Free Sofia Tours in English language Start

The free English-language tour of Sofia - Free Sofia Tour - will be organised twice a day from 28th of March. The Bulgarian capital’s tours will start every day from the Palace of Justice at 11 am and 6 pm.

Volunteers from the association, Free Sofia Tour, will tell in English stories about the most significant cultural and historic sites in the central part of Sofia during the two-hour tour. Tourists will become familiar with information about traditional Bulgarian customs such as: Martenitsa, Bulgarian dance, and Kukeri.

The volunteers will provide useful and practical information about the foreigner’s stay in Bulgaria even after the end of the tour.

More information can be found on the official website of the association Free Sofia Tour.

For advice, assistance and information about Moving to Bulgaria, we recommend that you visit our website at MovetoBG.com - and for accommodation options, resources and services, we suggest Bulgaria Gateway

Bulgaria to Boost Its Retro Train Tourism

Bulgaria is to futher develop further its options for retro train tourism, the country's transport minister, Alexander Tsvetkov announced on Monday.

Among the attractive and luxurious old trains the company will now make available for tourist trips are those once used by former Bulgarian Tzar Boris III and communist dictator Todor Zhivkov. There has been a considerable interest in the country's retro train tours and Bulgarian State Railways expects a sigbnificant increase in visitor demand in 2011, Tsvetkov stated.

The state company earned some BGN68500 (€35000) from retro train tourism, the Minister pointed out, adding that it plans to make at least double this amount in 2011. "Not many countries in Europe provide such an unusual tourist attraction." Tsvetkov said, stating there will be considerable interest on behalf of foreign tourists.

From the end of March, Bulgarian State Railways started running a retro steam engine train between the capital Sofia and the suburb of Bankya. The train leaves at 12:10 every day for twenty days from Sofia's Central Railroad Station and entertains the passengers for the normal ticket price to their destination. After these twenty days, the price of the tickets will increase to BGN5 (€2.5)

The train's engine was built in Switzerland in 1953 and has already been used for a number of movies and entertainment trips. In September 1989 it served as the famous Orient Express while this was passing through Bulgaria.

For advice, assistance and information about Moving to Bulgaria, we recommend that you visit our website at MovetoBG.com - and for accommodation options, resources and services, we suggest Bulgaria Gateway

Chestita Baba Marta

The first day of March is an important celebration for all Bulgarians. It signifies the end of a bleak, cold winter and the imminent onset of spring. March is the only month of the year that is female and is marked with the celebration of ‘Baba Marta’ which literally means ‘Granny March’, thought to be a grouchy old woman with frequent mood swings synonymous with the weather patterns in her month.

 In days gone by this was a time when people wished for decent and plentiful crops. Today, though, Bulgarians give one another red and white tassels or small woven dolls called Martenitsa (pl: martenitsi) to celebrate the coming of spring. There are many folklore tales about the meaning of the martenitsa but the most widely accepted is simply that the white symbolises the purity of the melting snow and the red the setting of the sun, which becomes more and more intense as spring progresses.

Martenitsi are usually worn on the clothes pinned near to the collar or on the hand tied around the wrist. Many people wear several martenitsi, which they have received as presents from relatives, close friends and colleagues and, amongst children, there is now a somewhat keen competition to see how imaginatively their martenisti can be worn. Once you are given a martenitsa, you must wear it until you see a stork and at that moment you tie the symbol to the nearest budding tree, passing on the health and good luck that you have enjoyed while wearing it. The stork is considered a harbinger of spring and is evidence that Baba Marta has been pleased and is about to retire.

Alongside the folklore tradition which has been celebrated for more than a thousand years, the Martenitsa has became a strong symbol of peace, love, health and happiness among Bulgarians around the world who wear their martenitsi with pride on this special day. The national holiday on March 1st reinforces the values which the martenitsa has carried down through the centuries .. and that's why we have chosen the martenitsa as our logo

For advice, assistance and information about Moving to Bulgaria, we recommend that you visit our website at MovetoBG.com - and for accommodation options, resources and services, we suggest Bulgaria Gateway