Regions

Recently, the fate brought me to the far ends of our still-unexplored country. Together with thrilling memories of various outdoor adventures like cycling, kayaking, rafting, horseback riding, paragliding, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing, several snapshots appeared in my mind: the dolmens of Sakar Mountain, the cromlech in the Eastern Rodopi, the Dobrudzha steppe, the monk cells in Polomieto, silkworm houses in the small village of Mandritsa, the natural wonders of the Belogradchik rocks, a policeman and his two fellows working as shepherds in their free time, master Encho with his impressive Revival-era moustache, the crashing waves near Krapets, the delta of River Veleka, an mussels farm, the landscapes of the Western Rhodope Mountains, the winter desert of Rila Mountain, the limestone cliffs of Vratsa, the marble of Vihren, the Karandila region near Sliven, the village of Ichera, Rai and Eho mountain lodges, the roofs of Kovachevitsa. At once a real and a virtual tour.

I needed such encounters. I needed this reviving energy, because everything is part of the path we chose to walk, step by step. The team at Bulgarian Association of Alternative Tourism and I have followed this path for more than two decades, in order to encourage owners of authentic, traditional guesthouses and restaurants, or those making organic wine, developing cultural programmes or offering exciting tours in the lush Bulgarian nature. BAAT is a boutique product, developed in an idealistic, rather chaotic and sometimes disappointing business environment.

The page you entered consists of all the necessary ingredients for an unforgettable, even exotic, experience. Travelling in Bulgaria still contains a magical and enigmatic essence, filled with oriental scents and the taste of fresh-cut wood. But what I most value and seek in our rural villages is the person, and in Bulgaria, he, despite, being a bit suspicious, holds something in common with the spirit and character of the ancient societies and cultures that are the main purpose of our travel... and of life.