Issue 224

You do not always have to be narrowly focused to become an outstanding professional – often it is the ability and willingness to look beyond the boundaries of a single field that allows you to help people more effectively. The personal and professional story of Loreta Filipova is a case in point.

An overachiever from the start, she attended a foreign language high school in Sofia while also taking acting classes. After graduating, she continued to pursue both passions, enrolling in university to study law and acting simultaneously.

Wittingly or not, President Rumen Radev joined forces with the extremist Vazrazhdane, or Revival, party. Without any immediate motive but with a sense of urgency he called for a referendum on whether Bulgaria should adopt the euro. Just a few years previously, Radev was a staunch opponent of any such referendum. What caused the volte-face?

A group of barefoot men and women dancing in a large circle of live embers, while hypnotic music beats a rhythm that gets under your skin and into your blood: Firewalker dances in Bulgaria are a spectacular rite to watch. A tradition whose origins are lost in time, the nestinari dances almost disappeared in the 20th century, but were eventually revived, albeit modernised, to appeal to a modern audience hungry for Instagrammable and TikTokable "authentic" experiences.

In Antiquity and onwards the area developed as a thriving centre for mining lead, iron, silver, gold and copper. As it happened, one of the first Bulgarian rebellions against the Ottomans originated here, in the 17th century. It was organised and led exclusively by Roman Catholics, the main religious group in the area. Today the town's main claim to fame is the local carpet weaving craft.

It wouldn't be that chaotic if I were the organiser.

Ekaterina Yordanova, GERB, who, according to some reports, was behind the protest of public transit drivers in Sofia

It's simple. The boy is incapable of doing anything properly. In two years, he hasn't solved a single issue – garbage, traffic gams, anything.

Boyko Borisov, GERB, on Sofia's mayor, Vasil Terziev

All the most 'capable' people of GERB can do is to punish the people of Sofia.

When the first European travellers saw Pobiti Kamani near Varna, they could not believe his eyes. The massive stone pillars emerging from the sandy, shrub-covered wilderness made Viktor Teplyakov, a "special missions officer" in the Russian army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, to rein his horse. He wanted to explore, but there was no time.

1. Bulgaria's first capital was called…
A. Pliska
B. Tarnovo
C. Vidin

2. What is depicted on the back of the 1 lev coin?
A. A lion
B. St Ivan of Rila
C. Bulgaria's coat of arms

3. Where is the first bridge over the Danube, connecting Bulgaria to Romania?
A. Silistra
B. Oryahovo
C. Ruse

Oh, the Bulgarian rose! From promotional videos to bars of soap sold in tourist traps across the country, the image and scent of the emblematic flower has become synonymous with Bulgaria itself. A traditional crop, vital to the international cosmetics industry, Rosa damascena embodies the beauty, uniqueness and value of Bulgaria – the perfect symbol for a country trying to establish itself on the global travel market.

Picasso's musing that every child is an artist is both true and exaggerated. Young children create art instinctively and with great enthusiasm – it is their way of exploring the world and the capabilities of their senses and fingers, to understand and express their emotions.

The immediate reason for their civil disobedience was a plan to relocate the local festival of tsatsa, as the small fry is called in the vernacular, to Balchik, which is the regional centre.  

From Lord Byron to Hungary's Sándor Petőfi to Cuba's José Martí: poetry has a fair share of authors who deserved to be labelled revolutionary not only because of their groundbreaking stanzas and language, but also for their political stance and activities. Bulgaria has Hristo Botev.