Bulgaria

Bulgaria a mighty crossroads: of history, of culture, of ecology. Occupying a great rugged chunk of the eastern Balkan Peninsula, the country has been a trade-route portal, battleground, and melting-pot for centuries on end. Besides that rich legacy of human exchange, Bulgaria’s also drop-dead gorgeous, from its mountain to its beaches.

A hop, skip, and a jump from the European-Asian borderland of Turkey, Bulgaria has been auspicious real estate for the Thracians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, and the Soviets, and residue from virtually every ruling empire can still be sifted out on the landscape. Bulgaria’s famous for its historical architecture: the splendid Thracian, Grecian, and Byzantine monuments of the 3,000-year-old Black Sea settlement of Nessebar; the medieval-era rock-carved churches of Ivanovo; the monumental Orthodox Rila Monastery, its forerunner erected in the 10th century and destroyed by fire and its superb Bulgarian Renaissance rebuild dating from the mid-1800s. But Bulgaria’s human history snakes further back into deep time—from the Paleolithic and Neolithic paintings of the Magura Cave to the ancient necropolis gold of Varna (displayed at the top-shelf Varna Archaeological Museum).

Lavish church domes and primeval grave jewelry are all well and good, but don’t let historically tuned blinders rob you of direct experiences with living, breathing Bulgarian culture. From the diverse salads and well-spiced mincemeat to sheep’s-milk cheeses and homegrown wine, the food here shows off Greek and Turkish influences as well as homegrown traditions. And Bulgarian art, music, dance, and literature proudly celebrates native Bulgar and Slavic culture, which has proved resilient even in the face of varied and prolonged occupation.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s physical geography—defined by the long Black Sea coast and a multitude of mountain ranges—makes a scenic natural playground. A blend of European, Mediterranean, and Asiatic ecologies gives the country notable biodiversity. Stubborn redoubts of wilderness in the rough oak, beech, and coniferous forests of mountains such as the Pirin and Rila chains provide sanctuary for rare megafauna such as gray wolves, Eurasian lynx, brown bears, and imperial eagles. (The Bulgarian mountains and their winter snowpack are also prized for skiing and snowboarding.) Meanwhile, the seacoast tempts with some of Europe’s finest beaches—and some of its most opulent beachfront resorts.

Black Sea spas, Rila Mountain ski slopes, Varna nightlife, Sofia monasteries and restaurants, remote villages backed by sheep- and cow-grazed hillsides—Bulgaria’s a land of endless enchantment, even if it’s not among the high-profile destinations in Europe. All the better for the tourists who do make it out to this amazing swath of the Balkans.