VIBRANT COMMUNITIES

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.

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.

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.

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.

Оddity, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Dozens of monuments, large and small, have been erected throughout Bulgaria, both during and after Communism, in the sincere belief that they are appropriate, interesting, beautiful and/or profound, even groundbreaking. The public, however, disagrees – and gleefully has mocked some of the most outrageous, expensive and propaganda-laden projects. Other monuments, which now seem odd, have been forgotten because of their small size or remote location.

The colourful houses lining the cobblestone streets of Old Plovdiv are arguably the city's most recognisable sight. The only thing that can distract from marvelling at their painted façades, projecting bay windows and verdant gardens is the pavement. Polished by the feet of generations of passers-by, it is slippery even when dry, as traveller and historian Konstantin Jireček noted as far back as the late 19th century.

With its pleasant turn-of-the-century houses, Ruse on the Danube is one of the best places to visit in Bulgaria. But if you brave the heavy traffic on the busy and narrow road to Ruse, do not terminate in the city.

Ruse's surroundings are an excellent opportunity for a day trip, especially in spring when everything is green, blooming and buzzing under the balmy sun. Most of these sights are scattered around the winding course of the Rusenski Lom river and its confluents, Cherni Lom and Beli Lom.

What comes to mind when you think of energy vortexes? Stonehenge, Machu Picchu and the Great Pyramid in Giza, probably. But you do not have to travel that far to visit a place brimming with strange powers, where odd creatures and supposedly UFOs get spotted on a regular basis and where sick-and-lame folks flock, seeking supernatural cures. All you have to do is visit one, or all, of the places on our list of energy vortexes in Bulgaria. As a bonus, most of them are located at stunning natural locations.

In times of climate change and unpredictable weather, Bulgarians stick almost religiously to celebrating a rite dedicated to the arrival of spring. Come mid-February stores, shops and dedicated street stalls start selling ornaments of red-and-white thread in a variety of shapes and sizes. On 1 March everyone puts on at least one of these ornaments on their wrists or coat lapels, as a symbol of being healthy and happy throughout the year. They would wear them until they see a blossoming tree for the first time, or the first stork or swallow for the year.

Lions have not been seen in the Bulgarian lands since Antiquity or the early Middle Ages, when the last species were hunted down to extinction. And yet, the lion is embedded in the Bulgarian consciousness as a national symbol. The first lions in early Bulgarian art appear in reliefs, from Madara and Stara Zagora, dated back to the 8th-10th centuries. A standing lion was depicted as the heraldic symbol of the king of Bulgaria as early as 1295, and later a similar image appeared in Western collections of coats-of-arms.

Traditions, both ancient and new, define nations and communities. Bulgarians make no exception. A country of diverse cultures and religions, its calendar is peppered with events, festivals and rites that range from cute to curious, even bizarre. Some of them are ancient, like the dances of the kukeri and nestinari, while others are new, such as greeting the first rays of the rising sun on 1 July. Almost all are heavily affected by globalisation and social media, yet keep a strong core of authenticity. 

Calm is the last word to describe the Bulgarian Black Sea coast with in summer. Then, the resorts and beaches teem with tourists and suffer from noise and litter. The feeling that you have stumbled into some sort of a din is inevitable.

А mass of high peaks, meandering rivers and gentle slopes, the Rhodope mountain range makes one seventh of Bulgaria's territory and is a universe with its own character, history and charm. People have lived in it for millennia, making the most of its rivers, meadows, low mountain fields, thick forests, ores and routes along meandering rivers. The mountain is defined by a rich mixture of impressive natural phenomena, ancient traditions and legends, mesmerising music and stunning examples of human craft and ingenuity, created by Thracians, Romans, Bulgarians, Turks and Pomaks.

About 2,000 years ago, the Romans invented an ingenious way to deal with the frequent change of emperors and the costly replacement of statues of the incumbent ruler that stood all over the place. Instead of making new monuments from head to toe, they would replace only the heads.

When you travel around Bulgaria in search of ancient Roman heritage, going deep into the region known as Ludogorie, or Deliorman (which translates as Mad Forest), may seem counterintuitive. The region, in the northeast, is known mainly for its rolling hills, industrial agriculture and generally drab towns.

Yet, near one of the larger cities, Razgrad, lie the remains of an ancient town that witnessed one of the most devastating events in Roman history.

With its rolling hills and uninspiring towns, the central part of northern Bulgaria appears unexciting and dull, a place you pass through on your way to somewhere else. However, as so often happens in Bulgaria, appearances are deceiving. Detour from the Sofia-Varna highway when you see the signs to Lovech and in the plateau that starts east from town you will find an unknown world of windswept hills, fertile farmland, sleepy villages and impressive natural phenomena. Welcome to the world of Devetaki Plateau.

Prehistoric goddesses dancing in dark caves. Thick forests climbing up forbidding mountains, moist from the breath of hidden waterfalls. Intriguing museums where ancient gold treasures share space with... a nuclear power plant model. Red rocks frozen in phantasmagorical shapes, with macabre stories to add. Winding rivers passing by abandoned Communist-era monuments and factories, and picturesque monasteries. Towns that have seen better times, but still strive to reinvent themselves. Roman ruins amid drab modern houses.

Under Communism, there was hardly a place in Bulgaria without a monument to Lenin, or at least a street, a school, or a kindergarten named after him. Sofia, the capital, had a tall statue of him in front of the Largo, where the main institutions of the People's Republic of Bulgaria were situated.

Аbout 15 years ago a spec of land off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast made it into the international news: archaeologists digging in the remains of a 5th century church on St Ivan Isle declared to have found authentic relics of... St John the Baptist.

Visiting monasteries in Bulgaria is one of this country's greatest delights. It is hard not to fall for their splendid scenery, beautiful old churches, naivist murals of saints and devils, smell of old wood, supposedly healing icons and sacred springs, atmosphere of bygone times and stories of medieval monks and Revival Period revolutionaries. The Rila and the Bachkovo monasteries are, understandably, inevitable, but once you have checked them out, there are scores of other places worth exploring. Here is a brief list.