Bulgaria is the last of the formerly communist countries that we plan to visit this trip. We continue to head south to warmer and hopefully drier weather. We enjoyed our relatively short visit to Bulgaria. Here are some things about Bulgaria that I think are interesting:
- Bulgaria is a former communist country in Central/Eastern Europe. Since the fall of communism in 1989, it has successfully transitioned to capitalism and it joined the European Union in 2007.
- Bulgaria doesn’t use the Euro yet. Its currency is the Leva (worth about 66 cents Canadian), each of which is broken down into 100 stotinky (sometimes called ‘stinkies’ by travellers).
- Bulgaria is very green at this time of year. May is its rainiest month and the countryside is beautiful.
- Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It was developed in the 9th Century in the land that later became Bulgaria. The Cyrillic alphabet makes reading menus and most signs here almost impossible. It has extra letters (30 in total) and several false friends (letters that look the same as our Latin letters, but are pronounced differently) (e.g. ‘p’ is pronounced as ‘r’ in restaurant).
- Thankfully, almost all young people in Bulgaria speak some English. If we need assistance, we ask a teenager.
- Hoping to annex Macedonia, Bulgaria sided with Germany in World War II, but refused to turn over its Jews to the Nazis, saving at least 50,000 people from the genocide
- Bulgaria adopted communism more wholeheartedly than other Warsaw Pact countries after World War II. They were very subservient to ‘Mother Russia’ and in 1973 even proposed that they join the Soviet Union.
- Under communism, Bulgaria was well known for its wrestlers and weight lifters who were national sports heroes. Afterwards they often became bodyguards for the countries leaders.
- With the fall of communism, many of the communist leaders and their bodyguards successfully transitioned to capitalism, and now lead many of the major companies here. This was almost certainly done with some mafia-style strong arming. Bulgarians say, “The music changes, but the musicians stay the same”.
- The vast majority of Bulgarians are Orthodox Christian (almost 90%), a quick turnaround from Communist days when religion was not allowed.
- Corruption is more widespread in Bulgaria than elsewhere in Europe. Although Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, it is monitored and often rebuked by the EU for problems with fraud.
- Because it is cheaper than most other European countries, Bulgaria is becoming popular as a tourist destination for Europeans but it is rarely visited by North Americans. Most of the Europeans who come here come for cheap skiing or for beach destinations on the Black Sea coast.
- There are a growing number of British ex-pats here who can buy homes and live less expensively and with better weather than in the UK.
- Traditional Bulgarian food is grilled meat and vegetables, stews, roasted peppers, feta cheese, and yoghurt.
- Bulgaria is the cheapest of the European countries we’ve traveled to. Last night we had a huge meal, 2 appetizers, 2 large and fancy meat entrees, and 4 beers for about $21.
