Do you want to read history of Bulgaria in few seconds? Here it is: Land on Balkan Peninsula was ruled by Thracians, Persians, Romans. Last ones loved their hot springs building their baths everywhere possible. Macedonian, Celtic and finally Slavs, which taken up the mixture of ancient people. Meanwhile, Bulgars tribe (not Bulgarians which refers to contemporary citizents) came from Central Asia and settled next to the Black Sea. They formed country which spread over the Balkan Peninsula creating the First Bulgarian Empire. Then taken by Russ, Byzantine and Ottoman Empire for almost 500 years. Proclaimed independence in 1908, captured by Russians became Communist state. Bulgaria joint European Union in 2007. Happy?
Yeah I know now historians want to kill me, but commmme on, just to give some general view of the important facts. My purpose for all that is to show how rich past has this country. Being on the border of the continents Bulgaria had always important, strategic position, crossed by mixture of nations. But where the hell was the mistake which made Bulgarians shake their heads to mean yes and nod for no?!
Why Bulgaria, why?
Trying to find an answer, asking people I managed to find just one explanation, which is legend coming from Ottoman oppression. The Turk holds a sword blade to the throat of a Bulgarian Christian and asks, if he is Christian. To nod “yes,” they would have to cut their throats, but they could nod “no” without hurting themselves. In consequence, they had to change the gesture to be side-to-side for “yes”, in order to fool their rulers. This story makes sense, but is it real? Maybe it was made up after frustration of being under oppression of hated Turks? Do Bulgarians know why they are the only one in the world which changed the most known gesture to the opposite? I haven’t found out, maybe you will…
Pride of the country
Coming out of this fizzle I would like to mention ROSES as a pride of Bulgaria. They are one of the biggest producers of rose oil used in cosmetics and food industry. Almost three quarters of the rose oil for the entire world which is quite impressive.
The rose oil is 3 times more expensive than the real gold. For this reason Bulgarians call roses “the liquid gold“. To extract one kilogram of rose oil they need 3000 kg of roses! They pick every flower by hand, so you can understand high quality and price of the product. Smell is not my favorite, reminds me smell of grandmother clothes. Hence, I was not attracted by sellers wanted me to smell as well as purchase their products. Roses jam though… mmmm that is amazing! Visiting the Rose Valley while the flowers starts to bloom and Roses Festival are my goals for next trip in Bulgaria! Have you seen that yet?
The Bee is a nature lover and tea addict. Loves the idea of slow life and responsible traveling, constantly trying to improve to bee more eco-friendly. Appreciates old cultures and traditions, loves to immerse with locals, listen to ethnic music as well as taste regional food and drinks. Her favorite spots while traveling are family houses and street markets.
Nigdy nie byłam w Bułgarii i muszę przyznać, że zaciekawiłaś mnie tym postem i zachęciłaś do odwiedzenia tego pięknego miejsca. Taka historia, takie tradycje, wszystko to niesamowicie się ze sobą splata. 🙂 Pozdrawiam, Kasia!
Cieszę się Kasiu, że Cię zaciekawiłam, Bułgaria to bardzo ciekawy kraj i warty odwiedzenia.
Interesujący wpis, oby więcej takich! 🙂
Dzięki! 😉
We historians are not angry to you 🙂 by the way interesting article.
thanks kanka! 😀
Bardzo ciekawy wpis, wiele się z niego dowiedziałam, czasami mam wielką chęć, aby znów zajrzeć w tamte regiony, bardzo miło je wspominam. 🙂
Polecam wybrać się tak kiedy zakwitną dzikie róże w dolinie różanej! Sama też chętnie bym się tam wybrała. 🙂
I love Eastern Europe but I’ve never been to Bulgaria. Wow, you covered a lot of history in a paragraph, I had to read it a few times & I’m still not sure I have my head around it… and I didn’t know rose oil was so valuable either… very informative & interesting, that’s for sure!
Thanks Sheena 🙂
Bulgaria is totally new to me. I have read up here and there though.
Interesting fact about the rose oil there. t should make a wonderful souvenir.
It is the most typical one and perfect for a gift for mom 🙂
I like short and sweet, so I enjoyed your roundup of Bulgaria! Some interesting and strange facts about the country.
They nod with it’s no and they shake head when it’s yes? Now that’s confusing. I guess no nodding and shaking head when communicating with Bulgarians then. Either I would be confused or they would be confused hahaha.. What a nice thing to know. Maybe I should share this trivia with friends.
So what do they use the rose oil for?
Once I was on a youth exchange in France and there were some Bulgarian participants. In the end we asked if they liked the training and they shaked their heads, all of them. Other people were totally shocked and asked them why you didn’t like it and said that they liked it very much 😀 this is so confusing!
Rose oil, as I wrote is used for cosmetics and perfume, when roses are also used in cuisine for instance to make delicious jam.
OMG! I didn’t know that rose oil is that expensive!!! And seriously, I really don’t know its main uses. For sure it really contributes a lot in the industry, and it is something that is good to know. 🙂
Yes, rose oil is used a lot in cosmetics and Bulgaria is the leader in export of this oil.
I didn’t realize rose oil was a major export of Bulgaria. But, more importantly, that it is more expensive than gold. Learn something new everyday 🙂
😉
It’s really impressive how you’ve managed to cover so much history in brief. I have heard about Bulgaria for its roses, they’ve the finest quality of roses in the world and I would love to check out the rose festival someday!
Yeah me too, that must be beautiful to see the Rose Valley when they are all blooming.
Bulgaria potrafi naprawde zauroczyc. Ja bylam tam kilkukrotnie i jedyne czego nie lubie, to wybetonowane odcinki wybrzeza. Wa to juz w gorach jest naprawde super:) I udzie bardzo zyczliwi:)
NIka, a gdzie dokładnie byłaś w górach w Bułgarii, możesz coś polecić?
Prawda czy nieprawda, ale historia ciekawa 🙂
Dokładnie. Zawsze zbieram jakieś legendy z krajów, do których podróżuję. Uważam, że nadaje to świetny klimat miejscu.
Mój współlokator jest w połowie Bułgarem, ale nie pochwalił się, że pochodzi z takiego bogatego kraju 🙂
Skromny jakiś! 😛 a tyle tam złota z płynie! 😛
Nie byłam, ale myślę, że jeszcze tam pojadę 🙂 Bo jest piękna i jak każdy kraj ma swoje tradycje, a to mnie bardzo ciekawi w zwiedzanych miejscach. uwielbiam poznawać regionalne dania i słuchać o zwyczajach 🙂
Nie wiem czy w szpilkach, ale warto pojechać 😛
Kiedyś chciałabym się wybrać 😉
Dla chcącego nic trudnego! 🙂 Próbuj!
to potrząsanie głową na tak i kiwanie na nie zawsze mnie zastanawiało. Sprawia to nie tylko problem nam, ale i samym Bułgarom za granicami ich kraju. Możliwe, że legenda o której piszesz ma coś w sobie, ale czasy te juz dawno minęły więc mogliby już się przestawić hahah. Zastanawiam się gdzie oni hodują aż tyle róż na potrzeby olejków. Jeżeli potrzebują aż 3000 kg róż na jeden kg olejku brzmi to nierealnie!!! 🙂 Pozdrawiam
haha rzeczywiście mają kłopot z tym potrząsaniem głową, myślę, że niektórzy się starają to zmienić by przetrwać za granicą 😀 co do róż to Dolina Róż – Kazanłyk słynie z ogromnej hodowli tej roślinki i stanowi mój następny punkt do odwiedzenia, gdy tylko będę następnym razem w Bułgarii.
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