Featured Destination
Bulgaria
Three Weekend Getaway Destinations in Bulgaria
Never spend a free day in a place you've already been is a rule many of us abide by – forcing us to take risky roads and end up in places we never knew existed, to get involved in conversations with strangers we never thought we'll be having one day.
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Epicure
Balkans
Five Delicious Aubergine Recipes
The coming of fall in the Balkans brings with it more than a drop in temperatures and a change of scenery. This time of the year also means good news in the culinary department. Full Story
Routes Less Travelled
Bulgaria
Chiprovtsi: Stooping Women Guard the Bulgarian Renaissance's Few Traces
If the women in Chiprovtsi are slightly stooped, it is because they have spent the past four centuries sitting on little three-legged chairs. For as long as the place is remembered historically, they have substituted the pianos in their living rooms with massive looms for weaving with which they entertained themselves and their society.
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Belogradchik: What Rocks May Come
Bulgaria
Kurdzhali: Where Men Trade in their Uniforms for Cassocks and the Town Clock Sings
Urban Browser
Bulgaria
Plovdiv: A Felicitous Stop on the Orient Express Route
During the Ottoman Empire’s decline, merchants of rose oil, silk and linen built one of Bulgaria’s most impressive urban centres
In the middle of Djumaya – the square that marks the historical centre of Plovdiv, stands a high pillar topped with the bronze, gold-wreathed figure of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Plovdiv’s inhabitants believe they owe their city to him. Full Story
A City to Remember: Sofia in August
Bulgaria
La Dolce Vita in Koprivshtitsa: Then and Now
Curiosity Chest
Bulgaria
The (Un)Usual Suspects: Bulgaria’s Top 100 Tourist Sites – Communist and Contemporary
If you thought that tourism under socialism was irreconcilably different from that in developed democratic countries, the latest travellers' mania in Bulgaria will come as a surprise. A popular trend there nowadays is the collecting of special stamps in a booklet containing a list of 100 not-to-be-missed destinations, which originates back to the 1960s. Some of Full Story
Bulgaria 3/7/14
Bulgaria
Treasure-Hunting in Bulgaria’s Eastern Rodopi Mountains: Ancient Sites and Whimsical Rocks
While Bulgaria’s seaside and mountain resorts continue to attract the bulk of both domestic and international tourists, more unconventional destinations around the country are also starting to become popular with travellers. Among their advantages are the smaller or nonexistent tourist crowds, as well as the alternative tourism opportunities they provide.
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Bulgaria in 5 days: Shumen, South of Nowhere
Bulgaria
Bulgaria in 3 Days: Sofia and Mount Vitosha
Hidden Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Along Suleiman the Magnificent's Bridge in Svilengrad, South-Eastern Bulgaria
The Ottoman bridge over the Maritsa River is not only a predecessor (and maybe even a prototype) of the famous bridge on the Drina, but it is also superior to it in terms of scale and splendour. The legend about its origins is as dramatic as that of the Drina Bridge, although it did not win the Nobel Prize like Ivo Andrić’s novel that recounted it Full Story
Bulgaria
Genghis Khan’s Descendents Swap Central Asia’s Altay for Bulgaria’s Balkan Mountain
Bulgaria
Kabiyuk, The Horse "Factory" Bulgaria Inherited from the Ottoman Empire
Balkan Coasts
Balchik, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea, where Romanian Queen Marie Left Her Heart. In a Jar
Bulgaria
It was in 1940. In a glass jar in a chapel in Balchik on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast rested the heart of Queen Marie of Romania. It was her last wish before she died. She had loved Balchik.
The coastal resort was Romanian territory at that time. But in 1940 Bulgaria regained its possession with the help of Nazi Germany. The Bulgarians promised the Romanians “that the Queen’s heart, if you choose to leave it there instead of transporting it to a suitable place inside Romania, will be surrounded by all attributes of attention and respect.” Full Story
Camping Like There’s No Tomorrow on Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast
The (Possibly) Last Outpost of the Bulgarian Black Sea’s Old Charms
Balkan Mountains
Roman Ruins and a Rural Paradise in Bulgaria’s Western Rodopi Mountains
Bulgaria
In the spot where the majestic Pirin and Rodopi Mountains come together, around 50 kilometres south of the major ski-resort of Bansko, lays perhaps the best destination for rural tourism in Bulgaria. The mineral water springs of the village of Ognyanovo and the spectacular architecture of the villages of Leshten and Kovachevitsa, situated on the rolling western-most hills of the Rodopi Mountains, were known only to Bulgarian village life afficionados until a few years ago. Recently, however, they have started to open up and attract
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Bulgaria: Strandzha's Mysteries
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
Annoyances in the Balkans
Balkans
Relentless Homophobia Rages in the Balkans
Be IN-tolerant! Be normal!, appeals a poster (pictured above) that recently flooded the streets of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
As the first gay pride parade in Bulgaria is about to take place, amid strong opposition by nationalistic organisations and a large part of society, the high levels of persistent homophobia in the country and the Full Story
Insiders' Advice
If the relentless homophobia is already that bad, what's the attitude in general towards HIV/AIDS, given the rather worrying HIV-prevalence in Eastern Europe and Russia?
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Is it easy to drive in the Balkans? Depends. If you are looking for adrenalin, this is a cheap way to get it. Expats say the best tactics is not to get annoyed.
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How to pick the right time to go? Winter is beautiful in the high mountains, the problem is, it can be so cold! Then again, who cares how cold it is - the locals have a cheap cure: heavy red wine. Sometimes warmed up.
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You can't trust local maps. Nor some international travel guides. One of them, for instance, says, that Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina flows FROM the Adriatic towards the inland of the Balkans, never reaching the sea. OK, how about the Neretva delta and channel in Croatia?
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The Big Book of Travelling
United States
The Rise of Burlesque in New York: Tassels and the City
Burlesque – the more audacious relative of commedia dell'arte, is in revival. A reality in “upside down style”, this creative, witty and softer version of striptease is back on stage, following an absence of nearly 80 years. In New York, Anjeza Bojku scoped out several burlesqee venues for BalkanTravellers.com. Full Story
Thailand
A Short Guide to the Peculiarities of Thai Food
Travel News
7 November 2008 | About two dozen of Bulgaria’s most important landmarks can now be seen from a bird’s eye view within minutes, thanks to a permanent exhibition of three-dimensional, miniature models now displayed in the capital, Sofia.
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Blog
Adrien and Martin Joly : From Gravina to Atella Adrien and Martin Joly : Goodbye Montenegro Adrien and Martin Joly : From Bari to Gravina
