1. The oldest worked gold treasure in the world is housed by the Varna Archeological Museum. It has been discovered at a burial site West of Varna, the site proved to be vast necropolis with nearly 300 graves. The treasure consists of 6.5 kg gold artifacts which are over 6 000 years old. They were produced by the civilization called “the Varna Culture” which lived at the area between the 4400 and 4100 B.C. – known also as the first civilization at the European continent.
2. Plovdiv is the oldest inhabited city in Europe. – The ancient town of Plovdiv is one of the oldest urban establishments in the world history, according the last historical data and researches the first settlement in this area is from 4000 years B.C.
3. The Belogradchik rocks were nominated as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign in 2011. Unfortunately this bizarre group of sandstone and limestone rock formations came up short at the competition and it moved at the top of the Reserve list of nominees. You should visit as many as possible from the list of cultural and natural landmarks of our country such as the Devetashka cave, the Thracian city and fortress Perperikon, the Kazanluk Tomb etc. According to the UNESCO List of Word Heritage their number is over 300.
4. One third of the territory of Bulgaria is forested. Hence its biodiversity the country ranks third in Europe with a number of rare and endemic species. There are more than 12 National parks across the country with various natural reserves on their territory. The Bulgarian endemic plants, which are to be found nowhere else in the world, include more than 250 species: such as Rila Primrose, Balkan Violet, Rhodope Tulip etc. With more than 13 000 representatives of the fauna there are also many rare mammals to be found – brown bears, golden jackal, wolves, wild cats, for example.
5. Our country is one of the largest winemakers in the world. Approximately 200 000 tones of wine is produced in a year. Learn more about the Bulgarian traditions in wine producing on the next pages.
Author: Lyubina Panayotova
