The most readily available explanation why the Changes Continued government collapsed, propagated by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and former Finance Minister Asen Vasilev themselves, is that because it stepped on so many corrupt toes within a short period of time the backlash from its opponents became impossible to withstand.
The Flying Saucer, which in recent years has become one of the Top 10 world monuments for urbex, or dark tourism, was constructed in the early 1980s. It was designed to celebrate the Bulgarian Communist Party, in control of this country from 1944 to 1989. It was supposed to withstand the ravishes of both time and nature for several hundred years, as the Communists, who had commissioned it, thought they would be in power eternally.
Generations of East Europeans grew up with Doc, Mack, Dora Flood, Lee Chong and the boys, and though few if any could set foot in the real California they imagined Monterey and Salinas epitomised exactly the opposite of what their own drab lives held for them under Communism. Steinbeck got the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 and died in 1969, but his books continued to be read across the former East bloc in general and Bulgaria in particular.
When you have a long weekend ahead and the weather looks good for a trip, heading to Kardzhali is a great option. The Rhodope mountains are beautiful – pleasant and refreshing in all seasons – and this city is the perfect base to explore some interesting sites.
Kardzhali itself is hardly an attraction. It is a relatively new city dominated by faceless Communist and post-Communist architecture. Besides its Regional History Museum, located in a beautiful building initially constructed in the 1920s for a Muslim religious school, there is nothing more to see.
1. What major historical event took place in September 1944?
A. Liberation from the Ottomans
B. Communist coup
C. Transition to democracy
2. The name of Sofia's neighbourhood Mladost means...
A. Youth
B. Friendship
C. Hope
3. Where can you see a 295-metre-long Ottoman bridge?
A. Silistra
B. Svishtov
When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, the expectation was that membership would bring the struggling former Communist country closer to the more developed economies in Europe. Amazingly, one of the first things Bulgarians started spending EU money on was not on much needed infrastructure such as new roads, industries and businesses, or on modernising the education and healthcare systems. Instead, Bulgarian municipalities across the nation rushed to use EU funding to build... ruins.
If they were in Rome, Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev would put Brutus at the top of their ballots.
Slavi Trifonov, leader of the There Is Such a People party
We are brutally attacked by organsied criminals who want to stop us from taking their money.
Kiril Petkov, Changes Continued
I have never lied to the Bulgarians, this is why they kept electing me for years.
Boyko Borisov, GERB
Notwithstanding online shopping, it is hard to imagine what the experience of purchasing goods from far and wide in a highly cosmopolitan society was like in pre-industrial times. A quiet village in southern Bulgaria offers some illumination.
Standing at one place in the 21st century is a recipe for failure. Our dynamic world has forced companies and entrepreneurs to be constantly on the watch for expected and unexpected changes both in global and local economy and politics. It is inevitable – this is the only way to grow in the globalised world.
Outsourcing industry is one of the most visible dimensions of this reality. From outsourcing of manufacturing to one of high-tech services and business processes – there is hardly a part of the global economy unaffected by this.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed many things, and the way we work was among the most significantly affected. Work from home became almost the norm and big offices lost their appeal. However, the changes were not as deep as doomsday 2020 prognoses predicted. The office did not disappear. It remains the main space where both big and small companies conduct their activities. It is irreplaceable. Decision making, suggesting and discussing ideas and just socialising with other people is easier in person, in a shared room, rather than on Zoom.
Few things can be such an intense and rich experience as hunting. Deep among pristine mountains and forests, by crystal rivers or among endless fields, it makes us face nature and its tough laws and brings us back to long gone times when hunting was an integral and life-saving part of humanity's existence.
With its mountains, thick forests and diversity of ecosystems, Bulgaria is an excellent place for hunting. Here live hare and fox, quail and pheasant, red and fallow deer, mouflon, boar, wolf and many more.