The Country
and what's in it and on it
One might
say that Bulgaria constitutes the lower corner of the back yard of Europe,
though that, of course, all depends on your point of view. Is New York or is
San Francisco the key to America's back door? Does the world look East or West?
Is it not the rising rather than the setting sun that our world faces? If so
Portugal is in the lower corner of Europe's back yard and Bulgaria is the
choice green lawn in her front yard.
In any
case, Bulgaria constitutes a large part of the most eastern of the three
peninsulas which Europe dangles in the green waters of the Mediterranean and
related seas. The western one is Spain and Portugal, the middle one is Italy
and the other one is the Balkans, which is the largest of the three and in
beauty and wealth is in no way inferior to the others. Bulgaria does not
embrace the most picturesque nor the wealthiest part of the Balkan Peninsula,
for in Jugoslavia on the west there is a more enticing coast, a larger number
of rugged mountains and a broader stretch of level plains, while in Rumania
there is more mineral wealth and one of the most extensive expanses of rich
agricultural land in Europe. But still Bulgaria is a favored land, one of the
most desirable places in the world to live in.
It has the
form of a quadrilateral and is about the size of the state of Ohio, containing
precisely 39,649 square miles. On the north it is bounded for a distance of 246
miles by Europe's largest and best known international river, the Danube, which
carries good sized boats clear to the very heart of Central Europe and when
joined to the Rhine will bind Asia to the British Isles. The large and petulant
Black Sea bounds Bulgaria on the east for a distance of 193 miles giving her
two harbors and one of the finest beaches for sea bathers in Europe. Turkey and
Bulgaria are contiguous in the southeast for a distance of 145 miles after
which, on the south, Greece and Bulgaria have a common boundary 301 miles long.
This ends at a point on the top of a lofty mountain range, Belasitsa, where
Greece, Jugoslavia and Bulgaria meet. It is Jugoslavia that bounds Bulgaria on
the west in a zigzag frontier 325 miles long, running from Greece on the south
to the Danube river on the north.
The area on
the surface of the earth, known as. Bulgaria has changed its size and shape
many times during the last century, stretching out and contracting like an
agitated amoeba — if that famous animal ever gets agitated. Many official and
unofficial bodies and individuals have drawn Bulgaria's boundaries. The unofficial
maps have been prepared in professors' studies or in diplomatic chancelleries
and have always been comparatively large. The official maps have been traced on
battle fields with bayonets and in most cases have been small and much hacked
up. The one which Bulgaria is now wearing is among the most shrunken she has
ever had to squeeze into and the whole nation complains that it is entirely too
little — that it doesn't fit at all. It was presented to her in Paris somewhat
over a decade ago and is of the same general style as those worn by Germany,
Austria and Hungary. I am disclosing no secret when I say that there is no
Bulgarian who believes that the map making season in the Balkans is closed.
* * *
Bulgaria is
divided into two fairly equal parts by the long range of Balkan mountains which
runs clear across the country from west to east, resembling an enormous whale
lying on the surface of a turbulent sea with both its tail and head hidden
beneath the waves. The northern half of the country is made up of fairly high
rolling hills and most of it is cultivable. Its average height is under 1000
feet and only 3% of the total area is more than 3000 feet above sea level.
Southern and southwestern Bulgaria, which comprise somewhat more than half of
the whole country are much more mountainous. They contain one large, fertile
and very productive plain, consisting of the fairly well watered valley of the
Maritsa River and its tributaries, which because of its productivity resembles
a vast garden, especially in the spring and early summer. Shaped like a wedge,
it has placed its broad base upon the Turkish Republic on the southeast and,
extending northwest almost to Jugoslavia, it pushes its sharp nose between the
Balkan range above it and the massive cluster of Rilo Mountains below it. This
last group of lofty peaks which, with the spurs running off from it, fills the
whole southwest corner of the country, affords the finest scenery in Bulgaria.
The chief of them all, Mount Mussalla, 9,800 feet high, towers above everything
else in the Balkan peninsula except Mt. Olympus in Greece and Mt. Shar in
Jugoslavia and imperiously directs the course of half a dozen large rivers,
sending them at its will to the north or south or east or west. Within the
recesses of this mountain cluster, not far from its grim and barren heights,
are a number of small, very cold and very clear lakes, on the solitary shores
of some of which are little huts to shelter daring tourists. In the narrow
valleys and miniature plains on the sunny sides of these mountains is produced
some of the world's best tobacco, while many large forests also abound on the
lower slopes. At the foot of one of the deepest defiles, hard pressed on every
side by converging mountains lies one of the oldest and most picturesque
monasteries in the Balkan Peninsula.
Rilo
Monastery — Bulgaria's oldest, largest and most picturesquely situated cloister
Bulgaria is
well supplied with rivers, many of which run straight north from the Balkan
Range into the Danube River while a whole network of others, like the fingers
of a wide spreading hand, pour their waters out over the southern triangular
plain and, emptying into the Maritsa, flow together into the Aegean Sea.
Although these streams are used extensively by enterprising gardeners in a
somewhat primitive way for irrigation and by an increasing number of electric
light and power companies to drive modern turbines, much of the wealth they
carry is still unutilized. They will eventually bring light to half the towns
and villages in the country and before very long the me in river system, that
of the Maritsa, will be used to irrigate thousands of acres of very choice land
during the latter weeks of the summer season.
The
principal natural wealth on the surface of Bulgaria are her forests which are
found chiefly in the mountains in the southern and southwestern part of the
country and are owned almost entirely by the State and communities. The Turks
after their half millennium of domination left Bulgaria, as well as all the
other countries which they subjugated, largely bereft of woods, while
reforestration since Bulgaria's liberation has not yet gone very far. But still
10,630 square miles or 27% of the entire surface of the country, are covered
with timber, which supplies the people with most of the necessary building
material. Each year 2,218,653.8 pounds of lumber are exported and 124,550,978
pounds imported, most of the latter amount coming from the adjoining country of
Rumania.
Much of the
unwooded area of Bulgaria is cultivated, namely 14,971 square miles, or 38% of
the total surface of the country. If, to this land actually under cultivation,
are added the large communal grazing grounds it brings the total available
surface for agricultural purposes up to 48%.
The Isker
valley — north of Sofia
For the
most part the soil is good and the climate healthful and fecund. Complete, crop
failures never occur. There are no deserts and no waste areas. The yearly
rainfall is 25 inches or about the same as in the State of Minnesota. In the
matter of rainfall Bulgaria occupies a middle place among the European
countries. The temperature of Bulgaria is much like, that of the State of New
York. The summers are very hot in many places and the winters cold. Frequently
the rainfall in Bulgaria's most fertile valley, that of the Maritsa River, is
insufficient to make the land there yield its maximum production. For that
reason it is to be supplemented with water stored in mountain reservoirs,.
Approximately
half of the surface of the country is owned by private individuals, among whom
it is very equitably distributed, and the rest belongs to the state, villages,
cities, counties,. schools, and churches. The proportions are approximately as
follows: communities own 25%, the state 8%, schools 1%, churches, monasteries
and mosques less than 1% while 17% is not utilizable.
Bulgaria
abounds in excellent summer resorts of which several are on the Black Sea, many
in the mountains and a large number at mineral springs with which the country
is richly supplied. More than a hundred of these, scattered throughout the
whole of southern Bulgaria, are still largely unutilized and many of them have
not y£t been even studied, but there are scores widely used by the local
inhabitants and six which have been supplied with the best modern conveniences
and are visited by thousands of people from all parts of the country, who find
the greatest benefit 'in their healing waters. There are not a few places in
Bulgaria where the women regularly do their washing at hot springs, several of
which have been equipped with modern wash houses.
The country
is rich in mineral wealth, most of which is still unexploited. There is salt in
large quantities, vast deposits of coal, much lead and zinc, copper, oil,
manganese and even silver. These deposits are all the property of the state
which turns certain areas over to private companies for study and exploitation.
The utilization of the subsoil wealth has not advanced very far yet, but is
making rapid progress and proving to be the source of much wealth.
* * *
Most of the
people in Bulgaria continue to live in the country. Altogether there are only
93 cities of which but ten have as many as 25,000 inhabitants. On the other
hand there are 5,756 villages, which are inhabited by 80%, of the total
population.
The largest
city is Sofia, the capital, situated in the western part of the country in a
broad level plain at the foot of Mount Vitosha, which is 7544 feet high. Sofia
is a very ancient settlement and trading center, known in ancient times under
the name of Serdica. However, it fell into complete decay during
The
National Assembly
the long
Turkish domination and when Bulgaria was freed fifty years ago it was no more
than a wretched, oriental town with uneven, crooked streets and small one story
houses. But the last half century has completely transformed it and made it one
of the largest and most attractive cities in the Balkans. It has grown with
extraordinary rapidity during the last two decades increasing its population
from 102,812 in 1910 to 154,025 in 1920 and has 230,000 at the present time.
The hub of
what may be considered the cultural or civic center of Sofia is the large
Parliament Building, which is surrounded at shorter or longer distances by
ministries, foreign legations, the Academy of Science, the Holy Synod, the
Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky, which is easily the finest church building in
the Balkans and among the notable ones of Europe, the state printing plant,
museums, and the university which will eventually consist of a number of large
buildings, only one of which has so far been finished. Between this and the
business center of the capital lie the King's palace and the wooded park which
surrounds it, while in the outskirts of the town have grown up within the last
few years various industries carried on by more than 200 factories. One of most
striking buildings is the new National Theater, which has the most modern
equipment in the Balkans and houses both the drama and the opera. Within the
last five years a large number of enormous cooperative dwelling houses have
been built, which are owned by the people who inhabit them, each family
possessing a separate apartment. The highest structure in Sofia is the
Vegetarian Home, a restaurant and apartment house, seven stories high, costing
60,870 dollars, just put up by a cooperative society composed of the followers
of Tolstoy who founded the organization twelve years ago in an extremely humble
way, largely for poor students and with a total capital of 3,261 dollars.
Sofia
possesses a good street car system, has at its disposal an adequate amount of
cheap electricity from two sources and is bringing down past Vitosha from the
Rilo mountains, 50 miles away, an inexhaustible supply of the purest water. It
is on the main international railroad line from London to Constantinople and
will be on another important railroad line that will eventually be constructed
from the Baltic Sea through half a dozen countries to the Mediterranean.
It
possesses a number of well kept parks, one of which is a veritable forest and
constitutes the most attractive city playground south of Bucharest and east of
Lubliana.
Sofia's
oldest cathedral, Saint Sofia, built in 1329
The life of
Sofia accurately reflects the spirit of the people. It is free from
extravagance and in none of the stores is there a lavish display of articles of
luxury. It is not characterized by gayness and after midnight most of the
streets are fairly quiet. Women of pleasure, found in such abundance in most
European cities, are almost completely lacking in Sofia, though there are a few
cabarets, patronized largely by foreigners. The gayest hour of the day is in
the early evening when the shops and offices are closed and all the younger
people in town put on their best clothes and turn out to walk up and down the
finest street "Tsar Osvoboditel", at which time all vehicle traffic
in this municipal boulevard is suspended, as two almost unbroken columns of youth
circulate back and forth from the royal palace to Boris Park a mile distant. If
you have a friend you wish to meet, you may be almost sure of finding him
sooner or later in this evening parade or of finding someone who has seen him.
It is after this evening walk is over, namely at eight or nine o'clock that the
people of Sofia take their evening meal. And every city in Bulgaria has a
similar main street where the inhabitants take the air in the evening, learning
the latest news, seeing the latest styles and meeting the youth of the other
sex that their friends have told them about.
Poganovski
monastery — a relic of Turkish times
Another
place in which you may be sure eventually to find your friend is at one or
another coffee house. Each evening the writers meet in one, the journalists in
another, the business men in others, and each political party in its appointed
one. To walk down the "Tsar" with the crowd and to visit your coffee
house is a part of the day's routine, the main part, in fact, for which the
rest was made. As you swing a cane on the street, exchanging bright remarks
with companions or, sipping a two cent cup of Turkish coffee, hear a colleague
read a poem, excoriate one your rival has written or tell you of prospective
contracts some ministry is about to conclude or assure you your party is about
to come to power, you feel that you are a not insignificant part of the world
that counts. Besides, it's exhilarating to see about you so many well dressed
people, even though you know they've had those clothes for years and altered
them every season, and it's the most delightful of harmless vices to sit on an
accustomed chair at a little round table before a tiny cup o thick brown coffee
with miniature rainbow bubbles on top and "hwoop" the hot, delicious
liquid into your mouth with loud, appreciative suction. This evening stroll and
the leisurely seance about the coffee cups greatly slow down the tempo of
living and make you put off until tomorrow many things which you certainly
ought to do to-day, but who knows how much more important those things are than
a genial two cent cup of coffee. Perhaps it's no small attainment to sit before
all those tasks feverishing trying to thrust themselves upon you and quietly to
brush them back without even a dramatic gesture or the slightest qualms of
conscience. At any rate, every nation in .southeast Europe tint has driven from
its borders "the unspeakable Turk" has taken care to retain his
leisurely cup of delicious coffee, which always makes your head ache.
Philippopolis
The second
city of Bulgaria — we may even call it the second capital — is Philippopolis,
which is found in the south central part of the country, clustered in most
confusing, labyrinthic streets about three rocky hills, rising sheer from the
vast level Maritsa plain. It contains a large number of very large tobacco
factories and is the center of trade in agricultural products.
A more
interesting and livelier town, though by no means so wealthy, is Bulgaria's
northern seaport and third city, its chief bathing place, Varna, on the coast
of the Black Sea, with 69,000 inhabitants. For decades it was a very busy
market place, into which enormous quantities of grain from the very productive
plains of northeast Bulgaria poured on its way to the outside world. But when
at the close of the World War, Bulgaria's amoebian map suddenly contracted,
leaving the golden fields of Dobroudja in the hands of Rumania, Varna was left
with idle wharfs and empty store houses. So she resolutely set about to transform
herself from a city of profitable work into a city of lucrative play.
Convenient and attractive casinos and bath houses were erected along the clean,
sandy and very gently sloping shore of the Black Sea, making one of the finest
beaches on any of the six seas washing the Balkan Peninsula. It is visited each
summer by thousands of Czechs, Poles and Rumanians, while all the Bulgarian
trains carrying passengers to Varna during the season for half a cent a mile
are crowded with pupils, teachers, laborers, artists, writers, state officials,
politicians and other folks with vacations, who covet brown skins and have
faith in the magic power of violet rays. All this makes Varna the gayest and
brightest place in Bulgaria.
Much
livelier is it than its sister city 139 miles to the northwest, Roustchouk or
Roussie with 46,500 inhabitants. This is a very tidy, self confident and
attractive town to which English literary critics refer as a village when
mentioning that it is the birth place of the famous writer Michael Arlen, but
the people of Roussie would by no means be pleased to hear the fourth city of
their kingdom referred to in that way. It is situated in the extreme northeast
corner of the country on the Danube river and is Bulgaria's largest river port.
It has clean streets, neat buildings and enterprising citizens and disposes of
large quantities of most excellent farm and garden products which large numbers
of Rumanians like to cross the river to buy because they are so very cheap.
When the line of communication from Poland through Bulgaria to Greece is
completed it will add to Roussie's importance and wealth.
The only
other Bulgarian city with as many as 35,000 inhabitants is Bourgas, the
country's second largest sea port, which is growing very rapidly and as a
business center has surpassed its larger rival, Varna. Bourgas is on the coast
of the Black Sea, south of the Balkan range, 155 miles north of Constantinople.
* * *
These are
the chief Bulgarian cities — only one with a population of as much as 100,000
and only five containing over 30,000 inhabitants. The rest are country towns.
And that enables you to picture Bulgaria — a peasant land, a country of fields
and vineyards and orchards and gardens, the abundant products of which equal
the best in Europe. It is a land flowing with milk and honey and with all other
good things to eat. From the day in early spring, when the markets begin to
redden with hand made willow baskets full of giant strawberries, clear through
the rose season and the cherry season, through the wild strawberries and
raspberries, blue berries and blackberries, through veritable floods of
muskmelons and watermelons, apples, pears, apricots and plums too numerous to
pick, through red "drenkies" from wild bushes for inimitable jellies
and through all of the most exquisite sorts of grapes, which are found almost
every where in great abundance — through all these seasons of delicacies up
until the time snow falls, Bulgaria offers you the choicest things that sun and
rain and soil can produce at prices found no place else in Europe.
Besides,
her lofty mountain clusters, her proud peaks, her sheer grim crags, her
precipitous defiles, her grassy hills, dark, silent forests and foaming
cascades deserve all the songs of praise the Bulgarians sing about them. And in
addition, every passing year discloses large new sources of wealth under the
ground. Bulgaria is a very good place to live in, a land which if one has once
visited he loves to return to.
