Southeastern Europe

Southeastern Europe has long been the crossroads where history, cultures and ideologies met. The re-sults of such meetings have not always been peaceful but they've left a unique, if troubled, imprinton the region. Thracians, Byzantines, Slavs and Turks, all have left their mark on the region's culture.

Bulgaria was 90% peasant before rapid industrialization under a totalitarian regime; the country's peas-ant roots still poke through, often near crumbling factory walls, deserted relics of Stalinization. Bulgaria's transition to a market economy hasn't been easy, nor even welcomed, particularly by the eld-erly on pensions and many who receive state services which continue to decay.