10 Things You Should Know About Bulgaria

It’s winter! Are you making the trip to Bulgaria soon? It’s time to book a hotel in Bulgaria online. There’s none better than Clara Hotel, the best Irish run hotel in Bulgaria, located in the town of Sarafovo, not far from the Burgas International Airport.

What else should you know about Bulgaria that would help you during your trip to the country? Let’s see…

#1: Bulgaria has its own Donald Trump. Rumen Radev, a leader of a right wing political party with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, won the recent Presidential election in Bulgaria after defeating the establishment candidate. He will take over as the new President of Bulgaria on January 22, 2017, just 2 days after Trump takes over as the President of the United States.

#2: The Bulgarian Army has never lost in a battle. The country has been a part of many wars, but has always been on the winning side. The Bulgarian Air Force was the first to air drop a bomb, which it did in the Balkan War of 1912.

#3: The first woman to participate in an aerial combat was the Bulgarian the air force pilot Rayna Kasabova.

#4: Bulgaria was one of the few countries in Europe to have protected all of its Jewish citizens from the Nazis during the World War 2. Not even one of Bulgaria’s many Jewish citizens were sent to Nazi concentration camps, despite the best efforts of Adolf Hitler’s men. The Bulgarian Church played a heroic role in protecting the Jews.

#5: Football is Bulgaria’s national sport. It enjoys a massive following in the country. Bulgarians take their football very seriously. Their current national football team may not be the best in Europe, but they had a very good team in the 1990s. Led by the brilliant centre forward Hristo Stoichkov, the Bulgarian football team reached the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup played in the USA. Hristo Stoichkov is Bulgaria’s greatest national hero, admired by one and all, even today.

#6: Stefka Kostadinova is another famous Bulgarian sporting celebrity. She won an Olympic Gold in 1996 with a world record jump of 2.09 metres. The renowned chess Grandmaster Veselin Topalov is a Bulgarian. He won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2005.

#7: Bulgaria is very old. In fact, it is the oldest nation in Europe, established as far back as 681 AD. Britain, as are well aware, did not exist at that time, neither did Ireland. Bulgaria has a very rich and diverse history. It was home to a number of civilisations, such as the Thracians, Slavs, Romans, and Ottoman Turks, and has been influenced by each one of them.

#8: Bulgaria produces 85% of the world’s rose oil. Bulgarian roses are exquisite and are grown mostly in the region of Kazanlak, called as the Rose Valley of Bulgaria.

#9: Bulgaria has a proud religious history. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the oldest Slavic Orthodox Church in the world.

#10: The Cyrillic originated in Bulgaria. It was created in the 9^th century A.D. by the Christian missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Even today, most of the road signs in Bulgaria are in Cyrillic.