I hope to get to Istanbul in the next few years to visit.  I would love to see the Hagia Sofia and what's left of the city walls.  I dont think I will try to swim the Hellespont though.

Brothers Bulgarians, don't be so passionate and not tolerate towards the others. The problem they don't know our history is first of all in ourselves. And due to our scholars, and of course the hard times we had. Yes, we have ancient history, and many contributions to the history of Europe. But these are not enough now in the new 21 century. Prove that we are really ready to be part of the modern Europe and that we share Europe's values.

Hi Andy!  Welcome to the forum.I don't think anyone here is saying Bulgaria isn't or can't be a part of modern Europe.  Soviet occupation pretty much modernized Bulgaria for the most part.  Bulgaria's biggest hurdle is not it's cultural heritage or anything of that nature, it's biggest hurdle is economics.  It's a relatively poor country that cannot afford to spend billions of dollars on re-inventing its infrastructure.  This also makes it less attractive to the European Union as the EU would have to invest heavily in Bulgaria to bring it along....something the EU itself cannot do at this time.  Turkey is in much better shape, but even Turkey is borderline right now economically.  For the record I don't want anyone to think I have openly disparaged Bulgaria.  I most certainly have not.  I question the original poster's assertions, though, and he has yet to prove to me that his thesis is able to stand up to closer scrutiny.

Hi there,Everybody on the Balkans is a nationalist, so be prepared. And the Bulgarians are quite moderate. If a Greek, Serbian, Croation or Macedonian ext. enters this forum, then you will see a real trouble.I graduated archaeology in Sofia University, although now I am working another thing. So if you have any particular questions about the history of East Europe and from there to all the way to China, you can ask me...

Yes, that's exactly what I am saying.

The Balkans have always been a thorn in Europe's side.  I suppose this is not likely to change even in our lifetimes.

It certainly will not.  As long as the people of the Balkans think they are not getting their due they will continue to be a thorn.  They are like a pot that is always perilously close to boiling over.

In spite of I stopted my participation, I have to put in order something, because I am the author of this posting. BULGARIANS ARE NOT NATIONALISTS! Bulgarian people is a very tolerate people. Bulgarians are halved and they have not any hate to the others. But the goal of this posting is to put in order some misguidens about Bulgarians. Do not draw away the theme! BULGARIANS ARE THRACIANS. They have many contribucions to europeans and to the world. Now, I realy stop my participation.

Next time will you really, really stop?UPDATE:  OK, I realized this sounded mean and I did not mean it too.  So, no offense intended, I just thought it funny that he had to come on here and tell us he was taking his marbles and going home.  Kind of like the online version of pitching a childish fit.

Naw Ivkhan isn't going anywhere.  This thread will never die.

I write that the slav peoples have to be grateful to bulgarians etc.

Weird..........I noticed , the author forgot to add, the Bulgarians lost their native turkish language somewhere in VIII - X century AD. After they settled in Balkans. Since then, they speak Slavic language, which is pretty well understood by other south-Slavic nations and it's not immensely different from my native Polish language. The reason is they settled on south-slavic lands in Balkans. Slavs were farmers, Bulgars were nomads. Higher culture prevailed.