AREA and LOCATION
The member of the EU (together with Romania, since 2007) extend in the area of 110,910 square kilometres. Bulgaria is located in the south central Europe. The terrain is varied, containing large mountainous areas, fertile valleys, plains and a coastline along the Black See.
THE CAPITAL CITY and MAJOR CITIES
Sofia is the capital city with a population of 1,293,559 inhabitants. The other big cities include Plovdiv (380,130 inhabitants), Varna (363,425 inhabitants), Burgas (229,250), Ruse (175,058), Stara Zagora (162,414 people).
CLIMATE
Continental – it means mild summers and cold snowy winters. Average temperature during January vary from –2 to 2°C, and in mountains it is about –10°C. Average temperature for the month of June vary from 19 – 25°C.
AREA CODE
+359
CURRENCY
The Bulgarian LEV. 1 EUR=1,96 LEV, 1 USD=1, 42 LEV.
DISTANCES
Sofia is located 502 km from Istanbul, 681 km from Zagreb – Croatia, 818 km fro, Vienna, 888 km from Rome and 1064 km from Prague.
IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Fire-brigade 160
First Aid 150
Police 166
Road Assistance 146
Telef. info 144
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS
Sofia www.sofia-airport.bg
Plovdiv www.plovdivairport.com
Burgas www.burgas-airport.com
Varna www.varna-airport.bg
LANGUAGE
Bulgarian language is a part of the group of „Slavic languages“. The alphabet used by Bulgarians is Cyrillic.
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
January 1: New Year, Easter, March 3, the day of the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman domination (1878), May 1: Labour Day, May 6: Bulgarian Army Day, May 24: Day of Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture and the Slav Script, September 6: Bulgarian’s Unification, September 22: Independence Day, December 25 and 26: Christmas.
POLITICAL SYSTEM
Since 1991, Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic.
POPULATION
7,101,859 inhabitants. Ethnic groups include Bulgarian which represent 83,9% of the population, Turkish with 9,42 % of the population and Gypsies (Roma) – 4, 67 % of the population.
POWER NETWORK
220 V; 50 Hz.
PRESIDENT
Rumen Radev
RAIL TRANSPORT
SMOKING
Bulgaria ranks second after Greece in the European Union in terms of number of regular smokers as a percentage of the population, according to a recent Eurobarometer survey. Restaurants, bars and cafes are required by law to provide non smoking areas. Usually this is set of 2 or 3 tables in some cases surrounded by tables for smokers.
Of course, international hotel chains and luxury hotels have designed no-smoking floors.
TIME
GMT (London) + 2 hours, East European Time (Germany) + 1 hour.