Bulgaria

Rila Monastery painted walls open many of the articles in this category, since Bulgaria Orthodox heritage runs through much of the cultural coverage. Sofia gets neighborhood-level treatment. Plovdiv Roman theatre and old town get serious attention. The Black Sea coast appears with both its postcard version and the honest one. The Rhodope and Pirin mountains each get hiking pieces.

Food writing covers the yogurt and banitsa traditions, plus the wine regions that have been quietly improving for years without much foreign attention. Practical material includes the rail and bus network, the lev as a currency that visitors mostly forget about because it is pegged to the euro, and the cost reality of a destination that remains one of the more affordable in the European Union.