Bulgaria Becomes British Tourists’ Most Preferred Summer Destination
BalkanTravellers.com
The survey, cited in the Daily Mirror, showed that the country’s beaches received the highest marks by Brits on 10 criteria, including climate, food price and quality, hotel services, security and attractions, and ranked higher than destinations such as Sharm el Sheikh and Antalya.
In addition to scoring better than the more traditional holiday spots such as Tunisa, Turkey and Egypt, Bulgaria has also beat further destinations, such as Brazil and Australia, who have fallen in the rankings because of the high ticket and resort prices.
According to data by Bulgaria’s National Statistics Institute, cited in the Dnevnik daily, the number of nights spent in the country by domestic tourists has fallen by 9.7 per cent in the second trimester of 2010, while the number of foreign visitoirs’ overnight stays has increased by 3.6 per cent. The biggest increases in overnight stays was registered by tourists from Serbia – by 66.2 per cent, followed by visitors from China – by 50.6 per cent and the Ukraine – by 47.7 per cent.
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Epicure
Bulgaria
Shopska Salad: Three common mistakes
To Bulgarians, Shopska salad is a bit like the scrambled eggs case – while it looks as if there is no way to screw the dish, in fact its proper preparation requires nothing less then utter care and devotion. In this case – in selecting the right products and adjusting the proportions. Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Red and White Strings that Welcome Spring in Bulgaria and Romania
I remember walking along Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown on March 2 a few years ago, when I saw a man sporting a small ornament made of red and white thread pinned to his coat lapel. He must be Bulgarian, I thought to myself with a sudden rush of homesickness, but now realize that he may have been Romanian as well.
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Useful Reads
Bulgaria
Street without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria (2008) | By Kapka Kassabova
Danube blues
Text by Nicholas Lezard for The Guardian*
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Music
Bulgaria
The Choir that Turned England a Bit Bulgarian
One of the few constant sources of pride for Bulgarians is traditional folk music, and especially singing. But not the Oriental-beats-modified kind that often booms in nightclubs, giving their clientele the urge to jump atop tables and chairs and sway their hips around; rather the kind that, when heard, mesmerises you and gives you goose bumps, the kind that is haunting with its out-of-this universe quality, mostly figuratively but sometimes literally as well.
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
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
