executive director Ilia Vassilev said at the signing the sale contract.

Progress in privatisation in 2003, however faltering it might have appeared, seemed set to change the shape of the role of foreign investment in Bulgaria. Analysts predicted that once the BTC and Bulgartabac privatisations were completed, foreign investments would make up more than eight per cent of GDP.

Bulgartabac’s privatisation has gone through a long and complex saga, with no result by early 2004, beyond the endorsement by the Cabinet and Parliament of a new strategy to sell off the giant in parts. This is the strategy which many observers believe should have been implemented from the outset, but political interests and concerns about job losses were an obstacle to this.

The latest privatisation strategy, expected to pick up pace in 2004, envisages the sale of 80 per cent of Bulgartabac Holding within 18 months. The holding has 22 subsidiaries in Bulgaria and eight abroad. Reportedly, at least six Bulgartabac plants will be sold for a nominal one lev or closed down.

Proceeds from the sale of the viable parts of the holding are to be distributed among loss-making parts to alleviate the social consequences, and to pay out dividends to shareholders.

Another major part of the privatisation story is linked to the liberalisation of the energy sector. This liberalisation is scheduled to take place between 2005 and 2007. By February 20, five candidates had submitted preliminary offers for 67 per cent stakes in the country’s main power distribution companies. The five were EVN AG of Austria, Enel SpA of Italy, CEZ of the Czech Republic, PPC of Greece, and E.ON of Germany.

The Government, in the second half of 2003, pledged to amend the Privatisation Act to enable the process to be accelerated, and to prevent disputes over deals being ultimately decided by the courts.

The privatisation saga is far from over, but has come some way. According to the Privatisation Agency, about 70 per cent of the state assets earmarked for privatisation were sold between 1993 and 2000.

Human Resources

Human Resources

Economic development and the imperative to remodel business practice as part of Euro-Atlantic integration means that human resources practice is increasingly taking on a shape ever more similar to the ways of the West.

At the same time, there is an increasing number of human resources professionals and consultancies in the country.

There is a Bulgarian Human Resource Management and Development Association, which in 2002 became a probationary member of the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations. This probationary membership is scheduled to continue to mid-2004.

Established in July 2000, at present the BHMDA has more than 500 members who work in the area of human resources management and development as company managers, human resource managers in Bulgarian and multinational companies and banks, training and development managers, HR consultants, and university lecturers.
BHRMDA organises seminars, symposiums, round tables, popularises ideas and participates in pilot projects in the area of human resources development. The association has a website (htpp://bhrmda.orbitel.bg) and publishes and circulates a monthly electronic bulletin for news and actual information, articles and interviews on HR topics.

The most common way to find new staff is to use a human resources agency.

According to the Bulgarian Foreign Investment Agency, there are agencies that have about five years’ experience in working in Bulgaria providing professional staff for investors.

In most cases they are able to carry out all of the work for the investors, including placing advertisements, prior selection, and psychometric testing of applicants. Most of these companies also have a database of people seeking work.

It is also very common to recruit staff through press advertising.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency, head-hunting is not yet common practice in Bulgaria and most managers find it strange to be approached in this way.

The major audit companies, in most cases, also do personnel selection functions for their clients.

The Labour Code, periodically revised, sets out the rules for remuneration and salary structure.

The total cost of employment consists of the basic salary, plus social security payments and a range of other smaller taxes.

The Bulgarian Industrial Business Association (BIBA) produces an annual set of salary tables for most sectors, including consulting, retailing and manufacturing. These are drawn up on the basis of averaging about 30 companies and can serve as a useful guide to real salary figures. The survey also gives information about levels of bonuses, and provision of other perks. It should be borne in mind that any additions to the basic salary are taxable. However, if these benefits are included in the basic salary, they will also be taken into account in calculating social security taxes.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the most common forms of incentives are free medical service, food vouchers, transport cards for public buses, clothing allowances, and discounts on purchases of company products.

According to the Labour Code, discrimination by employers on the basis of race or gender is not allowed.

Employment relationships are governed by law through employment contracts.

The contracts must be in written form, and should specify the place and nature of work and salary. Usually, such contracts are for an indefinite period. However, the Labour Code also provides for fixed-term contracts, for temporary, seasonal, or other short-term work. A fixed-term contract may be transformed into one for an indefinite period.

Probation periods of up to six months are allowed.

Contracts must include certain items set out by law: working hours, remuneration, holidays, safe and healthy conditions of work, social and cultural services, and conditions and requirements for termination of the contract.

Monthly remuneration must not be less than the minimum wage, which currently is 110 leva a month. Income taxes, mandatory and voluntary social security contributions are deducted at source. The employer is obliged to provide social security and make contributions regularly at the expense of the employee.

There is also provision for civil contracts. A civil contract operates on the principle of being a contract providing for two parties agreeing that one of them shall perform an activity that shall produce a result of the assigned activity, while the other party pays remuneration for this. This means that the employer does not – in fact, cannot – specify the working times, leave, and other conditions standard to a labour contract. If there is a civil contract, the employee pays 20 per cent advance tax, as set out by the Law on Taxation of Incomes of Natural Persons, but neither the employer nor the employee pays the unemployment fund contribution. Therefore, if the contract is terminated, the employee cannot register as unemployed, and, logically, cannot receive unemployment severance.

Termination may be done in various ways. The law provides for three options: general grounds, and special grounds for termination, with or without notice. Notice of termination should be in writing, for a period of 30 days up to three months. If notice periods are not observed, either party can claim compensation, based on remuneration or damage caused, respectively.

As regards social security, employers must register at the local social security administration within seven days from the day they employed anyone subject to compulsory insurance. Public social security is obligatory for all employees employed by Bulgarian or foreign natural or corporate bodies within the country.

The code of social insurance includes insurance for general illness, work accidents, diseases resulting from the occupation, maternity leave, old age and death, unemployment, as well as additional compulsory pension insurance.

All workers have to be insured, whether on labour or civil contracts. But for people on civil contracts, insurance need cover only disability, general illness, old age and death. The only exception to this is if the civil contract was for a monthly payment of less than one minium wage.

The distribution of installments between insurers and insured are at changing rates, and are meant to equalise in 2007 at 50-50. They were 70-30 in 2003.

Working hours for a five-day working week are up to 40 hours, and 46 hours in a six-day week. Flexible working hours are permitted by law. The employer has the right to specify when an employee must be at work.

As regards leave, the law says that an employee is entitled to annual paid leave after eight months of service. The minimum annual paid leave is 20 days. Maternity leave currently is up to two years, but it was reported in 2003 that the Government intends to reduce this. During maternity leave, the insured woman is entitled to receive pecuniary indemnification from the National Security Institute to the extent of 90 per cent of insurance income for a term of 135 days, 45 of these before childbirth. After this period, the mother is paid monthly pecuniary indemnification at minimum wage until the child is two years old. The same rules apply to adoption.

In other developments in the past year, the Cabinet approved an ordinance which lists the days considered religious non-Bulgarian Orthodox holidays. The ordinance, number 875 of 2003, outlines the holidays of the Roman Catholic Church, Muslim, Jewish, and Armenian Orthodox religions, Adventists and Krishna faithful. On the dates set out, adherents of these faiths are allowed to take paid and non-paid leave, as governed by the Labour Code.

As regards the employment of foreigners, all foreigners who have permanent residence or are granted right of sanctuary or refugee status have the same rights to work as Bulgarian citizens.

Temporary work permits are issued by the National Office of Employment of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. These work permits are issued for a specified time, job and employer.

The permit is issued after an application by the employer. It is valid for the time of the employment contract but not more than one year. The permission may be extended.

The permit can be issued only if there is no Bulgarian citizen suitable for the job. The number of employees who are foreign citizens cannot exceed 10 per cent of the total workforce. The employer must ensure transport expenses for the foreigner’s return in the event of termination of the contract ahead of time, expiry or annulment of the work permit.

Work permits for foreigners will not be issued if the employer making the application has within the past eight months dismissed Bulgarian citizens suitable for the job for which the permit is being requested, or the offered work conditions and remuneration are less favourable than those usual for Bulgarian employees, or if the salary offered is insufficient to ensure the necessary means of existence, or the constitution or the law require Bulgarian citizenship for the job.

Contract disputes with foreigners may be handled either by Bulgarian or other courts, as agreed.

AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

According to the most recent European Commission report on Bulgaria’s progress as a European Union candidate country, in the field of agriculture, Bulgaria had made considerable progress in adopting legislation in the veterinary and phytosanitary sector.

However, the report noted, considerable work lies ahead in order for Bulgaria to achieve EU veterinary and phytosanitary control and hygiene standards.

The EC said Bulgaria had achieved a reasonable degree of legislative alignment in regard to fisheries. Again, however, further progress was needed with regard to technical capacity of inspection and control systems as well as with regard to compliance with EU hygiene and health requirements.

In many respects, this seems to accord with the overall picture of agriculture in Bulgaria – that some steps have been achieved, but much unrealized potential remains, and much remains to be done.

Currently, according to Government figures, agriculture generates about 12 per cent of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product, and provides a livelihood for about 368 000 people and a subsidiary source of income for almost one million people.

Bulgaria’s significant agricultural products include vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, and sugar beets.

A financial agreement between the European Union and Bulgaria, ratified by Parliament in July 2003, provides for SAPARD assistance of more than 56 million euro to the country by the end of 2006, with Bulgaria having to add to the funding 18 million euro of its own.

The funding is to be used to enable Bulgaria to be able to fulfil EU accession criteria. Projects for which the funding is being used include investing in agriculture, and specific assistance to fruit and vegetable producers.

Also in July, Agriculture Minister Mehmed Dikme announced the establishment of a special fund to promote Bulgaria’s wine industry abroad.

The cultivation of new vineyards will be assisted by the State Agriculture Fund.
A special soft-credit line of 10 million leva has already been launched. Every grape farmer can rely on a subsidy of 1 000 leva for each new hectare of land planted with grapevines.

During the past eight years, the export of Bulgarian wines has shrunk and the country slid from sixth place to sixteenth as an international wine exporter. In 2001 the industry produced 800 000 hectolitres of wine, compared to 2 400 000 hl in 1998.
The new national strategy envisages the cultivation of up to 5 000 ha of new vineyards every year. This effort is essential for Bulgarian winemaking, which may otherwise perish within 20 years, Dikme said.
Bulgaria will insist on being granted exclusive rights to three grape varieties within the European Union. These are the Broad Melnik, Gamza and Mavrud vines, which are cultivated in Bulgaria only.
Draft amendments to the Act on Wines include establishing a wine police in Bulgaria. Officers of the Vineyards and Wines executive agency will be empowered to conduct inspections of any part of the winemaking process.

The Government this year felt the need to take steps to protect agriculture, by raising the duties levied on imported agricultural products. Imposed in June, the Government said the measure would last no longer than until the end of 2003. The measure was also aimed against the grey economy, which has manifested itself in agriculture, as in other sectors in Bulgaria.

A change that was set to take place from the beginning of 2004 flows from the Bulgaria earlier having signed an agreement with the World Bank on an Agriculture Sector Adjustment Loan. As a trade-off, from 2004 the country has to stop subsidizing water prices for irrigation farmers. The Government has predicted that the effect on the water price would be minimal.

Bulgaria is taking an increasing interest in possibilities for expanding organic farming.

However, serious problems remain for the agriculture sector, not least of which is the fact that post-communist property restitution has left a patchwork of small, not necessarily competitive parcels of land throughout the country, which given their small scale, make it difficult for the farming sector to take on large-scale export orders which require shipments to be done efficiently and in bulk.

ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING

Bulgaria introduced International Accounting Standards (IAS) on January 1, 2003, for certain companies.

This was done two years ahead of European Union countries. The companies for which IAS as mandatory as from the beginning of 2003 include Bulgarian banks, insurance companies, social security institutions, and investment and public companies.

They are now required to prepare their entire monthly, quarterly, and six-monthly accounts according to IAS.

IAS will become mandatory from 2005 for all companies in Bulgaria, including small and medium-sized enterprises. This is in contrast to EU countries, where only public companies will be obliged to use IAS from 2005. Questions have been raised about whether SMEs in Bulgaria will have the capacity to comply with the requirements of using IAS. Elsewhere in Europe, there has been major resistance among small and medium enterprises to being required to use IAS. Media reports in early 2003 pointed out that the Bulgarian-language version of IAS runs to 800 pages. An English-language version has been compiled by a group of experts.

The introduction of IAS in Bulgaria was regulated by the new Accounting Act, which was approved by Parliament towards the end of 2001.

In January 2002, the Government adopted 37 new National Accounting Standards, compliant with the IAS. Of these, 32 standards refer directly to the IAS and five are Bulgarian standards because they have no equivalents in the IAS list.

A Government ordinance regulates the use of IAS, and flows from the provisions of the Accounting Act.

According to the Accounting Act, the reporting period is January 1 to December 31.

TAXATION

Bulgaria TAXATION

The European Commission, in its November 2003 report on the progress of European Union candidate countries, said that Bulgaria had achieved positive developments in the areas of Value-Added Tax (VAT) and excise duties.

However, significant further efforts were needed to strengthen the tax administration.

Attention was needed to improving tax collection, enhancing internal control, ensuring that the computerised tax information system becomes fully operational, and completing preparations for interconnectivity with EU IT systems.

Changes to taxation rules in 2003 provided that the income of a foreign person who is resident in a state with which Bulgaria has signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation, but who has earnings in Bulgaria, will be declared as subject to taxation under the terms and procedure of the respective Bulgarian tax law.

After the tax payment, the foreign person may request a refund of the difference between the tax paid and the one due under the relevant double taxation agreement. In such cases, the foreign person has to prove that he is a resident of the country with which Bulgaria has signed such an agreement, and that he has no establishment or fixed base within Bulgarian territory related to the respective income.

The chief tax inspector has the discretion to extend the term of a revision following a motivated request to this end.

Bulgarian tax residents are all individuals who have their permanent domicile in the country, spending more than 183 days in any 365-day period ending within the calendar year in question.

In December 2003, Parliament provided that licenced special investment purpose companies will be exempt from corporate tax. Amending the Corporate Income Tax Act, Parliament said that publicly-financed enterprises will pay four per cent on operational income instead of corporate tax.

The rate of tax on donations to educational establishments, health and medical treatment facilities, disabled people assistance funds, and municipalities, is now 15 per cent, from a previous 20 per cent.

Private high schools, and private primary and secondary schools, are allowed to retain 20 per cent of corporate tax.

Payment of tax on the revaluation reserve for fully depreciated assets will be able to be rescheduled for three years.

An expatriate employed in Bulgaria must have both a work and residence permit.

The mandatory insurance paid by foreign employees is the same as for Bulgarian employees, unless there is a specific social insurance agreement between Bulgaria and their country.

Expatriates registered with the Bulgarian court as procurators or members of management boards of companies, usually referred to collectively as directors, are exempt from the need for a work permit.

The annual income tax declaration is due by April 15 each year, and must be paid within 30 days of the submission of the tax declaration. Any income derived by an individual from the conduct of business on the territory of Bulgaria is considered to be from a Bulgarian source. A person is considered to have carried out business on the territory of the country where he has a permanent establishment or a fixed base in Bulgaria; he has assigned or performed an assignment on the territory of the country, whether in person or through a procurator, agent or in some other way.

Any income under an employment contract or derived from rendering services is considered to have been derived from a Bulgarian source where labour has been extended or services have been delivered on the territory of the country, regardless of the source of payment for the labour extended or services rendered.

Notwithstanding the above, some kinds of incomes paid out by Bulgarian residents or from a permanent establishment to a non-resident on the territory of the country are considered to be from a Bulgarian source. These incomes include, for example, dividends and distribution of profits of entities with or without legal presence, interest, royalties, rentals, payments under lease, franchising, factoring, as well as emoluments of freelancers, or members of a managing or controlling body of a Bulgarian corporate; branch of a foreign entity, etc.

Incomes derived from the use of real estate and capital gains from the sale of real estate located in the country, as well as incomes from transactions with quotas/shares in local companies and incomes from securities transactions with securities issued by the Bulgarian state and municipalities are also incomes from a Bulgarian source.

Any income derived by an individual from the conduct of business on the territory of Bulgaria is considered to be from a Bulgarian source. A person is considered to have carried out business on the territory of the country where: he has a permanent establishment or a fixed base in Bulgaria;he has assigned or performed an assignment on the territory of the country, whether in person or through a procurator, agent or in some other way.

Any income under an employment contract or derived from rendering services is considered to have been derived from a Bulgarian source where labour has been extended or services have been delivered on the territory of the country, regardless of the source of payment for the labour extended or services rendered.

Notwithstanding the above, some kinds of incomes paid out by Bulgarian residents or from a permanent establishment to a non-resident on the territory of the country are considered to be from a Bulgarian source. These incomes include, for example, dividends and distribution of profits of entities with or without legal presence, interest, royalties, rentals, payments under lease, franchising, factoring, as well as emoluments of freelancers, or members of a managing or controlling body of a Bulgarian corporate; branch of a foreign entity, etc.

Incomes derived from the use of real estate and capital gains from the sale of real estate located in the country, as well as incomes from transactions with quotas/shares in local companies and incomes from securities transactions with securities issued by the Bulgarian state and municipalities are also incomes from a Bulgarian source.

Tax Exempt income:

The following are considered tax exempt: incomes derived from the sale or exchange of certain types of immovable property (flats, houses or villas) or means of transport, subject to certain conditions; incomes derived from the sale or exchange of movable property except for the means of transport as per the preceding bullet, as well as the sale of shares, quotas and other equity interest in a commercial company, etc;compensations received as a result of statutory pension, health and social security insurance, as well as other certain compensations; interest accrued on deposits in local commercial banks and branches of foreign banks, the interest and expenses on court-awarded claims, as well as incomes derived from investments of the insurance reserves on life insurance, marriage and children's insurance and life insurance, if connected with an investment fund; cash and non-cash income from social financial aid and the unemployment compensations and subsidies; financial aid granted by social funds and organisations; subsidies from the state in respect of children and payments determined by court to support a child; student grants for Bulgarian resident individuals for their education in the country and abroad; prizes from the lottery and other games of fortune; salaries and emolument of foreign diplomats pursuant to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations; company profits distributed as new quotas and shares in commercial companies, as well as the profits distributed as an increase in existing quotas and shares' par value; rentals from agricultural land; and incomes derived from transactions with public companies' stocks and trading rights on public companies' stocks, made on the regulated Bulgarian stock market.

Incomes, not specified by PITA as tax exempt, are considered taxable.

The annual taxable base is the sum of all taxable incomes received during the calendar year, deducted by: incomes taxed with a final tax, mandatory and voluntary national insurance, pension, health insurance, unemployment fund contributions, as well as the premiums paid in on account of the persons under life insurance contracts and "Life" insurance, if connected with an investment fund; statutory deductions applicable only to non-employment contracts (e.g. 35 per cent of the gross income for services contracts; 10 per cent for management fees); reliefs for donations not exceeding 10 per cent of the taxable income after other statutory deductions have been made - not applicable to employment income; there are no tax deductions related to personal allowances for spouses and dependants.

The loss carry forward facility is not applicable for individuals.

Specific rules relevant to taxation of different types of income:

Incomes from employment consist of all payments, including fringe benefits in cash or in kind, paid out by the employer or at its expense to the tax liable person during the calendar month.

Non-taxable are: the value of free of charge prophylactic foodstuffs, antidotes and personal safety guards pursuant to the Labour Code and other statutory instruments; the value of special working clothes, free of charge work clothes and uniforms provided under the Labour Code or other acts (e.g., those provided to public servants); certain compensations under the Labour Code (e.g. business travel compensations; reassignment compensations; etc.); the value of travel cards for travelling from place of residence to place of work provided by the employer to the employee free of charge; social expenditures incurred by the employer and taxed under the Corporate Income Taxation Act (fringe benefits distributed as social expenses).

The tax base of incomes, derived under employment relationships and relationships that are equalised to them, is formed by deducting the taxable income with the instalments made for pension, health and other insurance the employee is bound to make by virtue of law. The taxable income is reduced with the personal instalments paid in on account of the persons, made for voluntary pension and health insurance and voluntary unemployment insurance, as well as with the premiums paid in under life insurance contracts and life insurance on account of the persons, if connected with an investment fund.

Capital Gains:

The tax base in case of sale or exchange of immovable and certain movable property is the difference between the selling price and the higher price between the factual and updated price paid for the acquisition of such property. This rule applies to certain types of vehicles (e.g. aircraft, sea vessels, and cars). For any other type of movable property the tax base is the difference between the selling price and the re-valued price for the acquisition of such property.

Incomes derived under an employment contract are taxed on a monthly basis and the annual tax obligation is subject to adjustment on an annual basis, to which the annual progressive scale applies.

Income Received by Civil Contractors and Freelancers:

A 20 per cent advance tax payment is due upon payment and the final tax obligation is assessed and paid annually. Mandatory and voluntary pension, health and other contributions as well as personal premiums under insurance contracts and insurance if related to an investment fund made on account of the individuals, can be deducted from the taxable income before applying the advance tax. The pre-paid tax is set off against the final annual tax obligation. 35 per cent of the gross income is tax deductible.

Income Received by Sole Traders.

The base for taxation is determined under the rules of the Corporate Income Tax Act. Advance payments of tax are made as per the rules of the same Act. The annual tax is paid in accordance with the annual progressive scale.

Rental Income Received:

Personal income tax is due on an annual basis. 20 per cent of the income is tax deductible. If the real estate and/or the movable property are owned by more than one person, the income is divided in proportion to the participation in the ownership. If the rent is payable to a non-Bulgarian tax resident, a 15 per cent withholding tax is levied.

Royalty payments and technical services fees, when paid to non-Bulgarian tax residents, are subject to a 15 per cent withholding tax at the source (the paying company or partnership). No additional tax is levied. Fees for management services are not considered technical services fees and are not subject to withholding tax.

Dividends, including any distributed profit from companies or partnerships) are taxed by 15 per cent at the source (the paying company or partnership), which is the final tax on this kind of income (except when the dividends are distributed to local commercial companies). Stock dividends are not taxable.

Payments under lease, factoring and franchising contracts are subject to personal income tax under the annual progressive scale.

Returns:

Persons who during the tax year have received income only from employment; and/or, rentals from agricultural land; and/or,certain compensations taxed at their payment are not obliged to submit tax returns. Tax liable individuals, who during the calendar year have received only employment income from a non-resident employer, are obliged to submit annual tax returns. Other tax payers submit annual tax returns by April 15 of the year following the respective tax year. For tax purposes, spouses are treated as separate taxpayers. No income splitting is allowed.

The standard form of the tax returns is promulgated in the State Gazette and is available on Internet.

Payment of Tax:

Personal income tax on employment income is withheld from the gross remuneration on a monthly basis by the employer. The employer acts as an agent of the Revenue authorities and transfers the tax to the budget. Taxpayers who are not employees in certain cases pay advance tax, either regularly (sole traders), or whenever income is received.

Social security, unemployment fund and health care contributions

In general, employers are obliged to pay social security contributions at a 24.7 per cent rate, and employees at an eight per cent rate. Unemployment fund contributions are payable by the employer at a four per cent rate, where three per cent is for the account of the employer and one per cent is for the employee's account. Health care contributions at a 4.5 per cent rate will be due by the employer and another 1.5 per cent by the employee. The above contributions shall be calculated on the remuneration and other employment income of the employee for the respective month but on not more than the maximum monthly insurance base fixed annually in the Mandatory National Insurance Budget Act.

Bulgarian Business Environment

Bulgarian Business Environment

Bulgaria is now recognised by the United States and other major international players as having a functioning market economy.

But while it is on the road to meeting the criteria for accession to the European Union, Bulgaria’s business environment contains pitfalls for the unwary.

Probably as a continuing legacy of communism, many in the bureaucracy are unresponsive to the needs of the private sector, a factor which aggravates another source of criticism, the fact that doing business in Bulgaria is subject to a potentially very frustrating range of regulations.

Navigating the business environment in Bulgaria is best done through a combination of local business connections who have access to the country’s informal networks, and the help of law, accounting, and human resources professionals to keep one on the correct side of the law.

The European Commission, in its latest report in November 2003 on the progress being made by European Union candidate countries, noted that Bulgaria had made further progress in creating a non-discriminatory regime of national treatment for foreigners performing economic activities in Bulgaria.

In late 2003, Parliament approved changes to the Foreign Investment Act. These changes include treating domestic and foreign investors on an equal footing. The changes are also geared to reducing the amount of time spent on administrative issues.

Investors with dual citizenship can decide which status to use, that of a local or foreign investor. Foreigners are allowed to take part in all types of companies, with no restrictions. However, constitutional restrictions on foreigners owning land remain in place, even though it appears they will eventually be removed. In any case, in real life foreigners who want to tend to “own” land through local nominees.

The amended act is meant to encourage investments in products meant for export, in agricultural production and in IT, as well as investments that can be implemented within three years or open new jobs.

The Investment Agency, according to the new law, must issue certificates to investors, categorising the investment as first, second, or third class. The degree of assistance by the state will depend on the class of the investment.

The EC also noted that the Bulgaria had made good progress in adopting new legislation on capital movements and payments.

Company law has also been further aligned with the requirements for EU membership, but the commission said that there was a need for the enforcement of legislation on the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights.

The Bulgarian economy, in recent years, has achieved a high degree of macroeconomic stability, thanks to a good policy mix achieved through the currency board arrangement (put in place in 1998 to stabilise the currency, the mechanism ties the performance of the lev to that of the euro), a tight fiscal stance, and wage moderation.

Should the Government continue on this course, sustained growth is possible.

However, there are problems.

Labour law does not allow much flexibility in the labour market.

No notes on the business environment in Bulgaria can be made without reference to the shadow economy. Investigations by the state in 2003 found significantly large sums of income that had been concealed by taxation, failure to pay social security contributions, and obstructions by employers to labour inspections.

After the fall of communism and amid the economic traumas of the late 1990s, and to this day, groups believed to be linked to organised crime have carved for themselves a place in certain sectors of the economy.

Various observers, including the EC, have noted that the tax administration remains inadequate to its task. Steps are, however, being taken to improve this.

At the same time, economic development in Bulgaria has shown positive trends in various areas, including tourism, the capital market, and the banking system.

As regards the banking system, which took a very cautious approach after the economic meltdown of 1996-97, the degree of lending in the market, including of small loans, appears to be rapidly on the rise; to the extent of causing concern in some circles that unless caution is exercised, Bulgarians could find themselves in debt traps.

Bulgaria also has on its side a relatively well-educated and computer-literate workforce, and, for the time being at least, labour that is more affordable than in Western countries.

Infrastructure is also steadily being improved, mainly thanks to foreign – in particular, European Union, funding.

Investors often cite the judicial system as a matter of concern. Court actions can take an inordinate length of time and there are continuing suspicions of irregularities in the system.

For all the shortcomings, many believe that Bulgaria is a country which has a lot of potential and with determined effort could overcome obstacles to an improved business environment. Among expatriates, many find Bulgaria a pleasant place to live and work.

Bulgaria Transportation

Bulgaria Transportation

Railways: Total: 4,294 km Standard gauge: 4,049km of 1.435m gauge (2,710km electrified, 917km double track) Narrow gauge: 245km of 0.760m gauge Roads: Total: 36,759km Paved: 33,818km (including 319km of expressways) Unpaved: 2,941km (1998 est.) Waterways:) 470km Pipelines: Petroleum products: 525km Natural gas: 1,500km Major Ports and harbours: Black Sea: Bourgas, Varna, Nessebar Danube: Lom, Rousse, Vidin Merchant marine: (1999 est.) Total: 85 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totalling 947,711 GRT/1,449,416 DWT Ships by type: bulk 43, cargo 18, chemical tanker 4, container 2, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 7, rail car carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 1, roll-on/roll-off 5, short-sea passenger 1, specialized tanker 1 Airports: 216 total Airports with paved runways: 129 total By elevation: over 3,047m: 1 2,438 to 3,047m: 19 1,524 to 2,437m: 15 914 to 1,523m: 1 under 914m: 93 Airports with unpaved runways: 87 total By elevation: 1,524 to 2,437m: 2 914 to 1,523m: 10 under 914m: 75

Bulgaria Telecommunications

Bulgaria Telecommunications

Country code: ++359
City codes: (only use preceding 0 if inside the country)
Sofia +02, Plovdiv +032, Varna +052, Bourgas +056, Rousse +082, Blagoevgrad +073

Telephone system:
- Direct dialling to 58 countries
- Approximately 65 per cent of lines are residential domestic
- Antiquated transmission system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay is extensive
- Telephone service is available in most villages
- Modern digital cable trunk lines now connect switching centres in most regions
- Others being connected by digital microwave international

Satellite earth stations:
1. Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)
2. Intelsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions)

Radio broadcast stations: 465 (as of March, 2002)

Radios: 4.51 million

Television broadcast stations: 460 licenses issued as of March 2002

Televisions: 3.31 million

International Enviromental Agreeements

International Enviromental Agreeements

Party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands Signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, and Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol Other International Issues Trafficking Drugs: key entry and transit point for South-west Asian heroin and some South American cocaine bound for European markets, and Bulgaria is itself a limited producer of precursor chemicals. Women: major supplier and transit point for women being smuggled into Asia, Western and other Eastern European prostitution rings and "escort services". Other Facts for visitors Time zone: GMT +2 hours (March-October set one hour ahead) Weights and measures: metric system Electricity: 220v, 50 Hz; regular round 2-pronged continental Euro plug

Bulgaria : Military

Bulgaria : Military

The Bulgarian Ministry of Defence has begun a reform program (PLAN 2004) to downsize and modernize the armed forces. This calls for the adoption of a smaller force of approximately 50,000 people, with a Rapid Reaction Force and two additional corps headquarters, all with subordinate brigades. Military branches: Army, Navy, Air and Air Defence Forces, Border Troops, Internal Troops, Railway and Construction Troops Military manpower:(2000 est.) Availability: 1,913,857 Fit for military service: 1,599,379 Reaching military age annually: 57,461 Military expenditures: U.S. $379 million (1999) Military expenditures as percent of GDP: 2.7% (1999) Links:Bulgarian Government Statistics Page National Statistics Institute CIA page on Bulgaria

Bulgaria Economics and Labour

Bulgaria Economics and Labour

Currency:
Bulgaria lev (plural leva)
Symbol: BGL or BGN
1 BGN=100 stotinki
Banknotes in denominations of: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 leva
Coins in denominations of: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 stotinki
Exchange rate for U.S. $1 = 1.59 BGL (December 2003)
Inflation: 4.8% (2001)
GDP (at annual average exchange rate): $13.5 billion
GDP per capita: $1,459
Fiscal year: Calendar year
Taxation rates: Value-added tax: 20%
Profit tax:
Central government: 25% (20% concessionary)
Municipal: 10%
GDP: Purchasing power parity per capita - $5,610 (2000)
GDP - composition by sector:
Agriculture: -2.1% (as of September 2001)
Industry: 9% (as of September 2001)
Services: -3.2% (as of September 2001)
Unemployment rate: 13.2% (end 2003.)
Average monthly wage: $120
Labour force: 59.7% of population (2001)
Labour force by occupation: (1998 est.)
Agriculture 26%
Industry 31%
Services 43%
Industries:
Machine building and metalworking, food processing, chemicals, construction materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals, nuclear fuel
Agricultural products:
Vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets
Exports (f.o.b.): $5.1 bln (2001)
Imports (f.o.b.): $56.665 bln (2001)
Trade balance: minus $1.566 bln (2001)
Exports:
Machinery and equipment, metals, minerals, fuels, chemicals and plastics, food, tobacco, clothing (1998)
Export partners: Italy 13%, Germany 10%, Greece 9%, Turkey 8% (1998)
Imports: fuels, minerals and raw materials; machinery and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; food, textiles (1998)
Import partners: Russia 20%, Germany 14%, Italy 8%, Greece 6%, U.S. 4% (1998)
Industrial production growth rate: -3% (1999 est.)
Electricity production: 40.927 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity production by source:
Fossil fuel: 48.4%
Hydro: 7.2%
Nuclear: 44.4%
Electricity consumption: 36.307 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity exports: 2 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity imports: 1.76 billion kWh (1998)

Bulgaria Statistics

Total Population:
7,973,673 (data from a representative study
of the National Institute of Statistics as of March 1, 2001)

Largest city populations:
Sofia 1,096,389
Plovdiv 340,638
Varna 314,539
Bourgas 193,316
Rousse 162,128
Stara Zagora 143,989

Location of population as average across age groups (2001)
Urban: 69%
Rural: 31%

Net population growth: minus 5.1% (2001)
Birth Rate: 8.07 births/1,000 population
Death Rate: 13.8 deaths/1,000 population
Migration Rate: 4.8 migrants/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate: 15.13 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.13 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Age breakdown: (2001 est.)
0-10 years: 8.8%
10-19 years: 13%
20-29 years: 14.4%
40-49 years: 14.1%
50-59 years: 13.9%
60 years and over: 25.5%

Sex breakdown: (2001 est.)
Male: 48.8%
Female: 51.2%

Life expectancy at birth: (2000 est.)
Total population: 70.91 years
male: 67.45 years
female: 74.56 years

Ethnic groupings (2001 est.)
Bulgarian 83.6%
Turkish 9.5%
Roma 4.6%
Other 1.5%

Religious groupings
Orthodox Christian 83.8%
Muslim 12.1%
Also Roman Catholic, Jewish, Gregorian-Armenian, Protestant, Lutheran, other Catholic

Official language: Bulgarian
Also spoken: Turkish, Romani, Armenian, Hebrew, etc. - roughly corresponds to ethnic breakdowns

Literacy: (percentage of age 15 and over that can read and write - 1999)
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 98%

Public holidays:
January 1: New Year
March 3: National Day
April or May (variable): Orthodox Easter Monday
May 1: Labour Day
May 6: Bulgarian Army Day
May 24: Day of Bulgarian Literature & Cyrillic Writing (for Saints Cyril and Methodius)
September 6: Day of Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia
September 22: Independence Day (from Ottoman Turkish Empire)
November 1: Day of Leaders of the Bulgarian National Revival
December 24-26: Christmas

Pre-History

Pre-History

As part of the relentlessly dynamic Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria is and always has been the scene of change and transition. Geographically situated between Europe and Asia, it occupies a strategic cultural, economic and political crossroads, and throughout history has consequently alternated between being powerful and being overpowered.

Tens of thousands of years ago during the Paleolithic era (the Old Stone Age), the Balkans, just as in much of the rest of Europe, held sparse populations of small, close-knit clans of nomadic hunters and gatherers near fresh water sources. Several prehistoric sites have survived the millennia and contain artifacts and tantalising clues about the original inhabitants of this area.

Many of these sites are caves in the Stara Planina (Balkan Mountains), such as Magura Cave in north-western Bulgaria. Here among huge stalactites and stalagmites millions of years old, archaeologists have found evidence of ancient people dating back to at least 2700 BC and possibly several thousand years earlier. These prehistoric people left their mark in Magura cave, as evidenced by wall carvings and cave paintings made with bat guano, which portray people hunting and dancing, as well as creatures curiously resembling giraffes and kangaroos. Also found were pottery shards, remains of a fireplace and discarded flint tools and chippings.

With the climate in the Northern Hemisphere warming after the end of the last Ice Age, the Neolithic era began around 9,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent when ancient people first shifted from a nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle to that of a settled life based around agriculture. Migrating groups from the Near East probably spread their knowledge and experience of agriculture as they travelled westward across Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) onto the European continent. By around 5000 BC, people in the Balkans had also changed to a largely settled way of life based on domesticating plants and animals. With the resulting increase in stable food sources and food surpluses in agricultural areas across the Near East, Central Asia and Europe, populations grew rapidly and consequently, a need for space created new waves of migrations.

In particular, an Indo-European group known as the Aryans moved southward in great waves from central Asia into several areas, including Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. Along with groups migrating eastward from central Europe, such as the Celts, the newcomers mixed over the centuries with the original inhabitants.

The Thracians

The Thracians

By the second millennium BCE, the people in the central and southern Balkans were developing a unique culture and language, and subsequently became known as the Thracians. They prospered in the area for almost two thousand years, until the final conquest of the region in 46 CE, when Thrace became a Roman province. As they never developed a written form of their language, most of what is known about them today comes from direct archaeological evidence and from sources written by outsiders. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, once wrote that the size of the Thracian population outnumbered any other in the world at that time, save for India's. Despite a stream of later wars, invasions and eventual assimilation, they are still said to be one of the "bedrock" people of Bulgarians today.

A relatively advanced culture for their time, the Thracians were farmers and cattle-herders who were also superbly talented in the arts of war, horsemanship and craft working. Individual tribes were headed by powerful priest-kings and their greatest warriors were considered to be the aristocracy as well. Conflict between Thracian tribes was very common, and quite possibly was the only reason the group as a whole did not become the most powerful force in south-eastern Europe at the time. Occasionally, there were attempts to unite the tribes, most notably under the leadership of the Odrysae tribe in the fourth to fifth centuries CE, but the coalitions never lasted.

Their skills and bravery in battle were widely noted and feared by other regional groups such as Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, all of which later often hired Thracian warriors as mercenaries. Spartacus, the slave-turned-gladiator that led an almost-successful rebellion against Rome, is considered the epitome of Thracian strength, skill, tenacity and grit.

Although their culture and lifestyles were largely based on warfare, they were also very talented artisans. They produced extremely well-crafted gold and silver jewellery and utensils, very advanced weaponry and elaborately designed pottery and sculptures, indicating a society that was comfortably well off enough to devote much time to honing skills other than those of mere survival.

One of Europe's most ancient gold treasures found to date is in fact a Thracian hoard found near Panagyurishte - an amazing collection of exquisitely ornate cups, plates and ceremonial urns dating from the third century BC and weighing in at about 6.5 kg. You can see this remarkable find as well as many other Thracian artifacts at the virtual tour site of Sofia's National History Museum: http://www.historymuseum.org.

Often, written sources of the time describe the Thracians as being quite 'barbaric' as compared to the surrounding civilizations, and not just due to their ferocious battle behaviour, such as returning home after battle with the severed heads of their enemies while chanting and singing loudly! Tattoos were apparently quite common, and were possibly just for women. Young girls were encouraged to be promiscuous with many men until the time they were married (they were actually sold by their families to their new husbands), and many tribes practiced polygamy, where one man would have several wives.

This all seems to be in line with the overall form of religion the Thracians practiced, which was closely related to the worship of the Greek god of wine and debauchery, Dionysus.

Many religious rites centered on the belief in life after death and the cycles of rebirth. At the top of the social hierarchy, a king-priest was usually buried in a lavish mound tomb replete with elaborately painted wall murals and sculptures, fresh food, jewels and gold treasure, armour and weaponry, and everything else he could possibly need in the afterlife. This often included his dog and warhorse, which would be killed and interred with him, and his wives would fight for the honour of being the one to be sacrificed and buried alongside him.

Several fantastically preserved burial mounds can be found dotted across the region. Two tombs in particular, the UNESCO World Heritage sites near Kazanluk in the Valley of the Roses and Sveshtari near Razgrad, contain stunning murals and rock sculptures and are prime attractions. The tomb at Kazanluk is actually closed to the public in order to preserve its delicate paintings, and a replica has been created nearby for visitors to see.

When the Greeks set up colonies on the Black Sea coast around the seventh century BC, some conflict occurred, but there was also a new opportunity for both groups to trade. Food, crafts, clothes, tools, people and new political and cultural ideas inevitably crossed and mixed, tying the two cultures together perhaps more than they realised. One of the best known Greek legends is based on the historical figure of the Thracian king-priest Orpheus, who tried to woo his true love from Hades and the Underworld by using his enchanting lyre music. The musician failed and was ultimately (and literally) torn apart during a wild religious rite by a group of Thracian women who were drunk on wine.

Through the present location of different artifacts of Thracian origin, it seems they had quite an extensive trading system. This extended not only through much of the Balkan peninsula, but also south into the Aegean Sea region encompassing ancient Greece and Crete, further south into Egypt and Phoenicia and eastward into Asia Minor and the Middle East.

Macedonians, Romans and Slavs

Macedonians, Romans and Slavs

Thracian control began to dissolve because of internal strife among the tribes as well as increasing conflicts with external powers looking to encroach on the region, including the Greeks, the Persians and the Macedonians. In the fourth century BCE, Philip of Macedonia extended his power across the Balkans. He pushed east and along the way established the city Philippopolous, now called Plovdiv. When he was assassinated shortly afterwards, his son Alexander the Great continued the family reign and Hellenic influence over the area by extending the territory north to the Danube in 336 BCE.

When Alexander died in his early thirties, three top generals inherited pieces of his huge empire, which encompassed the eastern portion of the Mediterranean, across Persia and all the way to the Indus River. The Balkans remained a place of conflict during the ensuing two centuries as groups continued to vie for strategic pieces of land. Eventually, the Macedonians came under the strengthening Roman power in the second century BCE, but the Thracians held out for another two centuries until 45 CE, when they fell under Roman control as well.

The area of present-day Bulgaria was divided into two Roman provinces. To the north of the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina) was Moesia Inferior and the land south of that retained the name of Thrace. After many years of violent warfare in the region, with Roman control came relative peace and prosperity for approximately 200 years. As in the rest of the Empire at the time, major projects were carried out to improve the infrastructure. Craft, industrial and trade industries were fostered, and the fertile fields of Thracian valleys were prosperous. Roads, aqueducts and fortified, modernised cities were built, and many preserved ruins and artifacts remain in Bulgaria today to serve as reminders of that era. One of the best is the amphitheatre in the old city of Plovdiv.

Several northern forts were built on the shores of the Danube, which served more or less as the frontier of Roman lands in this region. Beginning in the third century, however, great numbers of people began to move out of central and eastern Asia in what has been called the Age of Migrations. These tribes, including such feared names as the Huns, the Avars and the Goths, began sweeping down into Europe. The emperor Diocletian even divided Roman lands into Eastern and Western halves in 286 to facilitate administration and protection against increased attacks by the influx of these 'barbarians'. Despite such efforts, the Western Roman Empire floundered and was eventually overthrown in the fifth century by invading groups such as the Visigoths and the Vandals.

During these times, the Balkans south of the Danube were part of the Eastern Roman Empire and ruled from the city of Byzantium (present-day Istanbul). The capital's name was changed to Constantinople in 330 by Constantine, the first emperor to convert to Christianity. Although the Byzantine Empire generally flourished while that in the West crumbled, during the following few centuries there were alternating skirmishes and treaties with invading groups still arriving in waves from central and eastern Asia.

One such group was the Slavs, who were part of the great migrations out of central Asia. They arrived in the Balkans during the sixth century, and although numerous enough to absorb (and possibly drive out) most of the Thracian-Roman population living on the Balkans at the time, in general they were peaceful people who lived in fairly democratic farming communities. The Slavic language and customs spread across the region and took root, making it the dominant culture in the area by the time the next invading group came along in the following century.

The Bulgars and the First Bulgarian Kingdom

The Bulgars and the First Bulgarian Kingdom

In the mid to late 600s, a tribe of mounted horse warriors ethnically related to the Huns and Avars continued their migration from central Asia. Although smaller groups of Bulgars had already been present in the area, a large force of about 250 000 arrived at the Danube delta in about 680. They soon pressed southwards into the Slav territory, led by their khan, or chief, Asparoukh, and took control of land as they went.

Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV officially recognised the powerful new force to the north, and Khan Asparoukh firmly established the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 681, which lasted until 1018. With an administration centered in the northeastern city of Pliska, the First Bulgar Khanate stretched roughly from the Carpathians in the north to the Balkan Mountain range in the south and is generally considered the first Slavic state in history.

The more numerous Slavs did eventually assimilate the Bulgars into their culture, but fuelled by the Bulgars' fierce warlike nature, a series of khans expanded the territory. Under the leadership of Khan Krum (803-814), the Byzantine capital of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) was almost captured in one of the many conflicts between the two powers. The greatest land gains were made under the rule of Krum "The Terrible", whose nickname was partially due to having the skull of the conquered Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus made into a wine goblet (interestingly today one of Bulgaria's finest wines is named after the khan!). By the end of his reign, Krum's empire stretched from the Rila Mountains in the west to the Rodope Mountains in the south.

By the ninth century, Macedonian lands were also under Bulgarian control, and Khan Omurtag (852-889) forged a peace treaty with the Byzantines, paving the way for increased trade of goods, ideas and culture. Following Bulgarian kings were called tsars, or caesars, after the Byzantine tradition, and in 865, Tsar Boris I was converted to Orthodox Christianity. He then adopted the religion as the official faith of the Bulgarian kingdom, where the majority of the dominant Slav population had already been converted.

The Golden Age

The "Golden Age"

However, Boris' son Tsar Simeon put a bit more distance between his realm and that of the Byzantines by establishing the independence of the Bulgarian Patriarchy. Under Simeon (893-927), the Bulgarian Kingdom reached its greatest power and size. Sometimes called the Kingdom of Three Seas, it stretched from the Black Sea in the east, to the Aegean in the south and to the Adriatic at the western edge of the Balkan Peninsula. The capital was moved to Preslav, also situated in the north-east.

Simeon encouraged learning and education, and Slavic culture flourished. Brothers Cyril and Methodius from Thessaloniki (now in present-day Greece) are credited with inventing the earliest form of the Cyrillic alphabet, called Glagolithic, in order to best represent the sounds of the Slavic language. Their student, Kliment Ohridski, further developed the alphabet, which he named after Cyril, and founded the first Slavic university on the shores of Lake Ohrid, in present-day Macedonia.

Learning centres in Preslav and Ohrid created works of literature in Slavic, which was the first time in Europe that one of the traditionally sacred tongues of Hebrew, Latin and Greek were not used.

Simeon renewed the fight with the Byzantines, however, and coupled with internal discontent among the nobles, or boyars, the Kingdom of the Three Seas soon shrank. Serbia won back its independence in 933, and under the next tsars the Bulgarian Kingdom steadily lost land, including much of the eastern territory, once more to the Byzantines. The Bulgarians were finally left with a small holding called the Western Kingdom, with an administrative centre at Ohrid. Tsar Samuel (980-1014) won back a portion of the lost lands, but in a decisive battle in 1014 at Strumitsa, his army was defeated by the Byzantines. Emperor Basil II had the eyes of some 14,000 Bulgarian soldiers put out, with a few left with one eye in order to guide the maimed force back to Samuel. Legend has it that the Tsar died of a broken heart upon seeing the blinded men, and even Ohrid fell four years later.

The Second Bulgarian Kingdom

The Second Bulgarian Kingdom

The defeat of Samuel at Ohrid began a period of Byzantine political and cultural domination over the region. Especially influenced were the Orthodox religion and art styles, the effects of which can still be seen today in the innumerable icons throughout Bulgaria's churches and markets. The Bulgarians staged several rebellions, but also had to deal with renewed attacks from northern groups coming down across the Danube, most notably the Magyars.

The Byzantines were successful in keeping down these uprisings until the late 12th century, when bolyari (noble) brothers Petar and Assen led a victorious battle against the empire's army. They founded the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, with a new capital in the city of Veliko Turnovo. The brothers successfully fought off successive Byzantine attempts to take back the area in 1187 and 1190, and then set about expanding into the previous territory of the First Bulgarian Empire. First capturing Varna on the Black Sea coast and then pressing south into Thrace and east into Macedonia, the Second Kingdom steadily grew, particularly taking advantage when Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders in 1204. Under Tsar Ivan Assen II (1218-41) the medieval Kingdom was again expanded to reach the Adriatic and the Aegean, and it was once more a time of prosperity and growth.

However, after Assen's death, instability set in as the Mongols retreated from their invasions in central Europe by trekking through Serbia and Bulgaria, laying waste to the lands they traversed. This left a weakened state prime for the Byzantines to once more attack, and they promptly took back much of Thrace. A group of Mongols called the Tartars settled on the far shores of the Black Sea and continued to randomly sweep down and attack from the north. Various other skirmishes with their Byzantine rivals as well as with the rising Serbian power to the west served to further weaken the Bulgarian state. Internal conflict and dissonance among the nobles, or bolyari, sealed Bulgaria's fate as it lost its unity, and mistrust between the Balkan powers created an atmosphere which was not at all conducive to forging alliances against the new regional threat from the east.

The Ottoman Turks

The Ottoman Turks

The Ottoman Turks had been steadily marching through Asia Minor and the Balkans since the early 1300s. Winning a decisive victory over the Serbs in Kosovo in 1389 and conquering most of the Bulgarian lands as well as its capital Veliko Turnovo by about 1393, the Turks captured the last Bulgarian stronghold of Vidin in the northwest in 1396. Several rebellions against the Turks were put down, and when Constantinople itself fell in 1453, regional hope of continued resistance vanished and five centuries of "The Turkish Yoke" began.

It was the beginning of a bloody and violent era, and some estimate that almost half the Bulgarian population perished in massacres or was carted off to other parts of the Ottoman Empire to be used as slaves. The Turkish governor took up residence in Sofia and Turkish colonists poured in to live on the plains surrounding the city and other prime, fertile land. A more severe system of feudalism was established, whereby Bulgarians who had survived the initial massacres and enslavement were forced to live as serfs of the Spahis, the Turkish knights who were landowners. The government as well as the feudal lords imposed harsh taxes, and the most hated was the devshirme, or "blood tax," where families were stripped of their oldest boys, who were taken away to be trained as janissaries in the Ottoman military. Only pomaks, or those Bulgarians who had been converted to Islam, were exempt.

Those who kept Christianity were called Rayah, or the "herd," and many strived to keep the old traditions of Bulgaria and the church alive by living in hidden mountain monasteries. These establishments, too, were usually overrun and looted by the Ottomans, who forced the official Orthodox Church of Bulgaria to be subordinate to the Patriarchy of Constantinople, headed by Greek clergy faithful to the Sultanate.

Centuries of rule by the Turks took a huge toll on the Bulgarian population, who were robbed, raped, kidnapped and worse, yet they were generally left without recourse in the Ottoman court system. Periodic attempts to revolt throughout the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries were put down without mercy, but from these failures developed a thriving underground coalition of outlaws called haiduks. Helped secretly by the local population despite threats of retaliation from the government, the haiduks were a much-needed source of Bulgarian pride and steadily increasing resistance, and their memory is preserved in folk ballads that survive today.

The National Revival

The National Revival

The years of Ottoman rule served to isolate the Balkan region from the blossoming Renaissance period in Europe and consequently, the culture of this area was deeply affected by Turkish influences. However, continued efforts in isolated monasteries to nurture the native Bulgarian culture and religion gained momentum in the 17th century, aided by the inspiration of the haiduk movement. Contact was renewed with Orthodox Russia, a key relationship that would develop into eventual military assistance based on their common Slavic and religious backgrounds.

Several pieces of literature published outside the Ottoman sphere of influence also served to fuel Bulgarian determination to throw off the empire's rule, beginning with Sofia bishop Petar Bogdan Bashkev's History of Bulgaria in the 17th century, and Hristofor Zhefarovich's History of the Serbs and Bulgarians in 1741. In 1762, Paisii of Hilendar's piece, Slav-Bulgarian History, was particularly inspiring and the National Revival, a time of Bulgarian cultural renaissance, was born.

The cultural reawakening was aided by Bulgaria's textile and agricultural business with the empire. Having the economic means and also the renewed emotional strength of the Revival behind them, middle class merchants and artisans went about developing secular Bulgarian language schools. To help adults learn the written language, reading rooms called chitalishta were set up, and by the later half of the 19th century, Bulgaria's population was one of the most literate on the continent (literacy rates are still near 98-99 per cent today). Repeated efforts to gain religious autonomy from the Turks finally paid off in 1870 and marked another important step in increasing the momentum to regain national independence.

A defeat at Vienna in 1683 against Austria, and a combined force from Poland and Germany, marked the beginning of the end of Turkish control, and internal corruption and infighting among families in Constantinople vying for the sultanate further weakened the empire as a whole. A series of devastating wars in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in great losses of territory, most notably when Russia recaptured Black Sea territories and Hungary was lost to Austria, then challenging the Ottomans as the dominant force in central and eastern Europe. In what became known later as the "Eastern Question," powers such as Britain, Austria-Hungary and France, as well as Russia, hungrily looked to the Ottoman Empire's waning control of the strategic Bosphorus Strait and the trade routes that passed through them.

Although Britain and France expressed increasing sympathy towards their fellow Christians in Bulgaria who were being repressed, their concern over increasing Russian power in the Balkans was greater. Western Europe began to fear Russia's growing idea of a Pan-Slavic culture under their ultimate guidance and protection, which ultimately led to Bulgaria's independence. Britain and France sided with the Ottomans against the Russians in the Crimean War (1854-56), even though the three had once fought alongside each other against the Turks to help the Greeks win independence some 30 years earlier. Russia lost the war, but the Turkish Empire remained in a downward spiral of lost territory and power.

The Liberation War

The Liberation War

Throughout the 1800s, Ottoman authority in the Balkans had been breaking down, beginning with uprisings in Serbia. Exiled Bulgarian freedom fighters in groups called cheti stepped up armed skirmishes with the Turks from bases in Belgrade and Bucharest - led by revolutionary heroes such as Georgi Rakovski and Vasil Levski.

Levski is most noted for his immense efforts to raise the momentum of the Bulgarian underground rebellion by travelling across the country and setting up secret groups in preparation of a planned popular uprising. He was captured and hung just outside Sofia three years before the revolution started, but became a martyr for the Bulgarian people after his untimely death in 1873.

An uprising in September 1875, in Stara Zagora, was crushed by the Turks, and the following April, another revolt, prematurely started in the town of Koprivshtitsa, was also severely cut short. Tens of thousands of Bulgarians were killed in the rebellion - 15,000 in Plovdiv alone. Almost 58 villages were completely destroyed, including 5,000 men, women and children who were brutally burned and hacked to death in the town of Batak. Reports of these heinous killings reached Western Europe, who denounced the 'atrocities' and called for diplomatic action to resolve the Balkan situation. However, it was finally the Serbs and the Romanians who declared war on Turkey, and Russia also joined in to aid their Slavic Bulgarian relations in 1877, almost a year after the April Uprising.

Led by Alexander II, later called the Tsar Liberator by the Bulgarians, Russian troops won hard-fought victories at key points like Pleven and Shipka Pass, losing 200,000 troops by the war's end the following year. The Turks realized the end was near when Russian troops came to within 50 km of Constantinople. They granted independence to Bulgaria as well as almost two-thirds of the Balkan Peninsula, from the Adriatic to the Aegean. Once again fearing possible future Russian control of the Bosphorus through its Slavic allies, western powers hastily put together the Congress of Berlin in July 1878 and reversed Bulgaria's gains. Most of southern Thrace and Macedonia were returned to the direct control of the Ottomans, and the central territory south of the Balkan Mountains became an autonomous Turkish province called Eastern Rumelia. The land North of the Balkan Mountains was dubbed the Principality of Bulgaria and was a relatively independent state, and Alexander Battenburg, a German aristocrat who had fought under the Russian command during the war, was elected Prince of the constitutional monarchy.

Several decades of conflict and changes in Bulgaria's leadership ensued, including an uprising in Eastern Rumelia and an eventual reunification with the Bulgarian Principality in September 1885, as well as the Serbo-Bulgarian War in the same year. Russia became concerned that its Slavic ally was becoming too bold and pro-Russian army conspirators deposed Prince Battenburg and ushered him out of the country.

Stefan Stambolov took the reins of power as the leader and Prime Minister of a Council of Regents, and brought in German Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to be the new monarch. Stambolov's power was quite repressive and after his dictatorship ended in 1884, he was assassinated on Ferdinand's orders in 1895 - the beginning of an absolute monarchy not afraid to use violence and fear. In 1908, Ferdinand declared himself king of all Bulgaria and complete independence from Turkey.

The Liberation War

The Liberation War

Throughout the 1800s, Ottoman authority in the Balkans had been breaking down, beginning with uprisings in Serbia. Exiled Bulgarian freedom fighters in groups called cheti stepped up armed skirmishes with the Turks from bases in Belgrade and Bucharest - led by revolutionary heroes such as Georgi Rakovski and Vasil Levski.

Levski is most noted for his immense efforts to raise the momentum of the Bulgarian underground rebellion by travelling across the country and setting up secret groups in preparation of a planned popular uprising. He was captured and hung just outside Sofia three years before the revolution started, but became a martyr for the Bulgarian people after his untimely death in 1873.

An uprising in September 1875, in Stara Zagora, was crushed by the Turks, and the following April, another revolt, prematurely started in the town of Koprivshtitsa, was also severely cut short. Tens of thousands of Bulgarians were killed in the rebellion - 15,000 in Plovdiv alone. Almost 58 villages were completely destroyed, including 5,000 men, women and children who were brutally burned and hacked to death in the town of Batak. Reports of these heinous killings reached Western Europe, who denounced the 'atrocities' and called for diplomatic action to resolve the Balkan situation. However, it was finally the Serbs and the Romanians who declared war on Turkey, and Russia also joined in to aid their Slavic Bulgarian relations in 1877, almost a year after the April Uprising.

Led by Alexander II, later called the Tsar Liberator by the Bulgarians, Russian troops won hard-fought victories at key points like Pleven and Shipka Pass, losing 200,000 troops by the war's end the following year. The Turks realized the end was near when Russian troops came to within 50 km of Constantinople. They granted independence to Bulgaria as well as almost two-thirds of the Balkan Peninsula, from the Adriatic to the Aegean. Once again fearing possible future Russian control of the Bosphorus through its Slavic allies, western powers hastily put together the Congress of Berlin in July 1878 and reversed Bulgaria's gains. Most of southern Thrace and Macedonia were returned to the direct control of the Ottomans, and the central territory south of the Balkan Mountains became an autonomous Turkish province called Eastern Rumelia. The land North of the Balkan Mountains was dubbed the Principality of Bulgaria and was a relatively independent state, and Alexander Battenburg, a German aristocrat who had fought under the Russian command during the war, was elected Prince of the constitutional monarchy.

Several decades of conflict and changes in Bulgaria's leadership ensued, including an uprising in Eastern Rumelia and an eventual reunification with the Bulgarian Principality in September 1885, as well as the Serbo-Bulgarian War in the same year. Russia became concerned that its Slavic ally was becoming too bold and pro-Russian army conspirators deposed Prince Battenburg and ushered him out of the country.

Stefan Stambolov took the reins of power as the leader and Prime Minister of a Council of Regents, and brought in German Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to be the new monarch. Stambolov's power was quite repressive and after his dictatorship ended in 1884, he was assassinated on Ferdinand's orders in 1895 - the beginning of an absolute monarchy not afraid to use violence and fear. In 1908, Ferdinand declared himself king of all Bulgaria and complete independence from Turkey.

Balkans and World War 1

Balkans and World War 1

Instability and weakness in the failing Ottoman Empire led to the First Balkan War in 1912, when Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece joined forces against the Turks in an effort to win back territory. Istanbul was almost taken by the Bulgarians, who did win back some of Thrace and Macedonia, but conflict between the three allies over the rest of Macedonia resulted in the Second Balkan War in the following year. Serbia and Greece soundly beat Bulgaria and took away more land, but Bulgaria did end up with the Pirin region of Macedonia as well as Thracian land all the way to the Aegean.

As World War I unfolded in the Balkans, the Bulgarian government - again with their eyes on Macedonia - hoped to fight little, yet gain much land. Pro-German Ferdinand and Prime Minister Radoslavov entered Bulgaria into the war on the side of the Central Powers, even though the general popular opinion was with Slavic relation Russia and its allies, Britain and France. Ferdinand eventually abdicated after a September 1918 army revolt and his son Boris III took control. After the terrible toll of the war itself, the Treaty of Neuilly in 1919 exacted even more from Bulgaria. Land was lost on all sides to Serbia, Romania and Greece, the army was restricted and huge war reparation payments were required.

Amid growing social discontent, two political groups that had formed in the late 1800's now gained strength. Representing the interests of peasants and the rural population, the Agrarian Party headed by Alexander Stamboliiski emerged victorious in the 1919 elections, with the Communist Party finishing a close second. Stamboliiski's policies were fairly radical, and he made many enemies with his "peasant power" reforms, such as dividing up large land estates. Nationalists were outraged by his plan to foster better relations with Yugoslavia and especially by his idea to drop all Bulgarian claims to Macedonia. The IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) was gaining strength at the time, fuelled by Macedonian refugees who had been pouring over the border into Bulgaria for decades to escape Serbian control. Extremists from the IMRO joined a right-wing army officer coup in June 1923, and before they assassinated Stamboliiski, they cut off the hand he used to sign the Treaty of Ni's with Serbia.

After the Agrarians and Communists staged an unsuccessful uprising in September 1923, a period of terror and anti-Communist sentiment reigned under the power of Alexander Tsankov, who was in control until 1931. The Communist party was outlawed, thousands were killed, and their leader, Georgi Dimitrov, along with many others, barely escaped to Russia. In 1926, an amnesty helped quell some of the disorder of the time, and the League of Nations sent financial assistance to help resettle the Macedonian refugees.

The 1930's saw several groups with differing agendas take control during the uncertain economic and political times of the Great Depression. On the heels of Tsankov's repression came the right-wing extremist Zveno ("Link") Military League, who took over and began a dictatorship in 1934, continuing the general trend across Europe towards more authoritarian control. Tsar Boris III followed suit in November 1935 and established himself as absolute monarch until 1943.

World War 2

World War 2

With the start of World War 2, Bulgaria was in a sticky position. It had just signed a treaty of "inviolable peace and friendship" with Serbia in 1937. Yet Germany by then had strong economic ties in the area, and with promises from the Reich of gaining back the ever-desirable Macedonian lands, Bulgaria reluctantly sided with the Axis powers in 1941. To avoid a revolt by the people, King Boris III refused to sign a declaration of war on the Soviets, and the Bulgarians avoided conflict with their traditional Slav allies for the duration of the war. Although he managed to resist Nazi pressure on that issue, Boris did die mysteriously after visiting Berlin in August 1943 (1991 scientific tests are said to prove that it was not poison which killed the king). He left behind a son, Simeon II, aged six, and a Council of Regency to rule in his stead.

Heavy Allied bombing raids destroyed much of Sofia in 1943-44, which served to increase the general anti-war and especially anti-Nazi sentiment. After declaring itself neutral and disarming locally stationed German soldiers, Bulgarians allowed the Red Army to pass its northern borders unopposed on September 8, 1944. The next day, a coalition of communist groups, which had been operating under the name of the Fatherland Front, took Sofia and then the rest of Bulgaria, and September 9 was deemed Liberation Day.

The Communist era

The Communist era

By the end of 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the People's Republic of Bulgaria was declared with Georgi Dimitrov of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) as Prime Minister. The Party gradually gained absolute control over the decades in politics, economics and culture, and thousands of private enterprises, estates and industries were taken into the state holdings. In 1948-49, the Party severely restricted or forbid all religious activities and organizations, and under Stalin-appointed Vulko ("Little Stalin") Chervenkov who was Dimitrov's successor, over 90 000 dissidents were obliterated via expulsions, arrests and killings in an anti-Titoist purge in 1948-49.

The 1950's brought slightly more relaxed politics, mostly due to Stalin's death in 1953 and Chervenkov's loss in Party elections to Todor Zhivkov the next year. During Zhivkov's era, Bulgaria towed the Communist line to the letter, often called (even by Bulgarians) the 13th Soviet Republic. In return for Party loyalty came a secure job, enough food, education, health care and the reputation of one of the most prosperous Eastern European countries at the time. Those who didn't adhere to the strict Soviet policies were marginalized and denied access to educational, personal and job opportunities, so most had little choice but to accept what the Party had to offer. Most feared was the DS (Dirhavna Sigurnost), the State Security force, whose name is connected with the poison-tipped umbrella killing of dissident writer Georgi Markov in the London Underground in 1978, as well as a plot to kill the Pope in 1981, although in 2002 the Pope said he did not believe that Bulgaria had been behind the assassination attempt.

Under Zhivkov, Bulgarian Socialist nationalism grew, with many monuments erected in memory of heroes of Bulgarian history who had helped to bring the country to its Communist success, and therefore had not died in vain. Minority groups such as the Roma (Gypsy) and Turkish populations were not so glorified, and beginning in the 1950's were systematically marginalized, denied access to basic services and forced to renounce their own names in favour of Bulgarian ones. Those who refused to do so were further marginalized or even sent to concentration camps, and in 1984 a violent spark was ignited over the issue. Amid growing concern over human rights issues from Western and even other Communist countries, five years later in 1989, thousands of ethnic Turkish Bulgarians left the country rather than be assimilated into Zhivkov's increasingly disliked nationalist strategy.

Transition

Transition

Following the rest of Eastern Europe and the crumbling Soviet union, Bulgaria's political and environmental dissident groups gained louder and stronger voices towards the end of the 1980's, eliciting more moral support from the West. Massive anti-government demonstrations in 1989 forced the dismissal of Zhivkov from the BCP on November 10, the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Zhivkov was the first ex-Communist leader to be officially tried and convicted on charges of corruption and inciting ethnic unrest, and although sentenced to seven years in prison, he managed to arrange an early release and lived in luxury until his death in the late 1990's.

Under the new leadership of Petar Mladenov, the Communist Party changed their name to the Socialist Party (BSP) and Mladenov's close ally Andrei Lukanov became Prime Minister. Mladenov promised the first free, multi-party elections since The Second World War, and in the months leading up to the June 1990 vote, several opposition groups quickly put together political parties. These included a loose coalition of dissident groups under the name United Democratic Forces (UDF), and also the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), whose interests were in the protection of Bulgaria's Muslim minority.

Mostly due to the traditionally conservative votes of rural and older people uncertain about change, the BSP won the election with 45 per cent of the vote. The UDF won a large portion of the remaining votes, and the DPS also received solid support. Later that same year, however, President Mladenov was forced to resign amid evidence that he had consented to the use of violence against protesters. The BSP dominated Parliament went against tradition and elected Zhelyu Zhelov, from the UDF, as the new President in August 1990. Tough BSP reform measures during the very difficult economic times, as well as UDF supporter discontent over election results, caused more mass demonstrations and strikes, forcing the BSP Prime Minister Lukanov to resign.

An interim coalition government was formed with independent lawyer Dimiter Popov as leader. The next year saw the beginning of many reforms which were needed to help speed up the transition, such as restitution - or the redistribution of land and holdings taken from private owners by the Communists and the slow process of privatising state holdings and releasing many price and salary controls.

In July 1991, the National Assembly approved the New Constitution, which is still in effect, and in October of the same year, Filip Dimitrov formed Bulgaria's first completely non-communist government. Although Zhelev was re-elected in January 1992, the UDF was narrowly defeated in parliamentary elections later that year. The ethnic Turks enjoyed a newfound power in the Assembly, as they held the handful of votes which could swing decisions towards either the UDF or the BSP, who had roughly equal representation.

More economic woes and increased social dissatisfaction spurred those displeased with changes to vote the BSP into power again in 1994, with Zhan Videnov as leader. His government was also plagued by scandal and allegations of corruption. With a growing economic crisis in 1996-97, the Socialists were forced to resign after massive public demonstrations that winter.

For events after 1996-97, please see the political environment page

Bulgaria Geography

Relative Location:
South-eastern European Balkan Peninsula, between the Black Sea (to the east), Turkey to south-east), Greece (south), Romania (north), Serbia and Macedonia (FYROM) to the west - a strategic location near Turkish Straits which allows for control of major land and water routes from Europe and Russia to the Middle East and Asia

Absolute location (average coordinates): 43 degrees north, 25 degrees east

Area:
Total: 110,910 sq km
Land: 110,550 sq km
Water: 360 sq km

Total Land borders: 1,808 km
Land borders with:
Turkey: 240 km
Greece: 494 km
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: 148 km
Yugoslavia: 318 km (all with Serbia)
Romania: 608 km

Coastline: 354 km

Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate:
Mixed: mostly temperate in the north and Mediterranean-influenced in the south
Four distinct seasons; cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers

Terrain: mostly mountains, with lowlands in north Danubian Plain and in south-east

Elevation extremes:
Lowest point: Black Sea - 0 m
Highest point: Musala Peak - 2,925 m (also the highest point on Balkan Peninsula)

Key Natural resources: Iron ore, manganese ore, chromium, copper ore, zinc, bauxite, lead, coal, timber, arable land

Fuel reserves: Gas and oil

Land use: (1999 est.) Arable land: 43%
Permanent crops: 2%
Permanent pastures: 14%
Forests and woodland: 38%
Other: 3%

Irrigated land: 12,370 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: earthquakes, landslides

Tips

Exchange bureaus are obliged to display, on properly visible and easily accessible boards, information about rates and information about the right of a client to stop the deal before signing a contract. If the client reverses the deal, the cashier is obliged to fully reimburse the money. Exercise caution, because attempted fraud is a frequent problem, and try to find out the official exchange rate before commencing a transaction.
Taxis. Choose a reputable company, like OK Supertrans and 19280. Ensure the driver turns on the meter at the start of the journey, and keep a careful eye out about whether it seems to be running unusually fast. Check that the taxi has the oval disk in the windscreen as required by law: if it’s missing, chances are you are in a pirate taxi. The law requires drivers to issue a printed receipt for the fare.
Smoking is ubiquitous in Bulgaria and non-smoking sections in restaurants are extremely rare. A new law is set to change this in 2005, but the question mark over how effectively it will be implemented.
Most large cinemas show films with their original soundtracks and sub-title them. The same applies to rented videocassettes. However, films for children are usually dubbed. Check The Sofia Echo for weekly cinema listings.
Shopping. Large supermarkets such as Billa, Metro and Fantastico offer a wide range of local and imported products. In smaller shops, the standard and friendliness of service tends to vary. Customer service is a concept with which shop assistants are still getting acquainted, with varying degrees of success.
When Bulgarians nod their heads up and down, they mean NO. When they move their heads from side to side, they mean YES.
Wedding bands on worn on the right hand, not the left as in the West.
Corruption continues to be a problem, so beware, even of the police. Always carry the number of your embassy/consulate and lawyer, just in case.
Make sure that you obey the law regarding the registration of foreigners, because it is being applied with increasing eagerness. Failing to register within 48 hours of arrival can mean heavy fines and other hassles.
When paying for something in a restaurant or shop, do not expect to always get the correct change. It is common practice to “round up” the sum, and not in your benefit.
Credit card acceptance is still very rare. Make sure you carry enough cash for your needs.
Tipping is optional but becoming increasingly standard practice. About 10 per cent to 15 per cent is customary.
Making a toast when drinking liquor is de rigeur. When toasting, raise your glass and lightly clink it with all the others present, while looking the people with you in the eye (to not look them in the eye is rude) and saying, “naz drave” (good health to you). If there are 10 people at the table, you do this with all 10.
Toilet facilities are much improved compared to 10 years ago, but can be off-putting, particularly in older establishments and outside the larger cities. Most modern fuel stations, restaurants, hotels and bars have facilities of an acceptable standard. But elsewhere you may be confronted by nothing more than a hole in the floor, and no toilet paper. Always carry Kleenex with you. Places often charge for the use of toilet facilities, currently usually in the 20 to 50 stotinki range.
The temperature in buildings is controlled centrally by the city. They decide when to turn it on, usually around November, and switch it off, usually around March.
Name Days are celebrated in addition to birthdays. A Name Day is celebrated by people whose name is derived from that of a Saint’s Day being celebrated. The person having a Name Day usually brings confectionery to the office for colleagues to share. Bulgarian tradition is that one may call uninvited on a person celebrating a Name Day, to wish them well.

TOWARDS EU ACCESSION

Bulgaria made significant progress in the past year in its efforts to meet the accession criteria, according to the regular report adopted in November 2003 by the European Commission. The country’s objective of accession in 2007 must remain the firm focus of Bulgaria and Romania's preparations and the European Commission said it would support them in achieving this goal.

“The Commission is fully committed to maintaining the momentum of the negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania” Commissioner for Enlargement Gьnter Verheugen said in November 2003.

“However, it is equally important that the quality of negotiations is ensured. Indeed, it is important to recall that negotiations should go hand in hand with real progress made by the countries on the ground.”

The EC said that Bulgaria and Romania had continued to make significant progress over the last year in implementing the accession criteria. They both continue to fulfil the political criteria, and were closer to fulfilling the economic and acquis criteria.

The EC said that accession negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania would continue on the same basis and principles that applied to the 10 acceding states, in particular the principle based on own merits. The pace of negotiations would be determined principally by progress made by the negotiating countries in incorporating EU laws into their national legislation and in building the capacity to implement and enforce it effectively. The Commission will continue to monitor the fulfilment of the negotiating countries' commitments.

“The Union's stated objective is to welcome Bulgaria and Romania as members in 2007, depending on further progress in complying with the membership criteria,” the EC said.

The EC said that, in order for accession to take place in 2007, a common Accession Treaty for Bulgaria and Romania should be signed at the latest towards the end of 2005, which would require that negotiations be finalised in due time before that. This is to be preceded by the Commission's final recommendation on the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania for accession.

The timing of the conclusion of the negotiations will depend on the real progress made on the ground and in the negotiating process on the basis of each country's own merits.

The Commission will present to the Council, at the beginning of 2004, a three-year common financial framework for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in order to prepare the ground for the completion of negotiations. This financial framework should be based on the principles and methodology developed for the negotiations with the ten acceding countries. On this basis, the Commission will then propose to the Council common negotiating positions dealing with the financial implications in the fields of agriculture, regional policy and budgetary issues.

The European Union web site publishes regular updates of the state of play in regard to chapters closed in accession negotiations, at http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/negotiations.

Politics – political and economic environment

Bulgaria's current Government was formed after the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), a new player in Bulgarian politics, headed by ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, won a sweeping victory in the June 2001 parliamentary elections.

The Cabinet consists of Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg and 20 ministers.

One of the ministers, the Minister of State Administration Dimitar Kalchev is from the Bulgarian Socialist Party-dominated Coalition for Bulgaria and two, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mehmed Dikme and Minister Without Portfolio Filiz Hyusmenova, are from the mostly ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The rest are from the NMSII.

The Government is following a policy of increased Western integration and Balkan mediation. Its immediate goals include accession to the European Union as a permanent member state (full accession expected in 2007), joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – which is expected to happen in May 2004 – continued reforms and improvements in the economic, technological, judicial and political arenas, and improvements in living standards for its people. In April 2001, when he returned to Bulgaria and entered the political arena, Saxe-Coburg promised that he would make the lives of Bulgarians better within 800 days.

Since then, however, the confidence in the ex-king's Government has been ever plummeting.

In an attempt to re-gain some support, in July 2003 Saxe-Coburg reshuffled his Cabinet, replacing the ministers of education and health, appointing the then floor leader of the NMSII parliamentary group Plamen Panayotov as a deputy prime minister and re-appointing Nikolai Vassilev, formerly the economy minister, as Minister of Transport and Communications.

Lydia Shuleva, formerly minister of labour and social policy, replaced Vassilev.

Hristina Hristova became Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

Hyusmenova replaced Nedzhded Mollov as Minister without Portfolio, with the ministry’s current brief including dealing with natural and civil disasters.

In the autumn of 2003, after the promised 800 days expired, it became that most Bulgarians believed their lives had not improved, but rather had deteriorated.

Shortly after the Government began its term, protesters took to the streets.

In the beginning of 2002, craftsmen protested against the introduction of new high patent taxes.

Throughout 2003, the country was shaken by protests by farmers, teachers, doctors, workers and pensioners demanding higher wages, more concern from the Government and higher pensions.

In November and December 2003 the centre of Sofia was blocked on a number of occasions by disgruntled taxi drivers, liquid fuel traders and transport companies, protesting against the planned increase in the excise duties on fuel.

In the autumn of 2003 Bulgaria experienced one of the worst wheat crises since the one in 1996, and had to import grain from abroad.

The municipal elections in the autumn of 2003 showed that the ruling NMSII had lost the support of most voters and it managed to get only four mayoral seats out of the 29 regional centres in the country.

In 2003 Bulgaria saw a gangster war, in which several organised crime bosses died, along with a number of less important figures.

In March 2003, in front of the corporate headquarters of MG corporation in Sofia. its president and owner – Ilia Pavlov, said to have been the wealthiest Bulgarian and reported to have had connections to organised crime, was murdered.

In the summer in broad daylight, another businessman closely connected to Pavlov – Filip “Fatik” Naidenov, was killed.

In December another prominent criminal figure – Konstantin “Samokovetsa” Dimitrov was killed in the centre of Amsterdam.

On a number of occasions the Government was criticized both locally and internationally for its apparent inability to deal with organised crime.

In the spring of 2003, Interior Ministry chief secretary Boiko Borissov, one of the most popular public figures in the country, handed in his resignation. Saxe-Coburg, however, refused to accept it.

Throughout the year the Interior Ministry organised several operations against the criminal world and arrested some of the members of the underground.

In the first two and a half years of its rule, the Government of NMSII managed some achievements in the international field.

During NMSII’s term Bulgaria received a road map for joining the EU. At the NATO summit in Prague at the end of 2002, Bulgaria received an invitation to join NATO in May 2004.

By the end of 2003, the Government also managed to close most of the chapters in the accession negotiations with the EU.

The closure of the Energy Chapter in 2002 and the agreement of the Government to shut down units 3 and 4 of the Kozlodui nuclear power plant in 2006, however, caused discontent, with the opposition moving a motion of no confidence in the Government over its handling of the issue. The Government, however, survived and as of the end of 2003 has made no apparent effort to change the date for the premature closure of the units.

In the early 2003 the Government decided to join the anti-Iraq coalition ignoring the disapproval of many Bulgarians. In the summer of the same year, Bulgaria sent a battalion to the Iraqi city of Kerbala as a part of the coalition forces.

As a temporary member of the UN Security Council in 2003, during which held its presidency twice, the country played an important role in the actions against Iraq.

Currently, however, the Government appears stable, in spite the growing discontent with its domestic policies and the negative effect of its economic reforms on the social situation in the country.

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

Bulgaria's judicial system is under close scrutiny at the moment and is slated for major changes as the country reforms its structures to comply with EU standards.
Currently, its independent judiciary is based on the Three-Instances Procedure, and all judicial matters are overseen by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) and Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) administer and watch over all lower court actions as well as those of the government. There is a separate Constitutional Court, which takes decisions on the constitutionality of laws and treaties.
The judiciary system is also further divided into smaller regional and military courts.

Government

Georgi Purvanov, President

President Georgi Purvanov was born in 1957. He graduated from the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1981 with a master's degree in history and acquired a PhD in 1989. In December 1991, he was elected a member of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) at the party's 40th congress. Three years later he became deputy chair of the BSP Supreme Council and occupied this post until 1996, when he was elected chair of the Supreme Council. Meanwhile, he was an MP in the 37th National Assembly between 1994 and 1997. He was elected to the 38th National Assembly in April 1997 and becamefloor leader of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Left, which was dominated by the BSP. In the 39th parliament Purvanov was floor leader of the left Coalition for Bulgaria from June 2001.

Purvanov was elected the third president of Bulgaria since the communist regime in the country fell in 1989. He is, however, the first with a socialist background since the changes at the end of the 1980s. Purvanov was elected after a second round of presidential elections in November 2001, beating former president Petar Stoyanov by a few per cent. He was sworn into office on January 19, 2002. Purvanov is married and has two sons.



CABINET

Simeon Saxe-Coburg, Prime Minister

Church bells and gun salutes echoed across Bulgaria on June 16, 1937, to announce the birth of the future king, the son of King Boris III and Queen Joanna, Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha.

Upon King Boris III's sudden death on August 28, 1943, the 6-year old Simeon II acceded to the throne. A three-member council of regency was formed to reign in Bulgaria on his behalf. Following the communist coup on September 9, 1944 Simeon II remained on the throne but the regents were executed. Two years later, in 1946, a referendum was held and forced King Simeon, his sister, Princess Maria-Luisa and Queen Joanna to flee Bulgaria. Without abdicating, the young king was to spend in exile many years.

The family settled first in Alexandria, Egypt. Simeon was enrolled in the famous Victoria College in Egypt. In July 1951 the Spanish Government granted asylum to the exiled Bulgarian royal family. In Madrid Simeon graduated from the Lycee Francaise and read law and political science. In 1958-1959 he enrolled at the prestigious Valley Forge Military Academy in the United States where he was known as "cadet Rylski" and graduated as second lieutenant.

In 1996 Simeon II returned to Bulgaria for the first time after almost 50 years of exile. On April 6, 2001 he proclaimed his wish to return for good and to work actively while he draws on the experience he had amassed in exile and on his contacts in the effort to revive the country.

Having won a landslide victory in the 2001 parliamentary elections for the National Movement Simeon II, on July 24, 2001 Saxe-Coburg was sworn in as Prime Minister.

In addition to Bulgarian, Saxe-Coburg speaks fluent English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and a little Arabic and Portuguese. He is married and has four sons and a daughter.



Plamen Panayotov, deputy prime minister

The former floor leader of the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) Plamen Panayotov became Deputy Prime Minister in July 2003.

He is responsible for overseeing European integration and the Ministry of Defence and the Interior Ministry.

Panayotov was born in 1958 in Sliven.

In 1983 he graduated from the Sofia University with a major in law.

From 1985 to 1998 he was an assistant, senior assistant and chief assistant in penal law at the law department of the Sofia University. In 1998 Panayotov became associate professor in penal law. Since 1993 Panayotov is doctor in law.

Panayotov specialised in legal bases of the EU in Austria and economic crimes in Germany.

He is the author of several monographs on penal law.

Speaks German.

Married with one son.



Lidia Shuleva, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy

Lidia Shuleva graduated in electronic engineering from the Technical University, Sofia, and got a Master's Degree in Finance from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia.

Shuleva specialised in marketing and finance at the Management Academy in Munich, management and finance in Japan and management consulting in Greece with the European Communities.

From 1992 to 1996 she was the manager and owner of Business Intellect EOOD. In 1996 she became the executive manager of Albena Invest Holding AD.

Since 2000 she has been Chair of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria and a member of the Governing Board of the Assistance to Charity Foundation in Bulgaria.

Shuleva was born in 1956 in Velingrad, Bulgaria. She speaks English. Shuleva is married, with two children.



Nikolai Vassilev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications

In 1994 Vassilev graduated in economics from the University of Economics in Budapest. In 1995 he got a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Finance and Economics from the State University of New York.

In 1996-1997 he specialised in taxation policy and finance at the Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. In 1997 he got a Master's Degree in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA.

In 2000 he became the Senior Vice President and Director for Central and Eastern Europe Studies at Lazard Capital Markets, London. In 1997-2000 he was an Associate Manager of the Emerging Markets in Europe and World Emerging Markets Strategies, UBS Warburg, London. In 1997 he was an analyst for the Emerging European Capital Markets of the SBC Warburg Dillon Read, New York.

Vassilev is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He is fluent in Russian, Hungarian, and English and has working knowledge of German, French and Japanese. Vassilev was born in 1969 in Varna, Bulgaria. He is married.



Nikolai Svinarov, Minister of Defence

Nikolai Svinarov graduated in law from the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia in 1982. He went to the school for reserve officers in Vratsa, leaving it in 1985.

In 1984 he was a lawyer in Turgovishte. Since 1985 he has been a lawyer in Sofia. From 1992 to 1996 he was a member of the Sofia Bar Association. Between 1998 and 2001 he was a member and chief secretary of the Supreme Council of Lawyers. Svinarov started practicing as a lawyer in penal cases. After 1990 he specialised in civil and commercial law.

He was born in 1958 in Shoumen, Bulgaria. Svinarov speaks English and Russian. He is married and has two daughters.



Georgi Petkanov, Minister of the Interior

Georgi Petkanov was born in 1947 in Smolyan, Bulgaria. He graduated in law from the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia in 1971.

From 1972 to 1974 he was District Public Prosecutor in Devin, Smolyan region. In 1974 he became an Assistant Professor at the School of Law of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. In 1983 he became a Doctor of Law; in 1989, an Associate Professor of Law and in 1996, Professor of Law. He is an expert in finance law and taxation law and has many publications.

Since 1993 he has been a practicing lawyer. In 1997 he became an arbitrator for the Arbitration Court at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

From 1991 to 1995 he was Dean of the School of Law and Deputy Rector of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. He was Head of the Administrative and Finance Law Department, Vice Chairman of the Council on Jurisprudence at the Supreme Attestation Commission.

Petkanov speaks French and Russian. He is married, with one son.



Milen Velchev, Minister of Finance

In 1988 Milen Velchev graduated in international relations from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia. He has a Master's Degree in Business Management from the University of Rochester, New York and in Financial Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From 1999 to 2001 he was the Emerging Markets Vice President at Merrill Lynch (UK) where he previously (1995-1999) was an associate with Investment Banking in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa Department.

In 1990-1992 he was an attache at the International Organisations Division and desk officer for political matters at the UN at Bulgaria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Velchev was born in 1966 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is fluent in English and Russian, has working knowledge of French. Velchev is married.



Solomon Passi, Minister of Foreign Affairs

A Plovdiv native, Solomon Passi was born in 1956. In 1979 he got a Master's Degree in Mathematics from the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. In 1985 he got a Doctor's Degree in Mathematical Logics and Computer Science from the University of Sofia.

From 1992 to 2001 he was President of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria of which he is the founder. In 1996-1999 he was Vice President of the Atlantic Treaty Association and the first national of a country in Central and Eastern Europe to be elected to that position.

Elected an MP in the Grand National Assembly, Passi was a co-author of the current Bulgarian constitution. He was the first to propose that Bulgaria should join NATO.

Passi is Vice President of the St. St. Cyril and Methodius International Foundation. He is fluent in English and Russian. Married, with three children.



Anton Stankov, Minister of Justice

Stankov was born in 1966 in Yambol, Bulgaria. In 1988 he graduated from the School of Law at the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.

In 1990 he was an intern lawyer at the Sofia City Court. In 1991 he was appointed junior judge at the Shoumen County Court. In 1992 he was appointed district judge at the Shoumen District Court and in 1994, district judge at the Sofia District Court.

He was a jury member of the Sofia City Court and in 1999 became Chairman of the Sofia City Court Criminal College. Stankov is a member of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee's Legal Commission.

He speaks English, French and Russian. Married, with two children.



Mehmed Dikme, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry

Dikme majored in catering technology from the Catering Technologies Department of the Higher Institute of Catering in Plovdiv. His postgraduate work was on the marketing and management of catering plants.

Born in 1966 in the village of Byal Izvor, Kurdjali municipality, from 1995 to 2000 he was mayor of Ardino Municipality, Kurdjali region.

Since 2000 he has been a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe with the Council of Europe, Strasbourg. He is married and has one child.



Igor Damyanov, Minister of Education

Born in Lom in 1953, now married with one child.

In 1977 Damyanov graduated in history from the Sofia University. He then worked in the Ministry of Culture.

From 1978 to 1996 he taught history in the University of National and World Economy (UNWE).

From 1996 to 1999 he was a deputy dean of the International Economy and Politics department at UNWE.

From 1999 to 2001 Damyanov was deputy provost of the university.

In 2001 Damyanov became deputy minister of education.

Speaks several languages. Has taught at the Sorbone in Paris, the Athens University in Greece and the Moscow Institute for Slavic and Balkan studies.

In his acceptance speech in July 2003, Damyanov said he realised how important education is considered by the Bulgarian people.

He said the major goal of his team would be to bring the education standards in the country as close as possible to those of the EU before the accession of Bulgaria to the Union in 2007.



Slavcho Bogoev, Minister of Health

Born in Plovdiv in 1966, not married.

In 1991 Bogoev graduated from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) with a degree in marketing and domestic trade.

From 1991 to 1995 he worked as a manager of various private companies.

From 1995 to 1999 Bogoev worked as a trader and an expert in the United Bulgarian Bank in Sofia.

From 1999 to 2001 he was chief trader of Demir Bank Bulgaria.

In November 2001 he became deputy minister of health. As such Bogoev was responsible for the finance resources, the specialised health insurance supervision, international co-operation and EU integration.

He was also a member of the board of the National Health Insurance Fund.

Bogoev speaks English and Russian.

Bogoev has never been implicated in any controversies and says his credo is honesty and professionalism.

After becoming a minister Bogoev said he was going to try to be a good administrator.



Hristina Hristova, Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

Born in the Byala Slatina region in 1954.

In 1980 Hristova graduated from Sofia University with a degree in philosophy.

In 1988 she became a doctor of sociology.

Hristova has a vast experience in the field of social reform and integration as well as in social work and the management of social funds and services for senior citizens.

In 2001 Hirstova became deputy minister of labour and social policy.

Upon accepting her new position as a minister Hristova said she was planning to keep up the good work started by her predecessor Lidia Shuleva.



Bozhidar Abrashev, Minister of Culture

Born in 1936 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Abrashev graduated with a Master's in composition from the Professor Pancho Vladiguerov State Music Academy in 1960. Abrashev has a Doctor's Degree (1976) and a Doctor of Art Degree (1991).

From 1963 to 1966 he was the bandleader of the Philip Koutev State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances. From 1964 on he taught at the Prof. Pancho Vladiguerov State Music Academy all the way up in the teaching profession. In 1990 he became Professor at the Music Academy. In 2000 he was elected First Deputy Rector of the Prof. Pancho Vladiguerov State Music Academy, in charge of teaching and scholarly activities.

In 1967 Abrashev became a member of the Union of Bulgarian Composers. He is the author of a large number of scholarly papers and publications and has composed some 60 opuses and music pieces - symphonies, chamber music, vocal works.

He has been decorated with the Cyril and Methodius Order, 2nd class.

Abrashev speaks German and Russian and has working knowledge of English. Married, with three children.



Dolores Arsenova, Minister of Environment and Water

Arsenova was born in 1964 in the village of Belimel, Montana region, Bulgaria.

In 1995 she graduated from the law department of the University of National and World Economy, and in 1990, she got a degree in pedagogy from the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.

In 1999-2001 she was a fellow at the Global and Regional Development Section at the Sociology Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She was also a lawyer and member of the Sofia Bar Association, a legal adviser and consultant on non-profit organisation and company management.

Arsenova is a member of the Bulgarian Sociology Association and of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria. She is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Hypocrates Non-profit Association.

Arsenova speaks Russian. She is married, with one child.



Milko Kovachev, Minister of Energy

Kovachev was born in 1957 in Pernik, Bulgaria.

In 1979 he graduated in Power and Nuclear Engineering from the Technical University, Sofia. His postgraduate study was on the System Analysis of District Heating. He has taken a lot of training and retraining courses at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Union.

Kovachev started his career as a senior reactor operator at the Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant. From 1986 to 1992 he was assistant, senior assistant and chief assistant in the Technical University, Sofia - Power and Nuclear Engineering Department. He became a deputy manager of the Training center at Kozlodui NPP in 1992.

Two years later he became head of the Nuclear Power Department and head of the European Integration and International Relations Division of the Committee of Energy. He was Head of PHARE Nuclear Safety Program also. From November 1997 to February 2000 he was Head of Safety and Operation of NPP Division of the National Electric Company.

In August 2001, Kovachev was appointed Chair of the State Agency for Energetics and Energy Resources. On December 21, 2001 he took an oath in Parliament as Minister of Energy.

Kovachev speaks French, English and Russian. He is married and has two children.



Dimitar Kalchev, Minister of State Administration

Kalchev was born in 1945 in Rousse, Bulgaria.

In 1968 he graduated from the Higher Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Electricity in Rousse. In 1996 he specialised in Public Finance Management in North Carolina (USA) and in 1997, in Development of the Association of Municipalities in Washington D.C.

In November 1995 he was elected Mayor of Rousse Municipality. Previously he was the Governor of the Credit Bank, Rousse (1992) and Deputy Governor of the Post Bank, Rousse (1991). In 1986 he was deputy general manager of the Heavy Duty Machine Works, Rousse. From 1981 to 1986 he was deputy manager and general manager of companies in Tanzania. In 1979 he became manager of the Sofia-based Machinoexport projects in Eastern Africa.

Since April 1996, Kalchev has been a member of the Executive Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe, Council of Europe, Strasbourg. In 1996-2000 he was Chair of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria. In 1998-2000 he was Vice President of the Working Group on Regionalism, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Kalchev speaks English and Russian, and has working knowledge of Arabic and German. Married, with one child.

Filiz Husmenova, Minister without Portfolio

Husmenova was born in 1966 in Silistra. Married with one child.

She graduated from the Veliko Turnovo University with a degree in Russian.

From 1995 to 1997 she taught French in the natural science high school in Silistra.

From 1997 to 1999 Husmenova worked in the local directorate of the Ministry of Education.

From 1999 to 2001 she was a deputy mayor in Silistra.

From 2001 Husmenova, was deputy regional governor of the Silistra region.



REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

Each region is headed by a governor, who is appointed by the Council of Ministers and is responsible for overseeing all policy within the region. There are 28 regional divisions, called oblasti (singular oblast):Blagoevgrad, Bourgas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Haskovo, Kurdjali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardjik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Shumen, Silistra, Sliven, Slomian, Sofia (city), Sofia (surrounding area), Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Yambol.

Administrative power is further divided into almost 4000 local councils, which are elected officials who preside over issues and policies for towns and villages throughout Bulgaria.

Regional power is divided into 278 municipal territories, which are the basic administrative bodies of Bulgarian self-government. The Executive power of each municipality is comprised of a Municipal Council and a mayor, all elected by popular vote. They are responsible for passing a budget and for creating, evaluating and implementing policy relating to development within their municipality, such as education, health, economics, the environment and social and cultural issues.

Bulgarian Currency

See the Business section for more information on currency, prices, inflation, etc.

The Bulgarian currency is the lev (plural leva) and is divided into 100 stotinki. Banknotes are in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 leva notes as well as coins of 1 lev (it is soon expected to completely obliterate the paper 1 lev) and 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 stotinki.

The lev has been fairly stable for the past six years.

At major border crossings there are exchange offices (usually with no commission, although be sure to read the small print) and occasionally cash machines.

Hard currencies like US dollars and English (NOT other forms of UK or Irish!) pounds are easily exchanged at the many exchange offices in bigger cities, but they are rare in smaller towns and villages. Don't be fooled by expert swindlers who approach you on the streets to give you an excellent black market exchange rate. Travelers’ checks are not common and are usually hard to cash in. They are often cashed in at somewhat unfavourable rates.

Most banks also exchange money but usually their rates are also disadvantageous compared to the ones offered by change bureaus. You, however, must be careful as especially in the summer at the resorts there are swindlers even in some change bureaus.

If you do not want to keep your extra leva forever as a souvenir, you should change it before leaving the country as it is not accepted elsewhere.

Bulgarian Visas and other formalities

Bulgaria has liberalized its visa policy as a gesture of reciprocity and to conform to international standards. A valid passport is all that is required for visitors from the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states for stays up to 30 days. In addition, the citizens of Cuba, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Tunisia, Turkey and Switzerland may enter the country without a visa for a period of 30 days with a normal valid passport.
A visa is also no longer required of visitors from the U.S, Israel, Japan, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for stays of up to 30 days.
A border tax of about $20 will be collected from such individuals on entering the country. If the planned stay is to be more than 30 days, or if traveling on a diplomatic or official passport, a visa is required and must be obtained in advance.
US citizens with regular passports intending to stay more than 30 days can get them free of charge under a reciprocal US-Bulgaria agreement, but a $20 processing fee is collected per passport.
Travelers who have a one-year multiple entry visa for Bulgaria may stay up to 90 days altogether within six months. If a traveler comes to Bulgaria, stays in the country for 90 days and then leaves, he or she will not be able to enter the country within the next 90 days.
Although citizens of the countries listed above do not require visas for stays of up to 30 days, they should be able, on request, to show evidence of medical insurance valid for Bulgaria.
The travel/medical insurance should be for at least $5000 and should cover emergency medical expenses, repatriation, transport of mortal remains, funeral and hospitalisation.
If the visitor has insurance of this type, a copy of the policy, with legible policy number, company name, duration of validity and sum of coverage or a letter from the insurance company including these data, should be submitted with the visa application.
If the traveller does not have such insurance, a visa application can be made without it, but the insurance must be obtained after the consulate has informed the applicant that the visa is approved. The visa will be issued only after proof of insurance is submitted.
Travellers who are not citizens of the US or the countries listed above are expected to provide a letter of invitation from a Bulgarian host, on a standard form, provided by the municipality, or a business partner, as well as a letter from their company or institution if they are travelling on business.
Transit visas allow a stay in Bulgaria of 24 hours or less. Airline tickets and evidence of right of entry into the next country of travel will be required.
Possession of airline tickets does not guarantee the granting of an entry visa.
Applicants for visas should note that incomplete forms, absence of photographs or inadequate payment usually result in the return of the application to the applicant without further action.
Those travelling with pets should have a certificate of veterinarian examination, carried out within a week before departure, as well as a certificate of rabies shots done during the past six months.
Motor vehicle insurance can be arranged at the Bulgarian border point of entry. For motorists an international driving licence is required.
Travellers with children with them should note that Bulgaria is party to steps against international child abduction. These usually include requiring documentary evidence of parental relationship and permission for the child's travel from the parent(s) or legal guardian not present. Having such documentation on hand may help to avoid complications.
Bulgaria introduced new-style visas in 2002, with extra security features including the integration of a colour photograph. The new-style visa is an electronic type linked to the database of the central system for visa control of foreigners.
The visa is of a similar type to be introduced by European Union states between 2003 and 2007.
It is rare now, but upon arrival you may be asked to show or prove that you have:
-a return ticket if arriving by air, bus or train
-sufficient funds for the length of your stay.
At the website of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, http://www.mfa.government.bg/index_en.html, you can find information about the customs formalities upon entering the country as well as the addresses of all embassies in the country.
In the light of the events of September 2001 and the general rise of terrorism, recently the authorities starting enforcing the existing rule for registration quite vigorously.
All travellers are required by law to register with the regional passport office for foreigners or the police within 48 hours of their arrival in the country and to inform the office about any change in their address.
Those staying at a hotel, a private boarding house or an apartment rented through an accommodation company, registration is taken care of by the proprietor.
If you are staying with friends or live in a private lodging, you must go to the closest police station to have yourself registered. Otherwise upon leaving the country you might have to pay a hefty fine for not doing so.
Keep in mind the process is slow as the bureaucracy in the state institutions is cumbersome and inefficient. Be prepared for spending at least several hours (if you’re lucky) being pointed from one counter to another and trying to explain yourself to surly employees who as a rule do not speak foreign languages. You’ll also have to fill in several forms in Cyrillic.
Best idea is to bring a friend (local would be best) to do the talking and filling in for you.
As of the beginning of 2004 the Government decided to introduce new road taxes, collected through special stickers pasted onto the windshields of the cars and other vehicles.
There will be several types of stickers, which will allow the motorists to choose how much road tax to pay. The stickers will be valid for one week, one month or one year and will allow their owners to use the highways, and the first, second and third-class roads in the respective period. The use of city and town streets as well as roads which are a part of the municipal infrastructure will be free of charge.
From the beginning of 2004, all Transit International Routier (TIR) trucks will be obliged to have such stickers, and from July 2004 so will busses and trucks. From the beginning of 2005 all motorists will be obliged to purchase such stickers.
The stickers would be sold at the border checkpoints. Their prices for foreigners are higher than those for Bulgarians. It is expected that by 2007 the prices would become the same.
If driving over a border, be sure to go around all the trucks piled up and waiting because they go through a different line than cars do (not so with tour buses, though, so try to pass as many as you can on the road up to the border). The standard car papers, including proof of ownership as well as international insurance ("the Green Card") must be shown. For customs declarations, you will probably be asked to open the booth, and sometimes they actually search the whole car.
Everyone gets to pay about five leva to be able to drive through a shallow pool of disinfectant to be sure they're not bringing any weird things on their tires into the country.
Taking a bus across the border is a long process, so be patient, have snacks available and a book or magazine. The passports of all the travelers on the bus are processed all at once (you will probably be asked to give yours to the bus driver or assistant, who will do most of the work). Chances are also good that you and the rest of the passengers will have to get your luggage and display it for the customs officers, who may or may not ask you to open it for their inspection.
If you're crossing by train, it is a long process as well, and very annoying if in the dead of night while you're trying to sleep. The conductors and customs people coming around several times to stamp, re-stamp and re-check passports, and you may have to get off the train to go to the customs desk in person, on one or both sides of the border.

Border Crossings

Listed by:
Bulgarian border city/next foreign city (if different) - approximate (apx.) location - road #

Bulgaria - Yugoslavia
1. Kalotina/Tsaribrod (Dimitrovgrad) - apx. 65 km NW of Sofia - Primary Motorway E80
2. Strezimirovtsi - apx. 70 km NW of Pernik - Secondary Highway 63
3. Vrushka Chuka - apx. 45 km SW of Vidin - Secondary Highway 14
4. Bregovo/Negotin - apx. 35 km NW of Vidin - Secondary Highway 12
5. Kyustendil/Bosilegrad - apx. 30 km NW of Kyustendil
6. Salash/Novo Korito - apx. 30 km W of Belogradchik - local road (not official)

Bulgaria - Macedonia
1. Gyueshevo/Kriva Palanka - apx. 25 km SW of Kyustendil - Primary Motorway E871
2. Stanke Lisichkovo/Delchevo via Zvegor - apx. 20 km W of Blagoevgrad - local road
3. Zlatarevo/Stumitsa via Novo Celo - apx. 25 km W of Petrich - local road

Bulgaria - Greece
1. Kulata/Sidirokastro (Valovishta) - apx. 190 km S of Sofia - Primary Motorway E79
2. Svilengrad/Ormenion - near Bulgarian/Greek/Turkish intersection - Motorway E80/A1
3. Sadovo/Kato Nevrokopion - apx. 20 km. S of Gotse Delchev - local road (not official)
4. Makaza - apx. 60 km S of Kurdjali - local road (under construction)

Bulgaria - Turkey
1. Kapitan Andrayvo/Edirne - apx. 10 km. SE of Svilengrad - Primary Motorway E80/A1
2. Malko Turnovo - apx. 90 km. S of Bourgas - Secondary Highway 98 and Primary Motorway E87

Bulgaria - Romania
1. Vidin/Kalafat - in NW Bulgaria - Primary Highway E79
2. Oryahovo/Becket - apx. 75 km. NW of Vratsa - Secondary Highway 15
3. Rusei/Giourgiou - apx. 100 km NE of Veliko Turnovo - Primary Motorway E85
4. Tutrakan/Otelnitsa - apx. 110 km. NW of Shumen - Secondary Highway 49 (not official)
5. Silistra/Kulurash - apx. 105 km. N of Shumen - Primary Motorway 7
6. Yovkovo/Negru Voda - apx. 40 km. NE of Dobrich - Secondary Highway 29
7. Durankulak/Mangalia - apx. 95 km. NE of Varna - Primary Motorway 87

For road assistance in Bulgaria, dial 146
For Police/Road patrols, dial 166

Foreign Diplomatic Missions in Sofia

Albania: 10 Krakra St., 943 38 57

Algeria: 16 Slavyanska St., 980 22 50

Argentina: 36 Dragan Tsankov Blvd., 971 25 39

Australia: Consulate; 37 Trakia St, tel.: 946 1334, fax : 946 1704

Austria: 4 Shipka St., 950 50 60, consulate: 37 Trakia St. 946 1334

Belarus: 6 Charles Darwin St., 971 34 88

Belgium: 1 Velchova Zavera Sq., 988 7290

Brazil: 19 Joliot Curie St., 971 98 19

Canada Consulate: 11 Assen Zlatarev St., 943 3704

China: 7 Alexander von Hubmbolt St., 973 3873, 973 38 51

Croatia: 32 Veliko Turnovo St., 943 32 25, 943 32 26

Cuba: 1 Konstantin Shturkelov St., 72 09 96, 72 20 14

Cyprus: Yuri Gagarin St., block 154A, Apt. 2, 971 22 41

Czech Republic: 9 Yanko Sakazov Blvd., 946 11 11, 946 11 10

Denmark: 54 Knyaz Dondukov blvd, 980 08 30

Egypt: 5 Shesti Septemvri St., 988 15 09, 987 02 15

Finland: 16 Krakra St. 942 49 10

France: 29 Oborishte St., 965 11 00

Germany: 25 Joliot Curie St., 918 380

Greece: 33 San Stefano St., 946 10 27, 946 10 30

Hungary: 57 Shesti Septemvri St., 963 11 35, 963 11 36

India: 31 Patriarch Evtimii Blvd., 986 77 72, 986 76 72

Indonesia: 53 Simeonovsko Shosse, Res. 4, 962 52 40

Iran: 77 Vasil Levski Blvd., 987 61 73

Iraq: 21-23 Chekhov St., 973 33 48

Israel: 1 Bulgaria Blvd., 7th floor, 951 50 44, 951 50 46

Italy: 2 Shipka St., 921 73 00

Japan: 14, Lyulyakova Gradina St., 971 34 37

North Korea: in district Mladost 1, Andrei Saharov Blvd., block 1, Res. 4, 975 3340

Republic of (South) Korea: 36 Dragan Tsankov blvd, 971 21 81

Kuwait: Simeonovsko Shosse, Res.15, 962 56 89

Lebanon: 16 Joliot Curie St., block 1, 971 27 23

Libya: 1 Andrei Saharov blvd, residence 1, 974 35 56

Macedonia: 17 Joliot Curie St., block 2, 701 560, 705 098

Moldova: 17 Patriarch Evtimii blvd, 981 85 53

Morocco: 129 Evlogi Georgiev Blvd., 944 27 94

Mongolia: 52 Joliot Curie St., 65 90 12

Netherlands: 38 Galichitsa St., 962 54 81, 962 57 85

Norway: 54 B Knyaz Dondukov blvd, 921 195

Palestine: 22 James Boucher Blvd. 963 4324

Peru: Joliot Curie St., block 17, 971 37 08

Poland: 46 Khan Krum St., 987 26 10

Portugal: 6 Ivats Voivoda St. 943 36 67, 943 36 70

Romania: 4 Sitnyakovo Blvd., 971 28 58

Russia: 28 Dragan Tsankov Blvd. 963 13 14, 963 09 12

Serbia and Montenegro: 3 Veliko Turnovo St. 946 16 33

Slovakia: 9 Yanko Sakazov Blvd. 943 32 81

South Africa: 1 Alexander Zhendov St., 971 34 25

Spain 27, Sheynovo St., 943 30 32, 943 30 34

Sweden: 4 Alfred Nobel St., 930 19 60

Switzerland: 33 Shipka St., 942 01 00

Syria: 13 A Simeonovsko Shosse, 962 57 42

Turkey: 80 Vasil Levski Blvd., 935 55 00

Ukraine: 29 Boryana St, 955 94 78

United Kingdom: 9 Moskovska St., 933 92 22

United States: 1 Suborna St., 937 51 00

Vatican City: 6 August 11 St., 981 1743

Venezuela: 12 Narodno Subranie sq, 987 03 41