News

  Unemployed Britons can now afford to live the high life, getting beer for 35p and a slap-up meal for less than £6 ... but they have to move to Bulgaria.
  A ruling in the Balkan state has forced authorities to pay EU nationals out of work in the country the same benefit rate they would get at home.

  The project On the Roads of Early Christianity has been developed in joint cooperation by Razlog Municipality and the Trade Chamber of the Greek town Drama. The project is for 277,580 Euro – 10% is co-financed by Razlog Municipality, and the remaining amount is provided under the PHARE programme – Cross-border Cooperation Bulgaria-Greece.
 
  The partnership between the organisations on both sides of the border will make the region more attractive for the tourists and will facilitate its sustainable development on the basis of the rich cultural and historic heritage.

  Three archaeological monuments will be researched within the project – the Painted Church, the White Church and “St Nikola” church. 

  The Project “Common Heritage From Pre-historical Times – Means to Develop the Border Region Between Bulgaria and Greece” is financed with 254 thousand euro under the PHARE program.

  The Region

  The region itself is an amalgamation between cultural richness and social poverty – these words best describe eastern uplands of the Rhodopes mountain. Close to Greece and Turkey, but remaining far due to insufficient border access stations.

  Because of its rich cultural and historical heritage the region is particularly suitable for development of cultural tourism. The region concentrates multiple preserved cultural landmarks, the most numerous and interesting of them being the ones left by the Thracians.

  There are a total of 150 archeological, 50 architectural and 25 art cultural landmarks, representing a large resource for the development of cultural tourism.

  The cultural tourism could unite the cultural routes with other forms of tourism. The ecological, hunting and fishing tourism are characteristic for the municipalities of Madjarovo and Ivaylovgrad, since they enjoy large forest massifs, eco-routes and bio-diversity, including rare animal species.

  A part of the villages in the region have not only preserved the atmosphere typical of the Renaissance, but also the typical for that period stone and sun-dried bricks architecture and are especially suitable for the development of country tourism.

  Once upon a time, in a time which no one remembers any more, in a distant country, called Persia, a powerful shah ruled. His beloved wife died, but granted him, his biggest wealth – his lovely daughter, who loved her father more than anything in the world and took care of the endless rose garden. After a glorious battle the shah decided to mark his triumph in a grandiose manner. He wanted to build a mosque so high, that the whole valley could be seen from its minaret. No one from the masons in the kingdom dared to try the audacious work, because the anger of the ruler was tremendous. Just one stranger from Bulgaria decided to try his luck. He started the great construction, but felt his strengths diminish. Right on the first day he managed to raise a high wall, which reviled magnificent view towards the garden, and the rose aroma reached his senses. This work gave him unsuspected strengths and he continued placing stone over stone during the whole night. When in the morning the sun rose, the young man managed to see the whole garden and right in the middle he noticed the exquisite young daughter of the shah, who picked up the rose blossom and softly sang.

  Than the young man became even more determined to complete his work, as he already knew what would be the praise he would ask from the ruler. The brave mason was not missed from the sight of the girl and stayed forever in her heart. On the third day the mosque was ready and the time for the reward came. However, when the young man asked the hand of the exquisite girl, the shah was driven mad and threw the young man in dungeon. But the daughter already stopped recognizing her father’s will. She let out the young man from jail during the night and ran away to his country. She only took one single rose shrub to remind her of her motherland. However the way turned out to be too heard for the fragile girl and her strengths left her.

   There are numerous caves, opened for visitors in Bulgaria. All of them are unique and one of the kinds with its cave world, inhabitants, formations, flowers and sounds. I had the chance to visit some caves, but every time with huge groups, which kills huge part of the underground experience. However, not long ago I decided to visit to the Magura cave, which is situated in northwestern Bulgaria, 180 km away from Sofia and 35 km southwest of Vidin town, just 2 km away from Rabisha village.

   Me and my colleague from VisitBulgaria.NET decided to visit the cave on our way back from a business trip to Vidin. It was a weekday and for my happiness there were no loud crowds in front of the cave. In fact we were the only visitors of the day, until the moment, which made the curators of the cave wonder whether to let us in. In the end we managed to find a decision and so we were let in all alone, which was a dream come true for me. Alone in the underworlds, where I can stretch my stand and take pictures at large, without being bothered by other tourists.

  Among the hardly accessible pinnacles of the Vratsa Balkan, almost 10 km south of Vratsa and 3 km one from other are situated the picturesque mountain hamlets Pavolche and Chelopek. Except for the beautiful nature and the hospitable people, the region around the villages is a historical site. 10 km up in the mountain are the Okolchitsa peak and the Iolkovitsa hollow, where the famous poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev died in his last battle with the enslaver. The whole territory of the Vratsa Balkan remembers the epic battles of a handful of revolutionaries against the multiple ottoman hordes. Numerous crosses are rising above the rocky peaks, to remind of the heroism and memory of the dedicated fighters for freedom. This magnetic region, filled with history, legends and tales, inspired the great Bulgarian writers Ivan Vazov and Aleko Konstantinov.

  A lot of time is needed for a man to travel around and get to know this unique site and the participants on the march “Following the steps of the Boteva detachment”, say that every time they do the march, they rediscover these sites. Even the short time I have planned for my visit to Pavolche, Chelopek, Okolchitsa and the Cherepishki Monastery was enough for me to feel their charm and glamour.

  It was early in the morning when I parked on the central square of Chelopek village, in front of “St. Dimitar” church and the house museum of Baba Iliica. The village stays forever in history, because of this woman, who passed a lot of misadventures, to save the life of a survived revolutionary. The story is described in details in the “Edna Bulgarka” tale by Ivan Vazov.