One more time Sofia hosted the Green Days traditional festival – a spring fest the people of the city eagerly look forward to each year. Its 6^th edition attracted thousands of fans of the "green" cause. Visitors spent hours strolling among the pavilions put up in the public garden in front of the monument to the Soviet Army, lingering at the Made in BG stands for organic products, getting acquainted with green holidays offers in this country, taking part in different competitions, carnivals, workshops and talks, popularizing the environmentally friendly way of life.

The annual fest took place May 21 – 24 with an emphasis on responsible conduct, alternative tourism and certified natural products. The idea of the organizers from the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism is to win more supporters over to the green cause which has, in recent years, been gaining momentum in Bulgarial - a fact that is there to be seen even if one takes but a brief stroll in Sofia or any of the other major cities. There are many more organic food or cosmetics stores now, more restaurants, offering healthy menus. They are frequented mostly by young and educated people, who love nature, appreciate it and want to live in harmony with it. 

Here is what the event's coordinator Eleonora Yosifova says:

“The festival aims to bring together people who have taken up organic agriculture and gardening, and people offering organic products or welcoming tourists, in an attempt to assert Bulgaria as an alternative tourism destination. We have participants, who train children and try to encourage them to love nature, follow a healthy diet and lifestyle. That was why we invited the farmers from the Roman Wall market downtown Sofia to present their production here, at the exhibition, with the idea of promoting local production. Luckily, there are more and more people in Bulgaria have been taking the green idea to heart. They are very exigent regarding the purity of the products they consume and the vacation destinations they choose. The exhibition presents owners of guest houses, who are offering precisely this kind of holidays which meet European environmentally friendly tourism standards, protected by the Greenhouse certificate. At the same time the green idea is still not that popular here in comparison to West Europe and the USA. The same thing can be said about the fans of environmental, rural and mountain tourism. Here in Bulgaria, the man in the street still tends to opt for the overcrowded resorts… perhaps because alternative tourism requires more information, a higher sense of responsibility and last but not least – more money,” Eleonora Yosifova says.

A 2015 Mountains Forum took place within the frameworks of the exposition as well at which experts and government officials discussed the development of Bulgarian mountain tourism.

The agenda of this year’s Green Days was really diverse – from presentations of extreme sport opportunities in Vitosha Natural Park, to bike contests, a biodiversity carnival for the youngest, a night-time open door concert, exhibitions, gastronomical demonstrations, wine tasting etc. Visitors were particularly interested in the Made in BG natural cosmetic products, as well as the demonstrations, showing how to make our own organic face lifting cream. A special gardening workshop demonstrated how to turn the empty spaces between apartment blocs or balconies into lush gardens. It was over the weekend, when different quizzes, contests and chain dances took place in and around the pavilions and tents of the festival, that people thronged to the Green Days festival most.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev