The Old Ways: Bulgaria's Romantic Charms

Ottoman-era mansions, Roman ruins, medieval frescoed churches, enchanting hotels, and a special street of artisans where ancient traditions still thrive

Nikola Nedkovich House, Plovdiv.

If you dream of adventures in far-off lands, add the Balkans to your wish list and let Bulgaria be chiefly among them. In this strange and haunting land, where Europe rubs up against the East, and everyone from Thracians, Romans, Crusaders, Turks, Vikings, Arabs and Russians have left their indelible mark, a cultural layer cake of old and new unfolds before you: Coffee is made on boiling hot sand according to Ottoman tradition; cars ride over cobblestones laid by the Roman army a millennia ago; and the loamy soil on which fierce battles were once waged is now lovingly cultivated for wine and roses.