Bulgaria

Did you know About Bulgaria?

-The Rila Cross, a wooden cross with 140 microscopic scenes from the Bible featuring more than 1,500 figurines, the largest of them no bigger than a grain of rice, was carved by a monk over a period of 12 years.

-Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, the bacterium that is responsible for giving Bulgarian yoghourt its unique flavor and consistency, can be found only in Bulgarian air.

-The Voyager spacecraft, launched in the 1970s on a voyage to meet and communicate with other planets, carried a laser disc of ten songs believed to be representative of Earth. One of these songs was the Bulgarian tune Izlel e Deliu Haidutin from the Rhodopes region.

-The longest mountain range is Stara Planina, known also as the Balkan Mountain (530km). The whole peninsula is named after it.

-The highest are the Rila mountains; the peak Moussala rises to an altitude of 2,925 m above sea level. This is the highest point in the Balkans. The first written evidence of the peak being climbed refers to King Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.

-The largest coastal lake is Varna Lake, covering an area of 18 square km. It is also the deepest at 19m.

-The largest glacial lake is Smradlivoto in the Rila Mountains. It covers 21.2 hectares.

-The highest glacial lake is Popovoto, in the Pirin Mountains, situated at 2,715 m above sea level.

-The greatest number of mineral springs is to be found in the town of Velingrad (more than 70).

-The longest cave is close to the village of Bosnek, in the Vitosha Mountains near Sofia (over 15km). Six underground rivers have cut labyrinths in its galleries. As many as 4,000 caves have been investigated and mapped in Bulgaria.

-The lowest temperature, measured in an inhabited locality, was registered in the winter of 1947 in the town of Tran, west of Sofia (minus 38.3 degrees centigrade).

-The longest lasting fog occurred in December 1948 in Sofia (29 days and nights). At that same time, the fogs in Plovdiv and Lom stayed for 28 days. The capital of Bulgaria is also its foggiest city (33 days annually on average).

-The hottest mineral water is found in the village of Separeva Banya, near the town of Dupnitza - its temperature is 103.8 degrees centigrade. According to some sources, this is the hottest spring in Europe.

-The oldest tree is an oak growing in the village of Granit in the vicinity of Stara Zagora. Its age is estimated at about 1,650 years. The crown of this oak tree covers 1,017 square metres, the circumference of its trunk is 7.45m and its height 23.40m.

-The tallest tree is the 62-metre Baikusheva Mura (white fir) in the Pirin Mountains. Its age is about 360 years.

-The tallest cactus grows in the botanical garden of the town of Balchik, at the Black Sea coast. The height of this 'hedgehog' is 7 metres.

-The largest bear in Europe fell a victim to man in 1936, in the neighborhood of Brevets, a resort in the Rila Mountains. This record was recognized at an international hunting exhibition in Berlin.

-The largest amphibian is a turtle, which was caught and then set free near the town of Krumovgrad in 1987. It weighed 5kg, was 35cm long, of the same height, 29cm wide and 100-120 years old - i.e., at the age limit of European fauna. Another turtle of similar dimensions was caught some 80 years ago in the neighborhood of Kotel, a town in Central Bulgaria.