Issue 223

With the rapid advancement of technology, modern marketing is enjoying a boon of new ways to improve product visibility, refine messages, analyse the right audiences and manage the brand. Nelly Paeva is a Bulgarian entrepreneur who is giving companies in the local market yet another tool to improve their results. Her company, Healthix, is a leader in the development of neuroscience in Bulgaria by offering neuromarketing through LORETA – a high-tech method for analysing brain activity.

From Roswell to Project Blue Book in the United States and Project Condign in the UK, the military have always been interested in finding possible extraterrestrials on planet Earth. The Bulgarian Army is no exception. But its efforts to make contact with possible aliens have nothing to do with the image of gloomy researchers sifting through grainy photographs of UFOs and interviewing frightened locals who claim to have been abducted by little green men.

Easter, according to Boyko Borisov, was the "brightest of holidays" and we all lived in the "best days of the Christian religion."

Bulgaria's roads are a delayed death sentence.

Diana Rusinova, European Center for Transport Policies

I am not going to spoil the kids' celebration with talking about Bulgarian politics.

President Rumen Radev during a school visit, when asked to comment on Russia's deadly attack on Sumy on Palm Sunday

If there is one river that defines Europe in terms of landscape, history and economy, it is the Danube, a 2,850 kilometre ribbon of water that flows from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea in Romania. Some 470 km of its course make up a significant part of Bulgaria's northern border – and of its history, economy and life.

1. Which town is known for its mines and heavy industry?
A. Pernik
B. Plovdiv
C. Pazardzhik

2. The Veleka river flows into the...
A. Danube
B. Black Sea
C. Aegean

3. The oldest gold treasure in the world was found in...
A. Sofia
B. Burgas
C. Varna

In the days of overtourism, selfies and Airbnbs there are still hardcore travellers who want to leave the comforts of home and explore new places, people and cultures, even if it often means sleeping in a tent in a remote mountain village. This is what Olivier Meissel has done. He cycled across Bulgaria three times to make a documentary inspired by his father. The senior Meissel, a retired history and geography teacher, had become a tour guide. In 2001 he was asked to organise tours in Bulgaria. He did this for ten years, developing a deep passion for the country.

Cultivating the rose bushes is difficult enough, but the real challenge comes with picking up the buds: it can be done only within a few weeks in May and early June, and only very early in the morning. A relatively simple procedure follows as the rose petals are boiled and distilled, and – bingo! – the attar of roses that Bulgaria has become world famous for appears.

The image of two men, one young and sporting a dark beard and the other older and white-bearded, with books and parchments in their hands, are to be found all over Bulgaria. There are countless statues and posters, church murals and icons. Their images multiply on 24 May, when long processions of students crowd the central streets of every city carrying posters, usually decorated with flowers.