Do not look for translation of the phrase “If I love grad,” because you won’t find it. This is actually the feeling you get if you pay a visit to Ivaylovgrad. It is a place that you do not want to leave and where you feel relaxed and comfortable, away from the usual stress. Nearby one can see collected history of entire eras. One can see Thracian megalithic circles and tombs. After Thracians, the Romans came here, and one can see their achievements in the ancient villa "Armira" - with its magnificent mosaics from the late Roman era. The Rodostitsa fortress is situated nearby. In the 9-10thg century it was the southernmost fortress of the Bulgarian state. It was located only 30 km from Edirne and guarded the ancient road along the Arda River, which passed through the Rhodope Mountains. There is another fortress nearby - "Lyutitsa" - the marble city that existed between 11th and 17th century, keeping the memory of Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan and his march to the walls of Adrianople /Edirne/.

Getting to "Lyutitsa" or Ivaylovgrad is also part of the adventure, because one must decide how to reach the desired destination. You have two options - either to stay on Bulgarian territory, or to choose a road passing through Greece, which is about 20 km. shorter. Locals joke the Bulgarian road is only used by the mayor of the town. We chose the shorter route that is crossing the Bulgarian - Greek border. In this region, tourism and agriculture are the main occupations of the population, but unemployment exceeds 20%. Most of the villages have long been deserted. But here we meet people who have hope that despite the difficulties the region is not doomed and has the potential for development. One of them is the manager of a hotel in the city, Dimitrina Stefanova, who has chosen to settle in this region, although she is originally from Sliven.

“My story is that I came as a tourist in this small but beautiful city. What holds us women is either love or love towards beauty. For me it was both, because I found the love of my life here. Ivaylovgrad has preserved the traditions, morals and principles. I see that in the big city these things are missing because people want to be commercial but forget about the little joys in life. When I came here, I had to shed light on this city and its specifics. ‘If I love grad’ I came because I wanted to do something different. I wanted to show that if we love our city, we must be an example in this city. We should help in its development and we should help young people stay here. I often see people who come here to see this way of life as something unique in our country.”

"If I love grad" - as soon as one hears this neologism, mixture of Bulgarian and English, one thinks of their love towards the town they live in. Do we feel good there? Are we doing something to make it a better place to live in? According to Dimitrina, problems in Ivailovgrad and in other towns usually stem from relations between people.

“There are different ethnic groups, who instead of supporting each other, they separate. One is feeling good when the other is not, which is a pity. Perhaps, this is the current mentality.”

Fear, envy and hatred are those obstacles that stop us to make this country a better place to live in. For every big change began as a series of small steps. Dimitrina loves her town and hopes her actions would change Ivaylovgrad for the better.

English: Alexander Markov