• Balkan Range
• Black Sea Coast
• Kazanlâk
• Plovdiv
• Rhodopes
• Shipka Pass
• Sofia
• Southwest
• Sredna Gora
• Stara Zagora

 

Bulgarian Food

Mainstay of any Bulgarian restaurant menu are the grilled meats, of which kebapcheta and kyufte are the most common. More substantial are chops (pârzhola or kotlet), or fillets (file or kare), which are usually teleshko (veal) or svinsko (pork).

Main courses may be served with a set garnitura (usually fries and the occasional vegetable), although sometimes you'll find these items listed individually on the menu and will have to order them separately (always ask about this; otherwise you may end up being served a slab of meat and nothing else).

In the grander restaurants the main course will be accompanied by potatoes (kartofi) and a couple of vegetables, as well as bread: sometimes a pitka or small bread bun, or more rarely a simitla, a glazed bun made from chickpea flour. Lower down the scale, you may just get fried potatoes (pârzheni kartofi) and a couple of slices of bread. You're usually expected to specify how many slices (filiiki) you want.

Mehanas and touristy folk-style restaurants are the likeliest places to get traditional Bulgarian dishes baked and served in earthenware pots. The best known is gyuvech (which literally means "earthenware dish"), a rich stew comprising peppers, aubergines, and beans, to which are added either meat or meat stock. Kavarma, a spicy meat stew (often pork), is prepared in a similar fashion, and tastes something like Hungarian goulash. Two other traditional recipes which you may come across are sarmi, cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and mincemeat; and imam bayaldi, aubergine stuffed with all manner of vegetables, meat and herbs - a Turkish dish, whose name translates as "the priest burst", found in the south of the country.

Bulgarian Recipes - Kebapcheta and Sarmi

Bulgarian Cuisine

BULGARIAN NATIONAL CUISINE
Festivals, Folk Beliefs, Dishes

A Sample of typical Bulgarian foods
by Mark Doser

Museums in Bulgaria

Paleontology museums and collections in Bulgaria

Department of Paleobotany and Pollen Analysis collection
Natural History Museum Pleven
Museum for vertebrate paleontology - Asenovgrad
Museum of paleontology and historical geology - Sofia

 

The former Girls High School, which used to be the biggest in the Balkans, houses the Archaeological Museum that holds one of the country's richest collections.
A special treasury displays priceless gold jewels and amazing ancient toreutic works. The icon and church plate exposition is very impressive. In a special Education Selection your children will be able to rise prehistoric stone tools and work with a primitive potter's wheel.
Address: Varna 9000, 41 Maria Louisa Blvd.
Tel.: (359 52) 237 057
Fax: (359 52) 237 056

The Varna Museum is full of treasures from all periods of the city's history, and will interest both the informed archaeologist and the casual visitor.
Address: Varna 9000, 8th November St.
Tel.: (359 52) 632 677

The National Revival Museum has a rich collection.
Address: Varna 9000, 9 Twenty-seven July St.
Tel.: (359 52) 223 585

The Ethnographic Museum has exhibits showing traditional means of livelihood and costumes with varying demographic features.
Address: Varna 9000, 22 Panagiurishte St.
Tel.: (359 52) 63-05-88

The Naval Museum is in the shady alleys of the Marine Gardens.
The history of Bulgarian maritime dates back to the year of 1883. Once the creation of the Bulgarian Marine by Russian naval officers was accomplished in 1879, there was made a collection of ancient marine exhibits.

The Museum of the History of Medicine is in what used to be the city's first hospital and possesses the richest paleoanthropologic collection in Bulgaria.

The Museum of New History is in the oldest surviving house in Varna, that was built in 1851
Address: Varna 9000, 41 Maria Louisa Blvd.

Bulgaria's only Aquarium with a unique facade covered in ivy attracts many visitors.
Varna Terrarium has one of the most diverse collections in Bulgaria - more than 40 different kinds of exotic animals from all over the world and many interesting and rare Bulgarian species.
Address: Morska Gradina, 38 Saltanat St.

 

City of Sofia info

National History Museum
Archaeological Museum
2 Saborna St., next to the Bulgarian National Bank.
Free Admission. Open 10.00 - 14.30, closed Monday.

The Earth and Man Museum
Founded in 1986. Over 20,000 exhibits are on display, divided into six sections: Giant Crystals, Minerals of the Earth, Industrial Minerals, Raw Material Sources of Bulgaria, Gems, New Materials. The museum also holds exhibitions and classical music evenings, which are noted in our cultural supplement.
4 Cherni Vrah Blvd.
Open 10.00 - 18.00, closed Sunday and Monday.
Admission 0.40 leva, guided tours in most languages: US $10.


National Museum of Natural Science
The museum was founded in 1889 and opened to visitors in 1907. Nowadays the museum has three major sections: Geology, Zoology and Botany. Apart from several meteorites, the 'Earth and Space' exhibition features unique lunar samples and an impressive array of stuffed and preserved wildlife. A special exhibition shows live pythons, crocodiles, spiders, frogs and lizards.
On Tsar Osvobditel Blvd., near the Russian Church. Open 10.00 - 18.00 daily (last admission 17.00).
Admission 2.00 leva.

Ethnographic Museum
The museum displays folk costumes, fabrics, jewellery, woodcarvings, hammered ironwork, etc. A small craft shop sells crafts, costumes and musical instruments from all over Bulgaria.
In the former Royal Palace on Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., along with the National Art Gallery.
Open 10.00 -17.00, closed Monday.
Admission 2.50 leva.


The Alexander Nevsky Crypt
The crypt museum was founded in 1965 and contains items from the very beginnings of Bulgarian iconography (the end of the 9th century) until the end of the 19th century. All stages of the Bulgarian iconography school are represented in a collection of 300 original icons. An excellent guide book is now available in Bulgarian and English. The illustrations and clearly written texts will help anyone understand the intracacies of the icon genre. The guide costs 7 leva.
Under the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
Open 10.30 - 12.00,14.00- 18.30, closed Tuesday.
Admission 3 leva, guided tours 6 leva.