Bulgaria is located in Southern Europe, in the Eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. A meeting point of many civilizations bridging the Orient and Europe Bulgaria offers numerous cultural and historic discoveries. Reminders of its rich and turbulent history are scattered across its territory – archeological sites and treasures inherited from the Thracian civilization, the Roman and Byzantine empires, occult temples, ethnographic sites, churches and monasteries. A relatively small country with a unique combination of mountain ridges and lowlands, glacier lakes and valleys, rivers, incredible rock formations and a piece of the Black Sea coast. Its flora and fauna, music, cuisine and folklore irrefutably convey their exotic streak. A country which has given the world the Cyrillic alphabet and the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices, a phenomenon gone even beyond the realms of our planet.....
.

Territory: roughly 1/5 of France
Borders: North – Rumania; East – Black Sea; South – Greece, Turkey; West – Yugoslavia, Macedonia
Population: 8 million
Official Language: Bulgarian
Religion: Christian Orthodox (85%), Muslims (8%)
Status: Democratic republic
Nature: plateaus, planes, mountain ridges, river, lakes, forests; variable climate with four distinct seasons; numerous mineral water springs; 3 national parks, 9 nature parks, 55 reservations
Highest Peak: Musala 2925m
Capital: Sofia – founded by the Thracians and in the 16th century said to have taken its wisdom from St Sofia.
Main Cities: Plovdiv – founded by Philip the Macedonian - 4th century BC, Varna – second largest port and one of the main centers for tourism
Traditions: folklore - music, choirs, bagpipes, dance; jewelry; arts and crafts; wine; yogurt; tobacco; and the famous Bulgarian Valley of Roses