Draw your gaze to the south-east corner of Europe, and your eye should alight on one of the last pieces of the continental jigsaw: Bulgaria, a kernel of heritage and culture that has long dotted the map.

Plovdiv, its second city, is one of Europe’s oldest, its story stretching back to ancient Thrace, and to a Roman amphitheater of no little majesty. Sofia, the capital, is just as steeped in history, and awash with churches – not least the splendid St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. But if the past sings, so does the present. Often hailed as one of Europe’s best-value ski destinations, Bulgaria supplies a quality and depth of snow in resorts like Bansko and Borovets. Its shore also issues a siren call, the loveliness of the country’s 235 miles of Black Sea coast underscored by the fact that two of its neighbors are Greece and Turkey.