For the first time this year many towns across Bulgaria cancelled their traditional New Year street celebration, though that didn’t seem to dampen the holiday spirit.

Many people from Sofia went up to a locality on Mount Vitosha called Kopitoto. There, they popped their champagne to welcome in the New Year and watch the firework display in Sofia beneath their feet.

In Plovdiv the municipality organized a dazzling 6-minute firework display from three hills at midnight.

In Varna the first baby of the year was born exactly one minute after midnight. The child was delivered without any complications, BNR’s reporters say.

More than 100 people in Veliko Turnovo took part in the 15-kilometre New Year’s health hike from Tsarevets fortress to the Petropavlovski (Peter and Paul) monastery, clearing away litter from the walking trails along their way. “This is something that ought to be done all the time – Covid or no Covid,” the organizers from Turnovo Runs said.

The mountain rescue squad from Dupnitsa had to cut short their New Year’s get-together at the Seven Lakes of Rila to mount a rescue operation for two tourists who had lost their way in the mountain minutes before midnight. Ultimately, the tourists were able to reach a mountain hut without outside help where they stayed the night.