„До Бруса и назад“ – светът през очите на един балканджия
“To Brusa and Back” – the World in the Gaze of a Mountain-Dweller

Summary/Abstract: The present study presents the travel notes „To Brusa and Back“, one of the earliest Bulgarian travel notes (108 pages) written by the future academician Nikola Nachov during his journey in 1879 (Начов 1934). The text has the characteristics of a practical manual and reference book, something that becomes obvious by the numerous short chapters, similar titles, and abundant practical information. At the same time, the most important information is given at the end of each chapter. Undoubtedly, the book stresses the practical side of the travel notes which should be a useful manual for the readers in case they decide to follow the steps of the traveller rather than a source of aesthetic pleasure. The work is rather a compendium of the mundane knowledge than a description of distant lands. The problems of the social-normative culture significantly prevail over the anthropogeographic and at some points they even interweave with them. „To Brusa and Back“ is an image of distant lands but most of all a story about the social networks of the people from Kalofer spread throughout the Ottoman Empire and the ways they function.

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