1. Situated on the crossroads be-
tween Europe and Asia, the Bul-
garian territory has been populated
since ancient antiquity. All the peo-
ple that once inhabited the area –
Thracians, Bulgarians and Sla-
vonic have left their fingerprint on
the world cultural treasury.
The current territory of Bulgaria was
once the center of the Thracian civiliza-
tion. In the second half of 7th century
the Proto Bulgarians uniting the Sla-
vonic, both people form a country
called Bulgaria, recognized in 681. The
leader of the Proto Bulgarians – Khan
Asparuh became the head of the state.
The town of Pliska is announced for the
first Bulgarian capital. In 885 the two
Bulgarian brothers Cyril and Methody
invented the Slavonic literacy which
became official by the time that Christi-
anity was accepted for that official relig-
ion. The Slavonic literacy then spread
in Russia and Serbia.
During the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-
927) is the “Golden Age for the Bulgar-
ian Literacy”, and the territory of the
country is so big that it borders the
Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and
the Aegean Sea.

2. Many travelers claim that Bulgaria is
Eden on Earth. There is everything in
it: a sea, rivers and lakes, mountains,
plateaus and plains.
The Republic of Bulgaria is situated
in the north-eastern part of the Bal-
kan Peninsula. The Balkan Moun-
tains naturally divide the country into
two. A natural north boundary of Bul-
garia is the river Danube.The Black
Sea is natural eastern boundary of
Bulgaria. There are clearly cut bays,
the biggest two being those of Varna
and Burgas. Sofia is the capital of
Bulgaria. One of the oldest cities in
Europe, Sofia was named for Saint
Sofia (meaning "wisdom" in Greek).
The southern part of Bulgaria is
mainly mountainous. The highest
mountain is Rila with Musala the high-
est peak on the Balkan Peninsula
(2925m). The second highest moun-
tain in Bulgaria is Pirin with highest
peak Vihren. The Rhodope Mountains
and Vitosha are two other famous
mountains in Bulgaria. The plains and
the lowlands in the country cover
large areas to the north and the south
of the Balkan Mountains. The Danube
Plain is the biggest. Dobrudja is a roll-
ing plain - it is also called "the granary
of Bulgaria" for the enormous quanti-
ties of wheat grown there. The
Thracian Lowland is the second big-
gest in the country.
The so called Rose Valley is
located between the long and nar-
row mountain chain of Sredna Gora
and the Balkan Mountains north of
it. Besides the widespread crops,
they grow oil-yielding roses there.
This is one of the privileges of the
unique Bulgarian climate. Another
is the world-famous Bulgarian yo-
ghurt, made with the help of
"bacillus Bulgaricus" as a vital in-
gredient of the yeast.