Rita Morvan has been a long-year friend of Radio Bulgaria. In the course of the past decade she has devoted two weeks of each vacation of hers to field practicing of her Bulgarian with the French Service of Radio Bulgaria . This is not a coincidence: Rita has been a translator with the EC for 30 years, as she knows 5 languages – German, English, Spanish, Dutch and Bulgarian.

We asked her on the roots of her interest in the Bulgarian language:

“Believe it or not, my first contact in Bulgaria went through RB. My boss asked me whether I was interested in studying the language and I agreed. I started to listen to parts of your shows. Then I decided to spend a summer holiday in Varna before starting the classes.”

Ten years ago the EU was still in a period when new member-states were being admitted and the institution was short of translators and interpreters. Rita received an offer to start learning a language of one of the new member-states. She opted for Bulgarian due to the Cyrillic alphabet which she liked a lot during her temporary Russian study.

Rita may tackle lots of subjects, related to Bulgaria, as she is a high-level translator who has to know a lot about our history, policy, legislation etc. However, we decided to discuss tourism here and her personal impressions.

Her first vacation here was 9 years ago and was all-inclusive. Her husband found it hard to get used to nearly everything in Bulgaria and showed no more interest towards this country. Rita says she chose the place and the all-inclusive as it looked easier for families with small kids. However, the all-inclusive format is vicious not only in this country:

“We went to such hotels in Greece and Turkey for several years in a row while the kids were still small. The pool and the water slide were the major attractions for the little ones, full of energy. At the same time I was always disappointed. For instance, years ago I went to this wonderful hotel in Greece – the tourists went to local restaurants for lunch or bought something from the shops. Thus the hotel contributed to the survival of local traders. A few years later I decided to go back there – the hotel was now all-inclusive, tourists were imprisoned inside and the small restaurants were empty or closed.”

Rita has visited lots of other spots across Bulgaria over the past years, opting for small family hotels and guest houses.

“I recall this beautiful stay near the village of Madara (northeastern Bulgaria) where I went to see the Madara Rider rock carving. I stayed with a small hotel, just like a guest house. Nature was magnificent, the rooms were splendid and the view – spectacular. The cuisine offered meals, based on local products from the farm, linked to the hotel.”

Rita says that Bulgaria needs to emphasize on its cultural tourism, in order to respond to the expectations of the tourists. The potential is huge, but a foreigner clashes with the lack of road signs, poor infrastructure etc. “Bulgaria has many advantages and offers a huge variety – cultural, historical tourism, but also mountain and spa tourism. There are lots of natural reserves and fans of ornithology can find numerous attractions,” Rita Morvan says in conclusion.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

Photos: courtesy of Rita Morvan and BGNES