Some 80km to the southwest of Sofia, at the southern foot of Konyavska Mountain close to the village of Lilyach, there is a unique rock sanctuary which the locals call 'Proviralkyata' (translated roughly as 'squeeze-through tunnel'). A cult place where fertility rituals were performed as early as the Stone and Bronze Ages, it was later inherited as a sacred territory by local Thracian tribes.

The Belashtitsa monastery of St. George the Victorious is located at the northern foot of the Rhodope Mountains, near the village of the same name and just 12km to the south of Plovdiv. Although not very big, cuddled in a scenic forest above the village, the monastery is especially beautiful and cosy.

The Mezek Thracian beehive tomb is situated near the southeastern Bulgarian village of the same name, not far from the place where the country's borders with Greece and Turkey meet. It is one of the largest Thracian tombs of the Mycenaean type in Bulgaria. Dating back to the 4th-3rd century BC, it has been preserved almost completely in its original state.

In the middle of the 19th century Edirne stood out, among other Balkan urban settlements, as one of the towns with the largest Bulgarian population. Located in the heart of East Thrace, it was an important centre inhabited by Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews and many other ethnic groups. According to unofficial data, by 1860 the Bulgarian population amounted to more than 2,500 people, while over 40,000 others lived in the nearby villages which had churches, schools and nice houses. Today, almost nothing is left of this heritage.

A unique exhibition entitled A Chariot Ride through Europe was opened last week at the Interactive Museum located on the territory of the Abritus Archaeological Reserve in Razgrad, Norrtheast Bulgaria. Organised by the Regional Museum of History as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, it presents unique and restored new finds from the East Royal Necropolis in the Sboryanovo Historical and Archaeological Reserve.

Tucked amid the sandstone pyramids rock formations that surround Bulgaria's smallest town of Melnik, there stands the biggest still preserved private building on the Balkans dated back to the time of Bulgaria's National Revival - the Kordopulov house. It was built by a wealthy Greek merchant by the name of Kordopulos at the beginning of the 18th century.

From afar it looks like an imposing stack of stones, but as you come closer you see it is a man-made structure. The megalith near the village of Buzovgrad is one of the most prominent in Bulgaria, and the biggest in the Valley of the Thracian Kings, which are strewn with numerous rock sanctuaries.

In the heart of Mount Strandzha lies the town of Malko Tarnovo, commonly known as the gate to Strandzha. The Thracian tribes Thyni and Asti first settled the area in the 1st millennium BC. The most fascinating relics - megalith complexes in which the mountain abounds - date back to that period.

The Rozhen Monastery “Nativity of the Virgin Mary” is the largest cloister in the Pirin Mountain and one of several Medieval Bulgarian sanctuaries preserved in a relatively good condition to this day. It is situated 8km east of the country's smallest town, Melnik, not far from the picturesque sand pyramids of Melnik.

Blagoevgrad is the biggest city in southwestern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Blagoevgrad region. It is located in the picturesque valley of the Struma River at the foot of the Rila Mountain. The region was inhabited as early as the Neolithic and several prehistoric settlements dating back to 6th-5th millennium BC were discovered in the city's close vicinity.