Destination 》Europe 》Central and Eastern Europe 》Bulgaria
Year Visited: 2018 – August
After few weeks in Romania I took an overnight train to Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria to continue my backpacking journey through the Central and Eastern European countries. My younger son arrived in Sofia to join me on three months backpacking trip through the Balkans.
Bulgaria is a Balkan nation with diverse terrain encompassing Black Sea coastline, a mountainous interior and rivers, including the Danube. A cultural melting pot with Greek, Slavic, Ottoman, and Persian influences, it has a rich heritage of traditional dance, music, costumes, and crafts.
A brief history of this beautiful country, one of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Neolithic Karanovo culture, which dates back to 6,500 BC. In the 6th to 3rd century BC the region was a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in 45 AD. The first Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 AD, it became part of Byzantine Empire in the 11th century, the empire disintegrated in 1396 and fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. In 1946 Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and became a one-party socialist state, the ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multiparty elections. Bulgaria then transitioned into a democracy.
Below are some places we explored during our two weeks travel around Bulgaria. Click on any city to view my travel photos and stories.
After around two weeks in Bulgaria we took a Bus to Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia and continued our backpacking trip through Central and Eastern European countries.
Window on the World 