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Smolyan and Avdira town in Greece develops eco tourism

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Bulgarian culture

If we try to trace the roots of Bulgarian culture, we must go back more than a thousand years ago at the dawn of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. The long history of Bulgaria and Bulgarian culture, respectively, begins in 681 with the union of the Thracian, Proto-Bulgarian and Slav tribes who lived in these beautiful fertile lands. Bulgarian culture developed at a fast pace during the flourishing periods in Bulgarian history at the time of the First and the Second Bulgarian kingdom. It was after the acceptance of the Christian faith and the creation of the Bulgarian alphabet that Bulgarian culture saw a most intensive development. The foundations of Bulgarian literature were laid, new Christian rituals were introduced and the pagan rituals continued to exist, but they were now connected to the Christian holidays. A multitude of churches and monasteries were built throughout the land and decorated lavishly by murals and paintings of self-taught masters. Today a great number of them are preserved and represent valuable monuments of Bulgarian culture. The main influences on Bulgarian culture came from the neighbouring Byzantine empire and later on, by the Ottoman empire during the five-century Ottoman rule. During this long period of hardship for Bulgarians, they managed to preserve their unique traditions and culture, the monasteries being a major factor as centres of enlightenment and keepers of faith.

Cultural tours and trips in Bulgaria

On our site you will find a wide selection of tours to places in Bulgaria which represent greatest cultural interest. The Wine tour, the Rose Festival, the Classic Bulgarian tour and Bulgaria, the land of monasteries are wonderful opportunities to get more familiar with Bulgarian culture. You will be introduced to the rose-picking, rose-distilling rituals in Kazanlak, and to the traditional techniques of wine producing in Melnik, Assenovgrad, Plovdiv and Sandanski. We will take you to the awe-inspiring fortresses in Veliko Tarnovo, the ancient Bulgarian capital, and to picturesque Bulgarian villages which preserve the ancient traditions and the rural way of life of past centuries. Outside the organized tours, you can always make short cultural trips to the museums and churches in your travel destination in Bulgaria. You will find cultural hotspots in every town and city in Bulgaria, the most popular of them being concentrated in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Arbanassi, Assenovgrad. Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas have much to offer to those who are interested in contemporary Bulgarian culture – cinemas, theatres, opera houses, galleries and exhibitions.

Festivals and cultural events in Bulgaria

Annually various folk festivals and cultural events take place in villages and towns in Bulgaria, each of them dedicated to a main folklore theme. The Rose festival, held in early June in Kazanluk, is a celebration of beauty and flowers with folk dances and songs. The Koukery dances taking place in late March in many towns and villages throughout Bulgaria are among the most impressive Bulgarian rituals and an inseparable part of the authentic Bulgarian culture. Other fascinating cultural events are the bagpipe festivals in Shiroka Luka and Gela at the beginning of August and the fire-dancing rituals in the Strandja villages at the end of May. Probably the most popular festivals of contemporary Bulgarian art and culture is the Apollonia festival at the beginning of September in Sozopol.

Smolyan and Avdira town in Greece develops eco tourism

Anita Valentinova, source: Horemag.bg, 22.01.2011

The Bulgarian town of Smolyan and Greek’s Avdira will develop a joint project for the biodiversity and enhanced eco tourism opportunities. The Program of the European Territorial Cooperation Bulgaria – Greece will finance the project which is estimated at nearly 1 159 043 euro. The idea of the project is to expand tourism opportunities in the protected areas Soskuchanski dol and the lake Vistonida in Greece. According to the project, the two protected areas near Smolyan and Vistonida lake will recover their tourism potential. The areas are the habitat of many rare animals and plants. A tourist information centre will be built and equipped in Smolyan town. Also, the eco path ‘Canyon of Waterfalls’ will be further rehabilitated to get its potential fully exploited. It is planned that a connection between the information centres in Smolyan and Avdira will be constructed in order to allow tourists receive more precise information about these two areas.