Bulgaria is a country in Eastern Europe bordered by Romania, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, and Macedonia. The climate is temperate with hot summers and mild winters. The currency is the lev and the capital city is Sofia. Bulgaria is a member of the Schengen area and air and sea borders are open. It has a parliamentary republic with the president serving as head of state and having limited veto powers and the prime minister presiding over a government based on proportional representation.

The main religion is Christianity with Orthodoxy being the dominant branch and the most important denomination, but a minority of Muslim Bulgarians also exist. The language is Bulgarian and uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It is one of the south Slavic languages and remains a bonding point between older Bulgarians and Russians. Younger generations of Bulgarians are more interested in English, which has become a common language at schools.

A popular Bulgarian snack is banitsa, a type of crepe with various fillings such as eggs, spinach, pumpkin, sweet milk, or yoghurt, or even feta and other white cheeses. It is usually savoury but a sweet version with a topping such as banana, chocolate, or walnuts is also available. It is eaten for breakfast with plain yogurt or ayran and it’s an especially favourite at Christmas or New Years, when people often place lucky charms or sayings on paper inside their banitsa to bring them luck in the new year.

Another common Bulgarian dish is kapama, which is like a winter stew with pork, chicken, sausage, and black pudding as well as sauerkraut, rice, kitchen herbs including black and red pepper and bay leaves, and a variety of vegetables. Often a side of lyutenitsa is served alongside, which is a red-colored relish made from peppers and tomatoes with garlic and spices. This is a great condiment to try on a slice of bread for breakfast or it makes a good accompaniment to a grilled meat dish such as kebab or koko sarma.

Fish dishes are very popular in Bulgaria and there is a speciality of deep-fried sprats, which are similar to English fish and chips. Ribena chorba is a fish soup that can be a hearty meal in itself, and kurte, flat meatballs containing beef, veal or pork are also common.

Two local beers to try are Zagorka and Kamenitza, both lagers. The latter is brewed locally and is very popular. The local brewery, Shumensko, also produces a dark beer and a citrus beer which are worth trying.