The fragrance diffuser lets another puff of delicate aroma in the elegant waiting room. Sitting on the comfortable sofas, people leisurely check their phones, while sipping water or fresh coffee. The impression of being in a luxury retreat shared area would be perfect if not for the laminated protective coverings on their shoes and the assistants calmly calling the people, one by one, by their names.
As Bulgaria is heading for a seventh snap election in just three years, two events mark the month of August, which is traditionally seen as a holiday season for working Bulgarians. Whilst Sofia has been going through repeated heat waves, the Constitutional Court judges repealed most of the much-hailed but apparently ill-thought-out Constitutional reforms passed last year in a rare show of agreement between Boyko Borisov's GERB, the DPS, or Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and the PP-DB-DSB, or Changes Continued-Yes Bulgaria-Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria.
Visiting monasteries in Bulgaria is one of this country's greatest delights. It is hard not to fall for their splendid scenery, beautiful old churches, naivist murals of saints and devils, smell of old wood, supposedly healing icons and sacred springs, atmosphere of bygone times and stories of medieval monks and Revival Period revolutionaries. The Rila and the Bachkovo monasteries are, understandably, inevitable, but once you have checked them out, there are scores of other places worth exploring. Here is a brief list.
1. Which major event in Bulgarian history took place in September?
A. The 1944 Communist coup
B. The signing of the 1878 San Stefano treaty
C. Bulgaria’s foundation in 681
2. How many poisonous snake species live in Bulgaria?
A. Ten
B. Two
C. None
From the social media uproar caused by the Paris summer olympics to the unfounded claims that a stabbing attack in England was perpetrated by a Muslim, and from the Covid-19 infodemic to former US President Donald Trump's vitriolic assails against Vice President Kamala Harris fake news rules the world. In many cases it has real consequences in real life. In fact the more heated the debate, the more facts are vulnerable to manipulation.
Former chairwoman of the BSP, or Bulgarian Socialist Party, Kornelia Ninova further stunned already flabbergasted Bulgarian audiences by pointing out "it was too early in the day" to talk about "unorthodox sexual practices" such as fisting. Ninova was being interviewed on a morning show by bTV, a major television station. She resigned her post as leader of the BSP, the heir to the former Bulgarian Communist Party, in the wake of the June 2024 election that brought disastrous results for her party.
Juicy, aromatic and bursting with the tender sweetness that comes only after ripening under the strong Balkan sun: the tomatoes that you can find on a Bulgarian plate taste like nothing else. From salad and stews to the emblematic lyutenitsa paste, they are a staple of local cuisine and a source of pride for their supposedly unique deliciousness. The fake news that the EU was planning to ban local tomatoes enraged hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians in the 2010s and 2020s.
It appears I raised you as men with rabbit hearts.
Former Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova to the new caretaker leadership of the BSP
Let the prosecutors probe whatever they want. They may also call in the dog.
Changes Continued co-leader Asen Vasilev on an ongoing investigation of alleged corruption in Bulgarian Customs
How long does it take to cover 125 km? In a mountain range such as the Rhodope this is a difficult question. Even Bulgarian drivers who like to fly along roads as if they were exempt from the laws of physics have to slow down a bit along the winding roads of the Rhodope.
The Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge railway redefines the concept of slow travel. It takes the 125 kilometre long route in... 5 hours.
Logically, every odd rock has a story attached to it. Most of them, predictably, are macabre but all are worth listening to as they bespeak folk dreams and memories through the centuries. In recent years a summertime opera festival gets organised at the foot of the rocks, a celebration of both nature and classical music.
Heroic monuments, usually to Communist guerrilla fighters, are rather a common sight in towns and villages across Bulgaria. The heroic monument in the centre of Sennik, a village in the hills near Sevlievo, depicts neither a partizanin, nor a 19th century revolutionary. The wide-chested man of bronze who stands defiantly on his trunk-like legs was a... wrestler.