Wie oft hast Du im letzten Monat in Lederhosen Weißwurst gegessen, Bier aus einem Maßkrug getrunken und dabei Volksmusik gehört? Nein, das soll kein Oktoberfest-Artikel werden. Das ist nur die Vorstellung, die viele Ausländer über die Deutschen haben. Denn auch wenn wir das nicht wollen, ist unsere Vorstellung über uns unbekannte Länder sehr stark von den Medien geprägt. Woran musst du denken, wenn Du Bulgarien hörst? Sonne, Party, Sonnenstrand? Gar Armut? Bulgarien schneidet oft bei Vorurteilen nicht gut ab. Man kennt überwiegend die wirtschaftlichen Probleme in diesem Land, die immer wieder im EU-Kontext diskutiert werden. Zudem dürfen wir nicht vergessen, dass es sich bei Bulgarien um ein ex-kommunistisches Land handelt, das jahrelang kein Marketing betrieben hat. Wenn Du aber in Erwägung ziehst, in Bulgarien Medizin, Zahnmedizin oder Pharmazie zu studieren, solltest Du mehr über das Land wissen. Wir haben neulich den unteren Blogbeitrag von RedheadExplorer entdeckt und möchten ihn gern mit Dir teilen. Lass Dich überraschen:
„In the past year, the abundance of new low-cost flights to Bulgaria has turned the streets of Sofia into a busy hotchpotch of Spanish, Italian, British and French tourists. Many older travellers (especially Brits and Germans) have already been here on a holiday in their youth and most repeat visitors had earlier been skiing or cruising the Black Sea coast. Most younger visitors, however, visit for the first time and are often absolutely unprepared what to expect.
Here is a list of 10 things many tourists do not know about Bulgaria and are pleasantly surprised to learn. Note! Please do not judge! Nobody has an obligation to know these things and the majority of foreigners I have talked to were genuinely surprised and intrigued to learn them.
Kind regards to Adriana Stefanova for letting me use two of her wonderful shots of Lavender fields for this post
1.Bulgaria has overtaken France as the world’s biggest producer of lavender oil
Head to Kazanlak in June to capture the lilac beauty of lavender fields before the harvest starts! (Read more: English: TriciaAnnMitchell, Bulgarian: Otbivki)
2. Bulgaria has faster broadband Internet than New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and France
Just because it is a relatively obscure Eastern European country, many foreigners who have not visited Bulgaria assume it is lagging behind in many areas. They are often surprised to find that we are ranked in the Top 30 of the Countries with the fastest broadband Internet in the world.
3. The biggest contemporary cities in Bulgaria began their existence as Thracian and (later) Roman settlements more than 2 thousand years ago
Attending an opera in Plovdiv’s Ancient Amphitheatre
Bulgaria has a long and fascinating cultural background, so even if you are coming for a short weekend trip, make sure to read up on the country’s millennia-old history.
Bulgaria’s biggest cities often have multiple alternative names because of the multiple historical periods and communities which shaped them: starting with Ancient Thrace then the Roman empire, Slavic and Proto-Bulgarian tribes and many more. For example, Plovdiv used to be called Philippopolis after its Conqueror Philip of Macedonia (that is the father of Alexander the Great) and also Pulpudeva, Trimontsium (City of the Three Hills) by the Romans and Filibe (Philip’s city) by the Turks, to name a few of its popular names.
Sofia has a similarly colourful portfolio. It used to be called Serdonpolis (city of the Serds, a Celtic tribe), Serdica (by the Romans), Sredets (Slavic) and Triaditsa (via Greek translations). Read more: In search of lost places.
