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A closer look of "the Princess of the Roses". The rose being celebrated is different from the roses one would find in a flower shop. It is less grand looking. Also, it is always the same colour - pink. And it has a very strong rose scent.

Its flowering buds are harvested and used to extract the luxurious and extremely expensive Bulgarian Rose Oil used in the pharmaceutical industry and in the higher-end perfume/colone products around the world. One gram of pure Bulgarian Rose Oil costs a lot more than a gram of gold or any other precious metal.

During communist times in Bulgaria, once or twice a year they would round up students from grades 6 or 7 and send them off at 5am to pick roses. Hey, it was a great way to skip school, and we got paid for it too, (peanuts, but we were happy, since we didn't know any better). The getting up at 4am was pretty bad though!