Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Up with Geography: Bulgaria

Name:
Bulgaria

Capital:
Sofia

Continent:
Europe

Maps:
Man, my map of Europe is terrible. I'm either going to have to redo it at some point, or finally invest in some whiteout. I made Kosovo twice as big as it is in reality, which makes it look like it shares a border with Bulgaria. It does not. That's part of Serbia, hence the squiggly line to the left of Bulgaria, partway through Serbia.

European continent. Bulgaria outlined in dark
ink and shaded.

A close-up of Bulgaria & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Romania, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia

Water Borders:
Danube River, Black Sea

Total Area:
42,823 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse

Famous Geographical Point:
Danube River

Famous Person:
Vasil Zlatarski, historian

Book Set In/About:
Street Without a Name: Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria by Kapka Kassabova

This memoir is by a woman who was born and raised in Bulgaria when it was part of the Soviet Union. After the fall of Communism, she left to live in other countries, but returned when Bulgaria became a part of the European Union. These are her experiences.

Movie Set In/About:
"Yesterday (Vchera)" (1988), directed by Ivan Andonov

A coming of age tell set in the 1960s, where Bulgarian students in an English-language school struggle to express themselves under an oppressive Communist regime. Somehow it involves Beatles music, but I'm not totally sure how.

Headline of the Day:
"Over 60,000 Greek Firms Have Relocated to Bulgaria Since Summer" in the Sofia News Agency.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

I love that Bulgaria's name evokes sturdy peasants with rather large forearms. But its capitol Sofia, is such a lithe and pretty name it doesn't match it's country name at all.

balyien said...

In (translated) Bulgarian, it's Balgarija. Is that maybe a bit prettier? Sofia is Sofiya, so basically the same.