Discovering the World Sans Valise: Bulgaria (1) - Calm and Beauty in Eastern Europe

You may wonder how we came up with the idea of visiting Bulgaria. Originally we had thought of exploring Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia in the last part of our world trip. We changed our mind for two reasons. Firstly, we met four young Bulgarians in Patagonia and talked to them about their country. One of them had pictures of the country on his phone from a recent trip he had taken. The photos looked awesome. Secondly, my mother was not doing well, so we wanted to stay close to France to be able to go back and help her in case of emergency. For these reasons and without hesitation, we set sails to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria did not disappoint us. It is a lovely country to visit. I am actually not sure why so few people go there on vacation. Even locals believe that their country has little to offer to tourists! Believe me, this is NOT true. We rented a car for three weeks and drove through the country starting in Sofia, then driving to Plovdiv, the Rhodope and Vihrens mountains in the South, Koprivshtitsa, Troyan, Lovec, Veliko Tarnovo, and the Black Sea coast visiting Varna, Nessebar, and Sozopol. All awesome sites. The cost of life in Bulgaria is amazingly low, much lower than we anticipated. It turned out to be the cheapest country we visited on our world trip and this included a rental car for 3 weeks.....even cheaper than Nicaragua.

We loved what we saw there and also what we ate. The rural areas are pristine and beautiful. Farmers are still using a horse drawn plow to turn up the earth. Some are still traveling in horse drawn carriages as well. We visited beautiful monasteries along the way, old cities tastefully restored and maintained, and gorgeous sites along the Black Sea. People are very down to earth, "no glamor", very friendly and talkative. The food is excellent, earthy and simple. The shopska salad was delightful. Meats were mostly chicken and pork, served grilled or in a stew. Fish and mussels were excellent, particularly on the Black Sea. Baklava and ice cream were our two favorite desserts!

The language may appear as a barrier to visit the country but in reality, speaking a little bit of English is sufficient to get by in Bulgaria. We made it driving around in very isolated areas in the mountains. An excellent GPS is a must though, since no one can expect to understand the signs written using the Cyrillic alphabet.

Sofia, the capital