Travelling Blog

Travelling Blog · 07.06.2026

I would have gladly attended an on-site meeting with the Bulgarian Border Police or Frontex at the Bulgarian-Turkish border to have the situation explained to me directly. However, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior declined the request: by government decree, the border security facility there is classified as a strategic object of national security. Due to an ongoing police operation, strict filming and photography bans are in place to avoid making the protection system and the positioning...

Travelling Blog · 07.06.2026

It is an idyllic place. The roses bloom abundantly. Flowers are everywhere, squeezing through fences as if determined not to be overlooked. Some houses are elegantly renovated, others are crumbling. You can feel both the unique magic and the isolation of this place. Rezovo is a tiny Bulgarian village that could hardly be located in a spot more idyllic – or more political. Here, where the Rezovska River flows into the sea, lies not only the border with Turkey but also the external border of...

Travelling Blog · 05.06.2026

Every late summer for the past 42 years, the Apollonia Festival of Arts has transformed the Black Sea coast into a vibrant hub for art and culture. The venue is picturesque Sozopol – one of the country's oldest towns, which today has a population of around 4,500 and is located on a rocky peninsula of the Black Sea, about 35 kilometers south of Burgas. In the following interview, festival director Margarita Dimitrova talks about the fascinating transformation of a once heavily restricted...

Travelling Blog · 05.06.2026

Why the Strandja Nature Park Needs Its People "The mountain range cannot function without its people," explains the director of the Strandzha Nature Park Neven Karavasilev. "Our primary goal is not the protection of forests and endangered species. Our absolute main task is to keep the local population, their traditions, and their unique culture alive. Currently, the population decline is so drastic that it has become an existential threat to the mountains themselves," the park director states,...

Travelling Blog · 05.06.2026

When speaking with Radostina Tzenova about nature conservation in Bulgaria, it becomes immediately clear that deep expertise meets genuine passion. Already during her school years, she focused on biology at her high school in Burgas. Following her subsequent university degree in ecology, she joined the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (BBF) in 1998 – a decision that marked the beginning of a success story spanning nearly thirty years. She looks back on an era in which she has significantly...

Travelling Blog · 02.06.2026

Can cycling make the world a little bit better? For Evgeny Apostolov, it is just one building block - but a crucial one. He is a driving force in the cycling community of Burgas. As a visionary, he has been campaigning for years for sustainable tourism, active mobility, and the development of a genuine cycling culture in this Bulgarian city on the Black Sea. He also played a major role in developing the Bulgarian section of the Iron Curtain Trail, also known as EuroVelo 13. Right in the middle...

Travelling Blog · 02.06.2026

Anyone traveling through the Bulgarian-Turkish border region today will repeatedly come across weathered signs reading: "Border Region – Special Protected Area." Where untouched nature thrives today, the Iron Curtain once ran – one of the most heavily guarded and brutal outer borders of the socialist bloc. Yet, while this border system is firmly anchored in Germany’s collective culture of remembrance, a gap remains in Bulgaria. There is no state concept for coming to terms with the past,...

Travelling Blog · 01.06.2026

The End of an Escape in Bulgaria's Strandzha Mountains Can one speak out against injustice? One must! It is therapy and education all at once. As a contemporary witness, Hendrik Voigtländer spends an average of ten hours a week guiding people from all over the world through the Hohenschönhausen Memorial. The "injustice" he had committed: As a native of Quedlinburg (former East Germany), he wanted to regularly visit his grandmother, who lived near the Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin, for...

Travelling Blog · 01.06.2026

In the meantime, I have set off on the second major leg of my project "Ironcurtain2Greenbelt." From Rezovo on the Turkish-Bulgarian border—the southeasternmost point of the European Union—I will be heading along the former Iron Curtain back to Germany. The red line on the map shows what I accomplished last year, and the blue line shows my rough route for the coming weeks. I had my bike shipped to Burgas, so I cycled from there along the Black Sea coast to my starting point. Over the next...

Travelling Blog · 17.10.2025

Approximately 20 million Poles—or people with Polish roots—live outside Poland, while around 38 million people currently reside within Polish territory. Migration is part of human history and is not a new phenomenon. Humans have always moved from one place to another in search of food, shelter, land, or better living conditions. The emigration of millions of people is an inherent part of Polish history. The Emigration Museum in Gdynia is the first institution to tell this part of the Polish...