FUN

Overcrowded, overdeveloped, simply put overwhelming: in summertime, Sozopol is the definition of a place you must avoid if you are looking for some semblance of tranquillity at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Off season, the town is more bearable, but reminders of the tourist industry are everywhere. In the picturesque old quarter, clinging to a narrow rocky peninsula, there is hardly a lane free from signs advertising rooms to let, or restaurants with plastic window frames closed for winter, or hip art galleries.

Referred to by everyone as just "The Russian Church," its initial purpose was to serve the Russian emigres in town. It was erected on Russian land and its maintenance was given to the Russian legation nearby. When the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, two things happened. Firstly, the Soviet diplomatic corps neglected it and, second, the number of White Russian emigres increased manyfold. Understandably, The Kremlin did not like that.

What led to that is so complicated and absurd that analysts find it difficult to explain while ordinary people prefer just to laugh it off. Here is the story briefly.

Since yesterday afternoon a drone has been hovering around my terrace and has entered it.

Yasen Todorov, deputy director of the National Investigations Service

I was proposed (someone said, by Boyko Borisov) to become ambassador to Israel or Turkey. I did not take this seriously.

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev

All the prosecutor general does is talk about me. He thinks I am afraid of him. I  do not get scared easily.

1. Bulgaria's Black Sea coast has a length of ...

A. 378 km

B. 111,000 km

C. 681 km

2. Which Bulgarian rite has been listed as UNESCO intangible heritage?

A. Kukeri dances

B. Nestinari dances

C. Bulgarian proms

3. What is the second colour in Bulgaria's flag?

A. White

B. Green

C. Red

There are no road signs pointing to it and the road itself, which was once asphalt, is slow and tortuous. Yet, you are less than a mile from one of this country's major tourist attractions, and coming down to the water will guarantee a full day of seaside pleasures that will not leave you – pun intended – at sea.

Everyone who has had some work to do with the Bulgarian police should have noticed the despicable conditions in which rank and file officers often work. Their uniforms are bad, their offices have been last repaired in the times when the Bulgarian police was called People's Militia, and they often have to pay out of their pocket for fuel to drive their rather old and rusty patrol cars.

Seemingly, some officers have found an ingenious way to drive something better. No, we are not talking about the confiscated Porsche that Sofia police used to patrol with in the 2000s.

1. What do Bulgarians celebrate on 6 May?

A. St George's Feast

B. Liberation

C. Independence

2. Where do you go for spa delights and Roman ruins?

A. Velingrad

B. Hisarya

C. Devin

3. Where is Bulgaria's Railway Museum?

A. Sofia

B. Plovdiv

C. Ruse

4. Which is Bulgaria's longest and deepest cave?

A. Devetashka Cave

B. Kolkina Dupka

C. Devil's Throat

5. Who was the founder of Bulgaria?

What happened in Bulgaria during the Second World War? The events, the major and minor political players and their decisions, the role that bad and good luck played in this country between 1939 and 1945 are often contradictory and hard to explain to outsiders – or to Bulgarians, for that matter. The country started the war being neutral. It became an ardent Nazi ally, but refused to declare war on the USSR. Instead, it declared a "symbolic" war on Britain and the United States. It kept most of the Jews under its jurisdiction from deportation to the death camps.

1. Which ancient people lived in what is now Bulgaria?

A. The Sumerians

B. The Thracians

C. The Hittites

2. How many countries does Bulgaria border with?

A. Four

B. Five

C. Six

3. Bulgaria's first ruler after 1878 was...

A. King Ferdinand

B. King Boris III

C. Prince Alexander of Battemberg