WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?

Bulgaria's various regions abound in local Christmas traditions, but nothing compares to this town south of the Balkan mountain range

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Come Yuletide, and the streets swarm with adult men dressed in what appears to be a combination between early 20th century gendarme uniforms and traditionally embroidered white shirts. They march to rhythmic tunes in what looks like a symbiosis of tap dancing and the Bulgarian horo. They enter bars and restaurants, whose patrons are only too happy to disperse tips. Each part of the city has its own band. At the end of the day they all converge in the town's centre and prizes are given out to the best participants.

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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
Men and women in bathing suits partake, come rain or shine, of some hot mineral springs that flow freely through the yellowish mud. A very un-orthodox church with bold, non-Christian-like murals stands nearby.
where in bulgaria are you.jpg
WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
A bridge spanning over a turbulent whitewater river, which was constructed in such an incredible location that it was quick to gain notoriety for being otherworldly, a structure no human hand was able to accomplish without assistance from supernatural force
where in bulgaria are you.jpg
WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
Logically, every odd rock has a story attached to it. Most of them, predictably, are macabre but all are worth listening to as they bespeak folk dreams and memories through the centuries.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
It was destroyed by the invading Ottomans, reviving itself in 1660. The compound you see today is a fine example of Revival Period architecture with a 1844 church with a fine woodcarved iconostasis.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
Many of its wooden houses are well preserved, some have been turned into museums, there are places to stay and places to eat, and the village is home to a couple of festivals one of which gathers an international crowd clad in traditional costu
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
At least a dozen man-made lakes of various sizes attract many locals who come here for the serenity, the mountain air and for the angling and photography opportunities.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
First you see a pretty, almost fairy-tale, unmistakably Russian church. Soon you reach a larger-than-life equestrian statue representing a 19th century Russian monarch.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
In recent months the telltale Soviet soldier waving a submachine gun is gone and the whole compound has been fenced off. It is being protected round the clock by Bulgarian police.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
It tells of a boy who loved to dive, but a storm once trapped him to his death in a submarine cave just under the rocks.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
These are long extinct, but the lion has become so popular that Bulgaria has adopted it for its national coat-of-arms.
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
At the same time it found itself facing with severe labour shortages. What they did was to convince young Bulgarians...
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?
It produced some of the brightest minds of the time. Since independence in 1878, however, it has been going downhill as its citizens sought their fortunes elsewhere and emigrated en masse.