Where to Go?

Something that I’ve noticed a lot of this trip to Bulgaria is just how much there isn’t available for our trip. While countries like Greece, Italy, France, and Spain have multiple guidebooks written about them, Bulgaria is at best half of the Bulgaria/Romania book and only a couple of common guides have books for Bulgaria. But why?

It’s an amazing country. Their archaeology is expansive (over 1000 Thracian tombs in the Valley of the Thracian Kings alone.) They have the oldest continually-inhabited city in Europe (Plovdiv.) It was the home of the Thracians! They originated the worship of Dionysus (my favorite deity.) And yet, most Europeans haven’t been and Americans are rare. So why?

I think part of it is that when tourism was becoming a thing in Europe (the 1600s/1700s), it was under the control of the Ottoman Turks. So, Europeans weren’t going there. And since it wasn’t part of the Grand Tour, it was not part of normal European traveling. Another issue was that there was a stereotype amongst Europeans that women can’t venture into the lands near the Ottoman Empire because they will be kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery in the harems. That is something I intend to research more, since I am really curious as to how often that really happened. Was it as common as the stories make it seem, or was it propaganda against these foreigners who weren’t Christian.

And then of course, they were under the Soviets. But Czech and Hungary and many other countries were under the Soviets and they are crowded with tourists. But countries like Bulgaria and Romania are still considered the backwoods. So the question, of course, is why?

They’ve been stereotyped in books (did people this Romania was a terrifying land because of Dracula, or was Dracula from Romania because there was already the belief that it was a place where vampires could exist?) I can’t really say.

But all I can say is, go to Bulgaria. It is a place where they are developing their tourist industry, and the more people who visit, the better it will be for future tourists. They are actively improving their sites and were having a good start in 2019. Covid has clearly set things back, but I hope those who read my blog (all five of you) will definitely consider the trip. It’s well worth it, is very inexpensive once you get there, and really deserves our tourist dollars. So try these places that are a bit less common. Bulgaria is not remote. It’s not the backwoods. It is as lovely and interesting and easy to get around as any other place in Europe. So next time you’re planning a trip, absolutely consider it.