And when she is doing neither, she likes to travel. In fact, for the three years she has been in Bulgaria there is hardly a place she has not been to, often several times over. Irit is simply a perfect guide to Bulgaria – and not only for Israelis but for anyone with a deeper interest in this country and its people. Our imaginary tour of Bulgaria starts, naturally, in the capital, Sofia.
Once you start paying attention to Bulgarians, you will observe some inexplicable actions. Dozens of men and women wear red thread around their wrists. An old woman cuddles a baby, and then spits at it. Another woman panics at the thought of putting her bag on the floor. On TV, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov wears a red thread around his wrist, and says that he never clips his nails, shaves or lends money… on a Monday. A book of self-proclaimed Bulgarian traditional magic for health, good luck, love and so on is a bestseller.
The Binational Chamber of Commerce Bulgaria-Israel works in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Bulgaria and other official bodies in Israel, as well as the Bulgarian government to attract new investments in Bulgaria and develop trade, economic and humanitarian relations between the two countries.
For over 10 years Yambol, the city in southeastern Bulgaria, has been the host of a major street festival attended by dozens of groups of mummers from all over Bulgaria. Usually, it is held at the end of February or the beginning of March, and from its beginning it has included an international photography exhibition of mummers and carnivals called Kukerlandia. In 2018, the Vagabond Magazine Special Prize went to Ekaterina Staromanova from Sofia.
My gaze passes onto the other hill, Kalakoch, the kale and its mysterious banks and ditches. The place could have been a Thracian hillfort and some say it was later used as a refuge when the Goths and the Huns and the Avar tribes streamed across the Danube to raid the Byzantine Empire. After that it was a place of quarry for building stone and a tryst for young lovers. Out with the sheep they would pick around the stones and pots and tell stories.