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Impressions of Bulgaria

Bulgaria is not a Slavic country like the other. Initially inhabited by Thracian tribes, which left behind quite a number of traces of their early chaotic and later Hellenised culture, Bulgaria draws its name from the Bulgar semi-nomadic tribes of Turkic origin, who migrated from the Caspian steppes into the Balkans south of the Danube River, around the year 680. They defeated the local Slavic tribes and established a first kingdom, the 'Bulgarian Khanate'. Gradually becoming a threat for the Byzantine neighbours in Constantinople, clashes between Bulgar troops and Byzantine ones were frequent with alternating victories. In the meantime, the Bulgars gradually adopted Slavic language and made progress in nation building, helped in 864 by the acceptance of Christianity, turning the Bulgar Khanate into the 'Second Bulgarian Empire'. By the 14th century the prime rival was no longer Byzantium, but the expansion drive of the Ottoman sultans, who found a relatively easy prey in the small Bulgarian kingdoms emerging from the slowly disintegrating 'Second Bulgarian Empire'. In 1382 Sultan Murat I raised his flag over Sofia and in 1453 his grandson Mehmet the Conqueror finished the job in Sozopol and, next, in Constantinople, finishing off Byzantium entirely. It was only in the 19th century that the 'Bulgarian Revival' took ground as nationalist movements started challenging the Ottoman rulers for serious. With Russian help, Bulgaria acquired its modern times independence, first as a semi-vassal state of the Ottoman sultan in 1878, at the end of the Russian-Turkish War, then for real in 1908, with a proper declaration of independence. In both world wars of the 20th century, Bulgaria sided with Germany and lost. The second time around, it cost the country submission to the Soviet Union, until the latter saw its network of satellite states collapse in 1989 before it went down itself in 1991. Bulgaria has ever since been a country which is more and more frequently visited and discovered in all its variety of nature and culture, from forested mountains in the centre to attractive coastal assets at the Black Sea, from archaeology witnessing of an antique history of Bronze Age funerary tradition, Greek colonisation and Roman conquest to the medieval Christianity of the 'Second Empire' and the half millennium long subjugation to Ottoman rule. There is no lack of variety in this country, intriguing for its past, fascinating for its stubborn national quirkiness , appealing for the treasures of culture and nature it has on offer to be discovered.

Before visiting the place of your choice:

The Sveta Petka Church is a small single-naved church of the 11th century where according to an unproven legend the national hero Vasil Levski was buried, leader of the anti-Ottoman uprisings in the 1870s. Unproven, because the human remains excavated in 1956 were 'lost', making identification impossible. Just behind the church rises the minaret of the Banya Bashi Mosque, a creation of the famous Ottoman architect Sinan, in 1566.

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