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Country Guide > Europe > Bulgaria | |
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General Information Area 110,994 sq km (42,855 sq miles).
Population 7,845,499 (official estimate 2002). Population Density 70.7 per sq km (2002). Capital Sofia. Population: 1,096,389 (2001). Geography Bulgaria is situated in Eastern Europe and bordered to the north by the River Danube and Romania, to the east by the Black Sea, to the south by Turkey and Greece and to the west by Serbia & Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Balkan Mountains cross the country reaching to the edge of the Black Sea and its golden beaches. The land is heavily cultivated, covered with forests and crossed by rivers. Although Bulgaria lies in the very southeast corner of Europe, the climate is never extreme in summer, even on the red-earthed plains of Southern Thrace. The Black Sea resorts have some of the largest beaches in Europe and offer sunbathing from May until October, while in winter heavy falls of snow are virtually guaranteed in the mountain skiing resorts. Government Democratic Republic since 1990. Head of State: President Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov since 2002. Head of Government: Prime Minister Simeon Borisov Sakskoburggotski since 2001. Language Bulgarian is the official language and the Cyrillic alphabet is used. Turkish and Macedonian are amongst the minority languages. English, German, French and Russian are spoken in major tourist resorts and hotels. Religion The majority of the population are Christian, the main denomination being Bulgarian Orthodox Church with a membership of 80 per cent of the population. Eastern Orthodox Chrisitianity is considered to be the traditional religion in Bulgaria. There is also a significant Muslim minority (9 per cent) and a small Jewish community. Time GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Electricity 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Plugs are two-pin. Communications Telephone Telephone: IDD is available to main cities. Country code: 359. Outgoing international code: 00. Calls from some parts of the country must be placed through the international operator. There are many public telephones in the main towns. The national network of telecommunications is operated, for the present, by Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) (website: www.btc.bg). Mobile telephone GSM 900, with good to patchy coverage in most of the country. Network operators include MTEL (website: www.mtel.bg) and GloBul (website: www.globul.bg). Fax Facilities are available at BTA (Bulgarina Telegraph Agency) offices and most post offices. Internet The main ISPs are Geo Enterprise (website: www.geobiz.com) and bol.bg (website: www.bol.bg). There are Internet cafes and centres in Sofia and Plovdiv. Telegram International services are available. Post Airmail to Western Europe takes from four days to two weeks. The General Post Office in Sofia, at 4 Gurko Street, is open 24 hours. Post office hours: Usually Mon-Fri 0830-1730. Press The weekly newspaper, Sofia Echo, is available in English, as is the business publication Pari (Money). Both of these are published weekly and are available in print or Internet versions. The most popular dailies include Trud (Labour) and 24 Chasa (24 Hours). Radio BBC World Service (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice) and Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov) can be received. From time to time the frequencies change and the most up-to-date can be found online. |
