Bulgaria offers a valuable opportunity to contrast a Slavonic expression of Byzantine culture with some of its Greek medieval sources, to see both cultures in the context of their common Greco-Roman past and Islamic sequel. Bulgaria offers one of the finest countryside in the Balkans-mountains, gorges, high pastures, rich orchards in the foothills, and last but not least, the famous rose-fields of the Thracian Valley.

The period of Byzantine supremacy (1018-1085) was marked by a spate of monastic foundations, and served to draw the country into mainstream of Byzantine culture for the next 300 years. Typical opulent mid-Byzantine churches, with attractive contrasts of ornamental brickwork and stone adorn the ancient capital of Turnovo, which clings to the mountainside above the gorge of the Yantra, and some of the finest frescoes in the Balkans are to be found at Bachkovo, 11^th century, and Boyana (1259). Rila Monastery, a 10th century foundation but often rebuilt, is a national shrine of the Bulgarian people and retains a colorful appearance outlined against the forested flanks of the mountains.