Dermendzhieva, S. & Doykov, M. (2013). Cultural and historical sites in the north-eastern socio-economic... The Overarching Issues of the European Space. Ed. Faculdade Letras Universidade do Porto. Pag. 206-224 __________________________________________________________________________________________ CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL SITES IN THE NORTH-EASTERN SOCIO-ECONOMIC REGION OF BULGARIA Stela Dermendzhieva Department Geography “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
[email protected] Martin Doykov Department Geography “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria ABSTRACT Bulgaria, regarded as the eastern end of the European Union, coexists with other member countries in the European family. Bulgaria has explicitly and repeatedly stated and defended their belonging to this, which makes the tourist map of Europe "extends" to the East, while providing opportunities to our country for its future development. In this presentation we put the focus on cultural - cognitive dimension of Northeast Bulgaria. Being apparently a periphery, this region has features that ensure both its presence in the Bulgarian cultural space, as in Europe, particularly in historical, cultural and social terms. The cultural sites in Northeast Bulgaria, which arouse some interest to the tourist level, demonstrate the importance of the region nationally. The Northeast Bulgaria is certainly an appealing area to develop tourism. Is indistinguishable from local to national level (strongly marked by patriotism), does not enjoy priority in the media space as loaded, but has, however, its own natural charm, originated both by the desire of a large capacity representation, and by specific Culture and the different vision. In this paper we outline the major tourist locations, places of interest of cultural tourism in the region.