Via Diagonalis: the Messages of Cultural Tourism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of Europe’s cultural corridors in popularizing and preserving heritage along the Via Diagonalis and, in particular, the role of the Road linking the West and the East. The famous cultural route is part of the world and European culture but also a cultural value common to the Balkan countries. The opportunities for travelers to communicate and exchange messages, information, and ideas are among the most valuable ‘goods’ that ancient people of Europe and Asia used to exchange through the Via Diagonalis.
The multitude of Bulgarian heritage sites along this road not only add to the country’s image as a cultural tourism destination but are also a continuation of the cross-cultural exchange between the Balkan countries over the centuries. Can Bulgarians and Balkan nations promote the development of sustainable tourism by making a tourism route out of the Carigradski Drum and how? How can the wisdom and magic of the past and the far-stretching ideas of the future named cultural tourism in the Balkans be brought together?