Southeastern Europe Travel Guide

General information, photos and map of Marmara Sea.

The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced /sɨˈrɪlɪk/; also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is a family of alphabets, subsets of which are used by six Slavic national languages (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Belarusian) as well as non-Slavic (Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik of the former Soviet Union, and Mongolian). It is also used by many other languages of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia and other languages in the past. Not all letters in the Cyrillic alphabet are used in every language that is written with it.

The alphabet has official status with many organizations. With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the EU, along with Latin and Greek.

The Cyrillic alphabet was based on the Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and consonants from the older Glagolitic alphabet for sounds not found in Greek. It along with Glagolitic was formalized by the two Slavic (Bulgarian) brothers Saints Cyril and Methodii, who brought Christianity to the southern Slavs, or their disciples. Paul Cubberly posits that while Cyril may have codified and expanded Glagolitic, it was his students, perhaps at the Preslav Literary School in Bulgaria, that developed Cyrillic from Greek in the 890s as a more suitable script for church books.

The Cyrillic alphabet came to dominate over Glagolitic in the 12th century. It was disseminated along with the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language, and the alphabet used for modern Church Slavonic language in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic rites still resembles early Cyrillic. However, over the following ten centuries, the Cyrillic alphabet adapted to changes in spoken language, developed regional variations to suit the features of national languages, and was subjected to academic reforms and political decrees. Today, dozens of languages in Eastern Europe and Asia are written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

As the Cyrillic alphabet spread throughout the East and South Slavic territories, it was adopted for writing local languages, such as Old Ruthenian. Its adaptation to the characteristics of local languages led to the development of its many modern variants, below.

The following list shows the differences between the upright and italic/cursive Cyrillic letters as used in Russian:

а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н о п р с т у ф х ц ч ш щ ъ ы ь э ю я
а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н о п р с т у ф х ц ч ш щ ъ ы ь э ю я

A number of languages written in the Cyrillic alphabet have also been written in the Latin alphabet, such as Azerbaijani, Uzbek and Moldavian. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, official status shifted from Cyrillic to Latin. The transition is complete in most of Moldova and Azerbaijan, but Uzbekistan still uses both systems.

The three main variations of the Cyrillic alphabet used in the Balkans: Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian.

Languages on the Balkans. Which languages speak people on the Balkans countries and Southeast Europe.

Food of the countries on the Balkans and Southestaern Europe.

Receipts, dishes, meals from the Balkans kitchen.

Telecommunications on the Balkans. Phone, mobile networks and telecommunication companies operating in the countries of the Balkans. Phone numbers, mobile operators and country codes of the Balkans and Europe.

Finance and investment information for the Balkans region and the countries of the Balkans.

Gomerments of the Balkans countries. Governmental information for the Balkans.

Information about the law practices and the laws of the countries on the Balkans.

Information about the television on the Balkans and Balkans TV channels.

Capitals of the countries in the Balkans region in photos. This page lists all capital cities in Southeastern Europe with their population and elevation.

Capitals of the countries on the Balkans are all located under 1000 m elevation. Ankara is the city with the highest position - 850 m over the sea level. Podgorica is only 44 m over the sea level.

Ankara also has the biggest population of 3 900 000 people, both with Athens are the biggest capital cities with population over 3 millions people, in comparison with Podgorica which has only 150 000 people. The other big capitals are Bucharest, Belgrade and Sofia with more than 1 million people.

Sofia (capital of Bulgaria)
Population: 1 400 000
Elevation: 550 m (1 804 ft)

Athens (capital of Greece)
Population: 3 130 000
Elevation: 70 - 338 m (230 - 1 109 ft)

Ankara (capital of Turkey)
Population: 3 900 000
Elevation: 850 m (2 789 ft)

Bucharest (capital of Romania)
Population: 1 932 000
Elevation: 60 - 90 m (197 – 295 ft)

Zagreb (capital of Croatia)
Population: 785 000
Elevation: 158 m (518 ft)

Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Population: 304 000
Elevation: 500 m (1 640 ft)

Podgorica (capital of Montenegro)
Population: 150 000
Elevation: 44 m (144 ft)

Belgrade (capital of Serbia)
Population: 1 630 000
Elevation: 117 m (384 ft)

Tirana (capital of Albania)
Population: 616 000
Elevation: 110 m (361 ft)

Skopje (capital of Republic of Macedonia)
Population: 700 000
Elevation: 240 m (787 ft)

Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia)
Population: 268 000
Elevation: 298 m (978 ft)

Kishinev (capital of Moldova)
Population: 593 000
Elevation: 85 m (279 ft)

Prishtina (capital of Kosovo)
Population: 600 000
Elevation: 652 m (2 139 ft)

National state emblems and coat of arms of all countries on the Balkans and Southeastern Europe.

Bulgaria
Coat of arms of Bulgaria

Greece
Coat of arms of Greece

Turkey
State emblem of Turkey

Romania
Coat of arms of Romania

Croatia
Coat of arms of Croatia

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Montenegro
Coat of arms of Montenegro

Serbia
Coat of arms of Serbia

Albania
State emblem of Albania

Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.)
Coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia

Slovenia
Coat of arms of Slovenia

Moldova
Coat of arms of Moldova

Kosovo
Coat of arms of Kosovo

This is a list of the national flags of the countries from Southeuropean Europe and the Balkans.

Colors of the flags

The most used color in the Balkans countries flags is the red. Red color is in the national flags of 10 countries from Southeastern Europe (Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia and Moldova).

The white color is on the national flags of 7 Balkans countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo).

The blue color is on the national flag of 7 Southeasteuropean countries (Greece, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Moldova and Kosovo).

The yellow color is on the coutry flags of 5 countries from the Balkans (Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Kosovo).

The green color is presented only on the national country flag of Bulgaria and the black color is only for the double-head eagle on national flag of Albania.

Animals on the flags

There are few animals on the natioanal flags and in the coats of arms or in the state emblems of the Southeasteuropean countries. We have already said about the double-head eagle on the country flag and in the state emblem of Albania. There is a double-head eagle in the flags and coats of arms of Serbia and Montenegro too. One head eagle is on the coats of arms of Romania and Moldova.

Lions are in the coats of arms of Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania and Croatia. There are other animals too: bulls, fish, goat, fox, etc.

Elements of the flags

A crown is presented on the coats of arms of Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia and a cross on the state emblems of Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia. There is a crescent on the coats of arms of Turkey, Croatia, Romania and Moldova and a star on the Turkish, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, Moldovian and Slovenian state emblem.

National flags

Bulgaria
Flag of Bulgaria
Colors in the flag: White - Green - Red

Greece
Flag of Greece
Colors in the flag: Blue - White

Turkey
Flag of Turkey
Colors in the flag: Red - White

Romania
Flag of Romania
Colors in the flag: Blue - Yellow - Red

Croatia
Flag of Croatia
Colors in the flag: Red - White - Blue

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Colors in the flag: Blue - Yellow

Montenegro
Flag of Montenegro
Colors in the flag: Red - Yellow

Serbia
Flag of Serbia
Colors in the flag: Red - Blue - White

Albania
Flag of Albania
Colors in the flag: Red - Black

Republic of Macedonia
Flag of Republic of Macedonia
Colors in the flag: Red - Yellow

Slovenia
Flag of Slovenia
Colors in the flag: White - Blue - Red

Moldova
Flag of Moldova
Colors in the flag: Blue - Yellow - Red

Kosovo
Flag of Kosovo
Colors in the flag: Blue - Yellow - White

How to fish in the Balkans countries and the Balkan peninsula region?

Where is the fish? How to find the best place for fishery in the Balkan countries? Do I have to know the fishery law in Balkans region countries to have a success finding great fish.

Fishery around the Balkans region and hunt in the Balkans countries.

Best practices, fish seasons and places for fish and hunt in Eastern Europe. Balkan fish available rivers and lakes across the fishery seasons.